{
  "id": 17313908,
  "title": "Colombian ‘White Elephant’ Senator Makes Time’s List of 100 Emerging Figures",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/31/colombian-white-elephant-senator-makes-times-list-of-100-emerging",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-31T00:53:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Colombia One",
    "slug": "colombia-one",
    "url": "https://colombiaone.com/2026/10/30/colombian-white-elephant-senator-makes-times-list-of-100-emerging-figures/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "Colombian Senator Luis Carlos Rúa, known for his distinctive white elephant costume, has been recognized by Time magazine as one of the 100 emerging figures in the world. Rúa gained prominence through his organization of a citizens' collective and creation of social media content aimed at exposing unfinished public works in major Colombian cities. He traveled across the country in his elephant costume, denouncing the misuse of public resources on white elephant projects, which are infrastructure projects that consume large amounts of state funds but provide little to no benefit. Time magazine included Rúa in its \"Leaders\" section alongside other notable figures from around the world, highlighting his unique approach to raising awareness about the issue of white elephants in Colombian public infrastructure.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}