Colombia continues to see high levels of violence despite government attempts to advance peace dialogues with armed groups. August saw 2025’s 100th killing of a social activist and 30th of a former FARC guerrilla in the peace process. The number of massacres, classed as attacks in which at least three people are killed, also increased significantly.
Ongoing instability demonstrates the urgent need to fully implement the 2016 peace agreement, which tackles the causes of conflict as well as its impact, as well as to reach new agreements with active armed groups. As in the 2012-16 negotiations which resulted in the Havana peace agreement, international support has a core role to play in supporting new peace processes and ensuring their implementation.
Here is JFC’s monthly update for August 2025 on the human rights situation in Colombia.
N.B. This article does not provide a definitive list of all human rights violations committed in Colombia. Various others are likely to have been committed during the period.
1 August – Three people were killed in Colombia’s 41st documented massacre of 2025, which took place in the city of Cúcuta, Norte de Santander. Reports said a gunman motorcyclist carried out the attack on a group of homeless people, which left another six injured. Two of the dead were identified as José Apolinar González and Fábian Flórez. The attack seems to fit the pattern of so-called ‘social cleansings’ in which paramilitary groups have targeted the homeless, sex workers, addicts and those whose social presence they deem undesirable.
6 August – Social activist Ruhal Martínez was killed in Jamundí, department of Valle del Cauca, where armed groups are competing to control trafficking routes and other illicit activity. Ruhal was vice-president of the JAC community council for the district of Villa Colombia. Armed assailants intercepted him as he travelled by motorbike through the town. It was the 95th killing of a social activist in 2025, according to the INDEPAZ human rights NGO.
6 August – The bodies of three people were found in Consacá, department of Nariño. One was found on the premises of a college, while the other two were next to a road.
7 August – For the second consecutive day, a social activist was murdered in Valle del Cauca. Brayan Saa worked for the municipal department of agricultural assistance (UMATA) which supports small-scale farmers in the town of Dagua, where the attack took place.
7 August – Four men and one woman were found dead in Santa Bárbara, Antioquia, apparent victims of a local criminal organisation. The victims were named as Luisa Bermúdez Quintana, who was 28 and had been reported missing since March this year, Jaime Andrés Llanos Ospina, Juan Carlos Escobar, Ángel Enrique Horta Ramos and Javier Felipe Cerquera Patiño.
10 August – Armed assailants attacked people inside a home in the city of Pereira, Risaralda, killing 63-year-old Blanca Nelly Osorio and her grandson Yefrin Andrés Herrera, who was 20. The third victim was Diego de Jesús Herrera, 65.
10 August – Yet another massacre claimed the lives of three people in Buga, Valle del Cauca. Armed assailants entered a private home and opened fire on the people inside, killing a woman and two men. A fourth person was injured and taken to hospital.
11 August – Three people were killed in an attack in the town of Bolívar, department of Cauca. Armed assailants attacked people inside a home, killing Francisco Narváez in the act, before abducting Benjamín Narváez and Joaquín Caja, whose bodies were found soon afterwards.
11 August – Indigenous social leader Yeison Aizama Variaza was murdered in El Dovio, Valle del Cauca, where he was a guard for the Embera reservation Dai Umadamia. Several armed groups are active in the area.
14 August – Two rural activists, Jhon Esneider Pabón Osorio and Cayetano Pedroza Molina, were killed in Tibú in the northeast region of Catatumbo. The men were organisers in the ASUNCAT peasant farmers’ association. ASUNCAT said that its members were facing very high levels of threat in Tibú and other nearby zones. Their killings were the 99th and 100th cases involving social activists in 2025.
15 August – Social activist Álvaro Roncancio was killed in Palmira, Valle del Cauca, where he was president of the JAC community council for the Tenjo district. He had moved to the town centre after receiving threats that forced him to relocate from his rural home.
18 August – Community activist José Erlery Velasco was murdered in Balboa, department of Cauca. He belonged to both the ASCATBAL peasant farmers’ organisation and the Cauca South Unity organisation. In the latter, he took part in negotiations with regional authorities to develop social and community projects. An activist in the Historic Pact coalition of President Gustavo Petro, he campaigned on environmental issues, including protection of the River Patía. José was attacked while carrying out agricultural work in the district of La Esperanza.
19 August – Three people were killed in an attack in Mesitas del Colegio, department of Cundinamarca. Armed assailants entered a recreational club and attacked people inside. The dead were reportedly two men and a woman who belonged to the same family, while at least three other people were injured.
21 August – Six people were killed and over 60 injured in a car bomb explosion close to a military aviation school in Cali, Valle del Cauca. Cali’s mayor, in response, announced martial law and temporarily banned lorries from entering the city centre. All the victims were civilians, including passersby. Children and a pregnant woman were among the injured. Several homes were also badly damaged. Authorities blamed the attack on the EMC armed group which has expanded significantly in Valle del Cauca and neighbouring Cauca.
22 August – Wayuu indigenous leader Héctor González Epieyu was murdered in Uribia, La Guajira department. He was a community and environmental activist who campaigned for energy investment and infrastructure in what is one of Colombia’s poorest and least developed regions. He also coordinated conflict resolution and peacebuilding initiatives in local communities, while he worked as Secretary of Indigenous Affairs in the regional government. The Wayuu population of La Guajira faces dire social conditions, with very limited access to clean water, healthcare, education and other vital services.
23 August – A gunman attacked people at a party in San Pedro de Urabá, Antioquia, leaving three of them dead. The victims were named as Ana Cristina Martínez Novoa, Mateo Garcés Salcedo, who both died at the scene, and Danilo Pérez, who died of his injuries six days later.
24 August – Community activist Gilberto Ramírez was murdered in Tame, department of Arauca.
25 August – Armed assailants killed three young people inside a home in Tame, Arauca, where Gilberto Ramírez was also murdered the previous day.
25 August – Political and community activist Jaime Becerra Castilla was murdered in Corinto, Cauca. He had previously stood for the town council and was a town hall official.
29 August – Carlos Eduardo Valencia Marulanda became the 30th former FARC member in the peace process to be murdered since the start of 2025. A woman companion was killed alongside him. They were attacked in San Vicente del Caguán, Caquetá, where Carlos had relocated due to violence in the Catatumbo region. He was previously based at the ETCR formal transitional zone Urias Rondón located in La Macarena, Meta.
29 August – Environmental defender Jaime Esteban Rendón was killed in Rionegro, Antioquia, where he was well-known for his activism and attending to stray and abandoned dogs. He also worked for the town council.
30 August – Armed assailants killed three men and a woman in La Unión, Antioquia. Authorities were reportedly trying to ascertain if another body found a few hours earlier was related to the attack.
30 August – Social activist Javier Henao Bohórquez was attacked at his home in Bello, Antioquia. He was taken to hospital but died soon after arrival.
31 August – Armed assailants attacked a group of people gathered inside a home in Dibulla, La Guajira, killing three of them. It is the 54th massacre of 2025.