High levels of insecurity in several regions took the number of social activists murdered in 2025 to over 170, while over 70 attacks in which at least three people were killed have now been carried out this year. Armed groups are believed responsible for much of the violence, highlighting the urgent need to reach settlements to reduce the violence.
Here is JFC’s monthly update for November 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 November – Four men were killed in a shooting at a bar in El Águila, department of Valle del Cauca. Another three people were taken to hospital with injuries. Human rights groups registered the incident as Colombia’s 66th massacre of 2025.
3 November – Another massacre saw four people killed in Corinto, department of Cauca. Armed assailants entered a public establishment and attacked people inside. Reports said that one of the victims was under 18.
4 November – The third massacre in the first four days of November was committed in San Pablo, department of Bolivar. Armed assailants killed five workers at an illicit gold mine. Three of the victims were named as Carlos Alberto Castro, Luis Guillermo Méndez and José Estiben Campuzano. The attackers also destroyed machinery, while forcing the other miners to abandon the zone.
8 November – In El Carmen de Viboral, department of Antioquia, armed assailants killed three people inside a bar, with the victims named as Diosdado Hernández, Édgar Velásquez and local youth worker Andrés Giraldo, who worked in the municipal council’s environment and culture department. Paramilitary successor groups and local criminal groups are present in the zone.
8 November – Three people were killed in Suaza, department of Huila, as Colombia recorded its fifth massacre in just the first eight days of November. The attackers reportedly asked a public establishment to turn down the music and then opened fire when the request was refused. The victims were Abelardo Marín, Jaime Arias and Jeremías Urcué.
9 November – Indigenous activist Luis Eduardo Cisneros Gómez was killed in San Zenón, department of Magdalena. He lived at the Elee-Enaka-Chemila reservation and was a legal representative for the ASOCADELU human rights organisation that represents victims of forced displacement in land restitution claims.
10 November – Social activist William García Quintero was abducted and later found dead in Tibu, department of Norte de Santander, where he was formerly president of a JAC community council. Tibu is located in the Catatumbo region, which has seen extremely high levels of insecurity this year as fighting has triggered a major humanitarian emergency.
11 November – Community leader José Efren Vallejo Ruiz was killed in Patía, Cauca, where he was president of the JAC community council for the district of El Hoyo.
11 November – In the day’s second killing of a JAC community council president, armed assailants attacked Ferley Perdomo Molina in Campoalegre, Huila. They dragged him from his home in El Peñol district before killing him.
11 November – Community activist Cruz Magnolia Sánchez was murdered in Cali, department of Valle del Cauca. Armed assailants on a motorcycle shot him as he took a taxi through the city.
12 November – An attack in Barranquilla, Colombia’s fourth largest city, claimed the lives of two men and a woman as they watched a football match in a park. The victims were named as Heider Manuel Padilla Guerra, who was 37, Deivis Rafael Cantillo Pastor, 25, and 27-year-old Roxana Chiquinquirá Puertas Ríos. It was this year’s 73rd attack in which at least three people killed.
14 November – Four months after being shot while taking part in community activities in Soledad, department of Atlántico, human rights activist Nilson Andrés De Arco Salcedo succumbed to his injuries. Renowned for his community organising, Nilson also belonged to the regional chapter of the Committee of Solidarity with Political Prisoners (CSPP), set up to support young people unjustly jailed over the 2021 protests against inequality and state violence. JFC has worked with the CSPP in Valle del Cauca, the region which had the highest number of jailed protesters.
14 November – Volunteer firefighter Ever Gonzáles Ortíz was killed in Algeciras, Huila, where he was also a community organiser.
14 November – Armed assailants attacked a bar in Ciénaga, Magdalena, killing three people. Two victims were named as Antonio José Peláez Álvarez, 43 years old, and Luis Alberto Gutiérrez Cantillo, 28. Two other people were injured. The attackers left a pamphlet at the scene that reportedly implied those targeted were connected to a rival group.
17 November – Social activist Jenny Ramírez Enríquez was murdered in Pradera, Valle del Cauca, where she was former president of the JAC community council in La Fería district.
17 November – Indigenous leader José Adelmo Valencia died of his injuries around two weeks after being attacked by a group of unknown assailants in Santander de Quilichao, Cauca. José was affiliated to the Association of Indigenous Councils of North Cauca (ACIN) and was a legal representative in the community of Munchique Los Tigres. Indigenous activists in North Cauca have faced extremely high levels of violence. Just over one week before José’s death, a JFC delegation to Colombia met with ACIN leaders in Cauca to discuss insecurity and other challenges that they face.
17 November – The third death of a social leader on the same day saw political activist Julián Arenas murdered in Chaparral, department of Tolima. In 2023, he stood in council elections for the progressive Historic Pact coalition of President Gustavo Petro. He had also coordinated the establishment of a local peasant reserve zone (ZRC) which protects the rights of small-scale farmers. Julián was shot while returning home.
18 November – Former FARC guerrilla Alberto Rivera Forero was murdered in Puerto Concordia, department of Meta. More than 480 former FARC members have been killed since the peace agreement was signed in 2016.
19 November – One day after the killing of Alberto Rivera Forero in Meta, another former FARC member in the peace process was killed in the same department. José Giovany Paiva Pérez was participating in the reincorporation process in the municipality of Granada. Armed assailants attacked him in front of his children.
23 November – Social leader Aldemar Parra was killed in Yondó, Antioquia.
24 November – Armed assailants entered a bar in Yondó, Antioquia, and killed two men, identified as Luis Ángel Marín Jiménez, who was 56, and David Rodríguez Bastos. A third man, Neftalí Guerrero, was taken to hospital but died soon afterwards. The attack came one day after activist Aldemar Parra was also killed in Yondó.
24 November – A large group of armed men entered the community of Raudal in Valencia, Antioquia, where they intimidated and threatened residents.
25 November – Indigenous guard and activist Eduardo Campo was killed in La Plata, Huila, where he was visiting from his home in the Eç Ki’na Ukwe reservation in Tierradentro, Cauca. He was shot several times and taken to hospital, where he died from his wounds.
27 November – A 21-year-old Wounaan Khirardú indigenous activist, Niver Membache Piraza, was murdered in Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca. He was attacked in front of his family.
28 November – Fighting between rival armed groups was putting local residents at severe risk in El Tarra, Norte de Santander.
29 November – Armed groups were using drones to fight one another in Remedios, Antioquia, posing dangers to civilians in the vicinity.
29 November – Community leader Ned David Valencia Rodríguez was killed in Vistahermosa, department of Meta. Witnesses reported that he was shot by the army as it conducted operations against an armed group. The municipal council denied he was a member of any group.
30 November – In the northern department of La Guajira, armed assailants shot dead Wayuu indigenous educator Elizabeth Mojica Nieves inside her home Riohacha. She was a human rights defender who coordinated campaigns to locate the remains of victims of forced disappearance.