The lakeside town of Paipa will transform a weekend of summer festivities into a solemn farewell for Yeison Jiménez, the Colombian popular music star killed in a plane crash on January 10, 2026, with municipal officials announcing on June 9 that the Festival del Lago 2026 will center on a public tribute to the singer and the five others who died alongside him.
Scheduled for June 13 and 14 at Lago Sochagota — the same body of water that sits near the crash site — the festival will fold its traditional sporting and cultural programming into a two-day commemoration culminating in a memorial mass, a concert by Jiménez’s longtime backing band, and the permanent installation of a sculpture honoring the artist.
Paipa Mayor Germán Ricardo Camacho framed the decision as a civic act of remembrance, telling local press that the municipality felt compelled to dedicate its signature festival to an artist whose death has left an enduring mark on Boyacá.
“This festival means a great deal to our municipality, which is why we invite everyone to join us for this new edition on June 13 and 14. As always, there will be many activities, but this year we have chosen to dedicate the festival as a tribute to our beloved artist Yeison Jiménez, as well as to the members of his band who also lost their lives in this tragic accident in our municipality,” Camacho said.
A Sculpture by the Water
The emotional center of the weekend arrives Sunday, June 14, when an open-air mass begins at noon in the events plaza of Lago Sochagota. Local choirs and the Symphonic Band of the Paipa School of Music will accompany the service, which Belén Osorio Vásquez, Paipa’s secretary of culture and youth, has built around themes of memory and recognition.
That same day, a bronze sculpture by artist Omar Santa María will be unveiled and installed permanently at the lake — a lasting marker at the place where Jiménez’s final flight ended. Officials say Jiménez’s relatives and the other victims have been invited and may attend.
The Sunday program closes with a performance by Ciro Quiñonez and la Banda del Aventurero, the group that backed Jiménez for years on stage and on his most-streamed recordings.
Saturday, June 13, leans into the festival’s traditional rhythms. An open-water swimming championship launches at 6 a.m., followed by environmental tours, bird-watching outings, an ecological walk and a canoeing championship. The afternoon belongs to the Verbena del Lago, a showcase built to spotlight Paipa’s homegrown artists.
An Investigation Still Open
The tribute lands as the technical inquiry into the crash continues. A preliminary report released by Colombia’s civil aviation authority in late January 2026 found that both propellers of the aircraft, registered as N325FA, bore low-energy impact deformations — a pattern consistent with engines that were not producing full power at the moment of impact. Investigators also confirmed the plane carried no flight data or cockpit voice recorders, complicating efforts to reconstruct the final seconds. The engines were shipped to the U.S. manufacturer for detailed analysis.
Those findings echo what witnesses captured on video: the twin-engine aircraft straining down the runway as voices shouted that “the runway ran out,” then failing to climb and slamming into a field just beyond the strip. The plane was bound for Medellín, and Jiménez, 34, was due in Marinilla for an evening performance. All six aboard were killed, including pilot Captain Hernando Torres, manager Jefferson Osorio, personal assistant Oscar Marín, photographer Weismann Mora, and passenger Juan Manuel Rodríguez, authorities confirmed. Transport Minister Fernanda Rojas announced the opening of an investigation hours later, and the Boyacá governor’s office declared departmental mourning.
From Movistar Arena to Lago Sochagota
The Paipa tribute will be the most permanent public memorial to Jiménez since the mass farewell at Bogotá’s Movistar Arena on January 14, where roughly 14,000 fans filed through two free sessions to say goodbye. The singer’s young daughter, Thaliana, was carried on shoulders across the floor of the arena. Pipe Bueno opened the night with “Tengo Ganas,” a song he had recorded with Jiménez. Alzate followed with “Sin Decir Adiós” and “Mi Venganza.” Jessi Uribe and Paola Jara performed “Ya No Mi Amor,” and Francy, Arelys Henao, Sebastián Ayala and John Alex Castaño each took the stage in turn, according to coverage of the service.
Jiménez’s mother, Lucy, addressed the arena directly. “Whether it’s a lot or a little, I don’t know, but I’ll always be here to take care of your children, your wife, and those who might be weaker than you. As long as God gives me life and health,” she said, before dedicating Kany García’s “Confieso” to her son.
The Manzanares, Caldas, native built his catalog on songs of grit and gratitude — “Aventurero,” “Destino Final” with Luis Alfonso, “Vete,” “Ni Tengo Ni Necesito” — and his final Instagram post, uploaded roughly six hours before news of the crash broke, carried a caption that fans have since adopted as an epitaph: “Recuerden… si la carreta suena es porque va vacía.” In an interview two weeks before he died, Jiménez had said he dreamed three times of an accident like the one that killed him, and believed God was sending warnings.
Five months later, the warnings have given way to bronze, music and a mass at the edge of the lake.
