Several regions of Colombia remain impacted by violence, as trade unionists and community activists were among those targeted in July. More than 80 activists have been killed since the start of the year, along with a rise in massacres (killings of three people or more) as armed groups and other actors vied for territorial and economic control in specific zones.
Here is JFC’s monthly human rights update for July 2026.
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 July – Community activist Yeison Yhinoba Camacho was found dead in Algeciras, department of Huila, two days after he went missing while attending a local festival. Yeison was president of the JAC community council for the Palmar Oriental district and is the 76th activist killed so far in 2026.
2 July – A father and his two sons were intercepted and abducted after attending a business meeting in Santa Fe, a popular tourist destination in Antioquia department. Their bodies were discovered a few hours later in three separate locations. They were identified as Elkin Mena Rúa, 62 years old, and his sons Didier Mena Calle and Mauricio Estrada Gutiérrez, both 36. It was the 70th massacre of 2026.
8 July – Human rights activist Diana Milena Pescador was murdered in La Victoria, Valle del Cauca. She was a member of various organisations and committees, including the Nuevo Amanecer (New Dawn) Foundation for Human Rights, Displacement and Victims.
11 July – Armed assailants entered a home in the city of Cali and proceeded to assassinate social leader Ciro David Paz Banguero. He coordinated education programmes for African-Colombian students and was a lawyer for the Pilamo black community, a social organisation to defend community rights. He also worked for the land restitution unit, the government entity that returns land to victims of forced displacement.
12 July – The 71st massacre of 2026 claimed three lives in Almaguer, Cauca department. They had gunshot wounds. Several armed groups are active in the region.
14 July – Teacher trade unionist Eduar José Arias Vanegas was murdered in Chimichagua, Cesar department. At around 6am, he was attacked while travelling to his workplace at La Inmaculada Education Institute. Eduar belonged to the Cesar-based trade union ADUCESAR and was also a coordinator at the state-run vocational training service SENA. Teachers are among the most violently targeted sectors of organised labour.
15 July – Social activist Yenny Guaina Baltazar was murdered alongside her husband in Argelia, Cauca, where she was president of the JAC community council for the district of Llano Alto Real. The couple were attacked in a bakery. Yenny’s death is the 80th documented case of a social activist murdered in 2026.
16 July – Trade unionist Juan Carlos Vargas Mosquera, who belonged to the legal workers’ union ASONAL, was killed in Palmira, Valle del Cauca. He worked for the Attorney General’s Office in the town. A Justice for Colombia delegation met with ASONAL representatives in November 2025.
16 July – Armed assailants killed two men, Brayan Esteban Correa Díaz and Ángel Alfonso Sierra García, in San José del Fragua, Caquetá. A third man, Cristian David Moncada Marroquín, was also subsequently killed by the same attackers.
17 July – Indigenous leader Herman Arturo Guerrero Burbano was abducted in Barbacoas, department of Nariño. Local indigenous organisations demanded his safe and immediate return.
17 July – An attack on an indigenous community, Saracure Río Cada, in Cumaribo, department of Vichada, left two young sisters dead, named as Tania Mercedes Gaitán Rodríguez, aged 19, and 17-year-old Clara Estrella Gaitán Rodríguez. A man was also killed. A three-year-old girl was found safe after being taken with the two sisters. The zone where the attack took place recently has seen an escalation in territorial disputes and illegal economic activity.
18 July – Youth worker and activist Jader Durango was killed in Tierralta, Córdoba. He trained young people in communications and journalism and campaigned on local issues.
18 July – Rural organiser Juan Evangelista Segovia Vázquez was murdered in El Banco, Magdalena department. He belonged to the Association of Community Councils (ASOCOCRE) which represents peasant farmers and local groups. Juan Evangelista’s murder came five months after his son, Dairo Segovia, was also murdered in El Banco.
22 July – Political activist César Augusto Serna was murdered in Pereira, department of Risaralda. He was a campaigner in the progressive Historic Pact party of President Gustavo Petro, and previously in the Colombia Humana collective. He had organised campaign events in Pereira during the recent election season, as well as solidarity events in aid of Cuba.
24 July – Social leader Arnobio Pérez was killed in Pereira, just two days after the case of Historic Pact organiser César Augusto Serna in the same city. Arnobio belonged to the centrist Party of the U and was president of the JAC community council for the ZEA district.
25 July – The alarmingly high levels of violence towards members of JAC councils continued with the murder of Esteban de Jesús Cárdenas García, JAC president in La Virgen district in Tibú, Norte de Santander. He was interercepted and shot several times while travelling through the town.
26 July – Three people were killed in Colombia’s 74th massacre of 2026, carried out in Cumbal, Nariño, on Colombia’s southern border with Ecuador. The victims were a father and son, Jorge and Alberto Mejía, and Luis Carlos Calpa, the 19-year-old son of former FARC guerrilla Doris Marleni Calpa Yela. Jorge’s body was found in Ecuadorian territory, while the other two men were found in Cumbal.
27 July – Three people were killed in Andes, Antioquia, with one of the victims reported to be a minor.
28 July – The third massacre in as many days claimed three people’s lives – two of whom were children aged 16 and 12 – in Soacha, a municipality on the outskirts of Bogota. Several gangs operate in the area, where they compete for control of drugs dealing, extortion and other illicit activities.
30 July – Another massacre left three men dead in Silvia, Cauca. Armed assailants intercepted the victims as they cycled between Silvia and Totoró before shooting them dead.
30 July – Another JAC community council president was killed in Algeciras, Huila. Nordey Bermúdez Conde, who was part of the JAC for the La Perdiz district, was found dead inside his home. Reports said he was targeted after publicly refusing to pay extorsion charges to an armed group that is active in the zone. Earlier this month, JAC president Yeison Yhinoba Camacho was also murdered in Algeciras.