Community leaders, indigenous activists and former guerrillas in the peace process all came under attack in August, as Colombia’s human rights crisis continued impacting several regions. Particularly affected are zones earmarked in the 2016 peace agreement for regional development programmes due to the historic consequences of conflict and state neglect.
The Petro government is attempting to reach negotiated settlements with armed groups believed responsible for much of the violence. But with the dialogues experiencing difficulties, there is little sign of a reducton in the insecurity crisis.
Here is JFC’s monthly update for August 2024 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.
2 August – The alarming wave of violence against educators continued with the murder of Edgar Eduardo Victoria Segura, an artist and teacher, in La Plata, department of Huila. He taught at the Monte Cruz Business Technical Institute located in the indigenous reservation Vitoncó in Paéz, department of Cauca. He was travelling by car with another two teachers and a child when their vehicle was attacked. The other occupants survived though their condition was not immediately reported. Since March, at least five teacher trade unionists affiliated to the FECODE national education federation have been killed.
3 August – Indigenous activist Dino Ul Musicue was murdered while attending a community meeting in Caloto, Cauca. He was known for his environmental protection work at the El Flayó community in the municipality of Toribío. North Cauca’s indigenous population has faced extremely high levels of violence in recent years, in large part due to their ancestral claims to territories used by armed groups for illicit activities.
5 August – In Buga, department of Valle del Cauca, social activist Rafael Arcangel Ramírez was killed while carrying out agricultural work with his eight-year-old grandson, who was unhurt. Rafael was president of the JAC community council in the district of La Florida and in 2008 had stood for election as a town councillor for the Democratic Pole party.
6 August – Local government worker Francisco Jiménez Gamarra was murdered in Altos del Rosario, department of Bolívar, where he was employed in the mayor’s office. Armed assailants attacked Francisco and a local town councillor in a public establishment, killing him and injuring his companion.
7 August – The second killing of a JAC council president in three days was carried out in Pereira, department of Risaralda. Carlos Alberto Aristizábal was JAC president in the district of El Dorado. He was attacked inside a community space, having received threats last year over his activism against forced appropriations in the local neighbourhood.
8 August – Former FARC guerrilla Elider Antonio Díaz Arias was murdered in Fonseca, department of La Guajira, becoming the 18th former guerrilla in the peace process to be murdered in 2024. Altogether, more than 420 have been killed since the November 2016 peace agreement. 39-year-old Elider was also a leader in the Fonseca Campesino Association. He was attacked at around 6.30am as he returned home from taking his son to school.
8 August – Housing activist and community leader Israel Romero Rojas was killed in Girardot, department of Cundinamarca. He was president of a housing residents’ association in the district of Barzalosa. The 63-year-old had previously reported corruption and acts of violence allegedly linked to local landowners. Armed assailants attacked him inside his home at night.
8 August – Indigenous activist and leader Wilfrido Segundo Izquierdo Arroyo was shot dead in Santa Marta, department of Magdalena. He belonged to the ethnic Arhuaco population and was studying engineering at the University of Magdalena. He was also a practitioner of traditional Arhuaco customs.
10 August – The second killing of a former FARC member in three days was committed in Orito, department of Putumayo. Rigoberto Ordoñez Bastidas is the 19th former guerrilla killed in 2024.
12 August – Another JAC community council president, Beyanid González Rojas, was fatally stabbed by two men inside her home in Puerto Boyacá, department of Boyacá. She is the 104th social activist murdered in 2024.
13 August – Colombia’s National Ombudsman reported that an armed strike by the ELN guerrilla organisation in the department of Chocó’s San Juan region had forcibly confined around 45,000 people to their homes. This had left them unable to access vital goods and services, including healthcare, education and food. Communities affected included Nóvita, Istmina, Medio San Juan, Sipí and Litoral del San Juan.
13 August – Four people were killed in Cesar, department of Valledupar, where they had been taking part in a land occupation. Reports said that armed assailants entered a home and attacked the people inside. The three men and one woman killed were named as Luis Miguel Támaro Castillo, 22-year-old Jaison Javier Aragón, Jader Pertúz, who was 25, and Yulibeth Murillo López. Paramilitary groups have a long-running presence in the region.
14 August – Yet another JAC president was targeted, with the killing in Arauquita, department of Arauca, of Manuel Salvador Sánchez, who led the community council in the district of Miraflores de Panamá.
15 August – Two young activists and musicians were killed in Bogota as they left a community garden in the capital’s Parque Metropolitano del Porvenir. Camila Ospitia and Camilo Sánchez were well-known for their cultural activism as part of the Distreestyle hip hop collective, which had been formed during 2021’s National Strike protests in the Bosa neighbourhood. They had reportedly received recent threats over their activities in a park where a local gang was seeking to assert control.
16 August – Community leader Yeimer Rodolfo Acero Pineda was killed in Mapiripán, department of Meta. He belonged to the JAC community council in the district of Santa Isabel and worked in the palm oil sector.
17 August – Three people were killed inside a home in La Estrella, Antioquia. Reports said it followed an argument at a nearby nightclub. Two of the dead were named as Miguel Ramos Ospina and Jorge Ramos Ospina. It was Colombia’s 43rd massacre of 2024.
18 August – The terrible wave of violence impacting indigenous communities in north Cauca claimed another victim, with the killing of Víctor Alfonso Yule Medina in Toribío. Like many other victims, Víctor was president of his local JAC community council, in the district of Pueblo Viejo. He was also a traditional indigenous guard, an unarmed role providing security in ancestral territory. During the evening, armed assailants entered Pueblo Viejo and attacked 36-year-old Víctor before making their escape.
18 August – Not far from where activist Víctor Alfonso Yule Medina was murdered on the same day, armed assailants abducted a political coordinator for the Cauca Regional Indigenous Council (CRIC) on the road connecting El Tambo with the Cauca capital, Popayán. Several family members were also abducted. The CRIC said that they were violently assaulted and had their telephones and other belongings taken. The assailants only refrained from killing the victims after realising the coordinator’s young daughter was present.
19 August – The 20th killing of a former guerrilla in the peace process was committed in Dagua, Valle del Cauca. Uber Noguera was a local official in the Comunes party, which was formed by former FARC members under the terms of the 2016 agreement. He was also the legal representative for local housing campaign group the Vivendista 26 March Association. He was abducted and found dead soon afterwards.
22 August – In Remedios, Antioquia, armed assailants stopped a vehicle, before forcing three of its occupants out and then killing them. Several armed groups are active in the region.
23 August – Trade unionists and social leaders in Valle del Cauca received threats via text message, in which an armed group falsely smeared them as guerrillas and criminals. ‘This time we will not remain passive … using all necessary means to exterminate these criminals’, said the message. It accused them of being under the command of ‘the strike’, a reference to the massive 2021 protests against inequality and state violence whose epicentre was in Valle del Cauca capital city of Cali. Those targeted included the CUT trade union federation’s regional secretary Wilson Saenz Anchola and treasurer Julian Lozano Agudelo. Other names listed included Fredy Restrepo, Nelinton Ramos, Rubén Figueroa, Ramiro Montenegro, Gilberto Pareja, Josue Rodriguez, Alberto Palomino, Mirian Duran and Elmer Montaña. In a statement, the CUT said it ‘fully rejects any type of intimidation of trade union labour and the defence of human rights’ and called on authorities to investigate the threats.
24 August – The 111th murder of a social activist in 2024 was committed in Puerto Rondón, Arauca. Wilson Guillermo Robinson belonged to the JAC community council in the district of La Ceiba and was a legal official for the ASOJUNTAS association of JAC councils. It was not the first time Wilson was targeted: on 14 November 2023, he was abducted and then freed.
25 August – Former FARC guerrilla Gilberto Ivan Quinto was murdered in Inzá, Cauca. He was based at the transitional space Los Monos in nearby Caldono and was a bodyguard for other former guerrillas who was employed at the state-run National Protection Unit. Gilberto was playing football when he was attacked, with the relative of another former guerrilla also killed. Two other people were injured.
25 August – Another massacre claimed five lives in a rural zone of Puerto Rico, department of Caquetá. The victims were reportedly three Colombians and two Venezuelans who were working in small-scale mining. It was Colombia’s 45th massacre of 2024.
27 August – Social leader Óscar Javier Guerrero was killed in Tame, Arauca, where he was president of the JAC community council in the Corocito district.
28 August – Human rights defender Luz Berilia Chalá Córdoba was killed in Quibdó, the regional capital of Chocó department. Her son Brayan Smith Palacios Chalá had been killed by an armed group in 2022. Luz was a member of local human rights groups the Network of Mothers and Carers for Young People Murdered in Quibdó, a role in which she coordinated psychological support for those affected by violence and support for the families of victims. She was attacked inside a public establishment. Quibdó continues to see alarmingly high numbers of killings of young people.
29 August – Indigenous activist Carlos Andrés Ascue Tumbo was murdered in Caldono, Cauca. He was an educator in the Pueblo Nuevo reservation. In April, he had reported threats against him over his organising work in the zone. The UN and other organisations have repeatedly warned of the high level of threat to indigenous communities in north Cauca, where killings, forced recruitments and other attacks take place on a regular basis.
30 August – Community leader Jorge Ávila and an unnamed woman were killed in Cáceres, Antioquia. Jorge worked in territorial development programmes created in the 2016 peace agreement.