Violence continued to impact communities in many parts of Colombia throughout May, as several social activists were killed. Among those targeted were government supporters, community council members and trade unionists. A number of massacres were also committed.
Human rights groups have documented 72 social activists murdered between the start of 2024 and the end of May, with 25 massacres also committed in that period. The government’s Total Peace policy – backed by unions, conflict victims and social movements – seeks to reduce violence but faces major complications as armed groups remain active in regions long impacted by violence and inequality.
Here is JFC’s monthly human rights update for May 2024.
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.
4 May – Political activist Jaider García Uribe was murdered in Puerto Triunfo, Antioquia. He was an organiser in the progressive Colombia Humana movement, which supports the Petro government, in nearby San Luis. Jaider was travelling with his brother on the main road from Medellin to Bogota when they were intercepted by armed assailants who proceeded to kill him. It came three years after Jaider’s son, political activist Juan David García, was also murdered.
5 May – Social leader Miguel Ángel Bautista Correa was killed in Villa del Rosario, Norte de Santander, where he belonged to the JAC community council in the 13 de Marzo district. He was attacked while riding his motorbike through the area.
6 May – Peasant leader Diomara Cifuentes was killed in Suárez, Cauca. She had founded the labour rights organisation Association of Cordillera Workers (ASOCORDILLERA) and belonged to the JAC community council in the Naranjal district of Suárez. Armed assailants attacked Diomara at her home in front of her family.
9 May – A trade unionist in the USO oil workers union, Jhon Jarry Vargas Sarabia, was shot dead in Tibú, Norte de Santander. Reports said that two armed men attacked Jhon as he left a gymnasium. The 45-year-old worked as a mechanical engineer on facilities belonging to state oil company Ecopetrol. USO has worked closely with British trade unions for several years, with JFC facilitating Unite and UNISON co-funding a project launched in 2017 to establish an USO presence in the Meta region. USO members have also met on multiple occasions with British trade unionists in Colombia and Britain.
9 May – The body of Embera indigenous activist Emilse Bailarín Domicó was found in Tierralta, Córdoba, a week after she was reported missing. The 22-year-old worked in producing and promoting traditional arts and crafts and was a member of the Association of Colombian Artisans. She had been preparing to participate in a regional arts fair. The ASOCANU indigenous organisation condemned the killing, having reported her disappearance.
12 May – Armed assailants killed 16-year-old Danilo Ordoñez in the town of Cajibío, Cauca.
14 May – Two days after the murder of Danilo Ordoñez in Cajibío, Cauca, armed assailants attacked relatives of the teenager as they returned home from his funeral, killing 55-year-old Albeiro Ordoñez and Ezequiel Ordoñez, 40. An eight-year-old child was also injured.
14 May – Three people were killed in the municipality of San Zenón, Magdalena, in Colombia’s 22nd massacre of 2024. Armed assailants carried out the attack on two men and a woman in the early morning. The victims were named as 31-year-old Hermys Arias Cáñamo, Ladimir Arias Cáñamo, who was 27, and Sorel Pino Molina, 24. A number of paramilitary successor groups are active in the region.
14 May – Indigenous social leader Sandra Lorena Anacona was killed in La Plata, Huila. She belonged to the Canoas Reservation in Santander de Quilichao, where she played a prominent organising role in assemblies, local councils and mobilisations. After she was killed, her body was left on the road connecting La Plata with the Cauca municipality of Inzá.
17 May – An explosive device was detonated along the road connecting the Cauca towns of Miranda and Corinto. An 11-year-old boy was killed in the blast, while two adults were injured. The victims reportedly belonged to the same family.
17 May – In the city of Cucuta, on Colombia’s border with Venezuela, three people were killed when two men attacked them inside a home. The victims were named as Brayan Raúl Durán, Luis Alberto Forero and Héctor Arcesio Tuquerres Rojas. It was the 24th massacre of 2024.
18 May – Town councillor Luis Eduardo Cedeño García was murdered outside his home in San Vicente de Caguán, Caquetá. He had been elected six times as a municipal councillor for the Liberal Party, including in last October’s elections when he received more votes than any other candidate. He was also involved in community work.
20 May – Social activist León Eugenio García Jiménez was killed in Toledo, Antioquia, where his brother Jorge Mario García Jiménez is a municipal councillor. Having received several threats due to his human rights and community work, León had been assigned bodyguards and a panic button by the National Protection Unit, the state body responsible for security for at-risk individuals and groups. His body was found by a bridge in Toledo.
25 May – Three people were killed in Colombia’s latest massacre, carried out in Amalfi, Antioquia. The victims were two men aged 29 and 40, as well as a 22-year-old woman named as Samanta Andrea Moreno Cuevas.
31 May – Political and social activist Alfredo Alonso Osorio Gallego was killed in Buga, Valle del Cauca, where he coordinated communications between the Colombia Humana political movement and the local municipal council. Armed assailants shot dead the 59-year-old in the neighbourhood of El Carmelo. Pro-government activists have been attacked and killed on a regular basis since the 2022 election, including another Colombia Humana activist, Jaider García Uribe, on 4 May.