International Workers’ Day, 1 May, saw two former FARC guerrillas and two social activists murdered in separate attacks, with the violence continuing throughout the month. A number of women activists were among the victims, as were indigenous leaders and community council members. The unstable situation in many regions comes as armed groups and criminal exterprises vie for territorial control, bringing them into direct confrontation with local communities.
Here is JFC’s monthly update for May 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 May – Two former FARC guerrillas, Elkin de Jesús Oquendo Graciano and Fredy de Jesús David Giraldo, were murdered in separate attacks in Ituango, Antioquia department. They are the 19th and 20th former guerrillas killed since the start of the year. Ituango has seen high levels of violence towards those in the peace process, with the inhabitants of the ETCR transitional zone located there forced to abandon the zone in 2020 after several killings, including of family members.
1 May – Social activist Juan Carlos Rodríguez was killed in Puerto Caicedo, department of Putumayo. He was a member of the JAC community council for the Circacia district. He also represented the rights of independent farmers.
1 May – Community leader Ángel Arbey Vallejo Rosas was killed in Puerto Caicedo, Putumayo, close to where Juan Carlos Rodríguez was killed on the same day. It took the toll on a single day to two former guerrillas and two social activists. Ángel was JAC community council president for the Palmar de Picudito district.
4 May – Three people were killed in an attack in Tibú, department of Norte de Santander, when armed assailants on a motorbike opened fire at a group of people gathered outside a house. The victims were named as Melqui Vega Silva, José Luis Florez and José Hipolito Vega.
4 May – The day’s second massacre claimed three the lives of two men and a woman in a northwest district of Bogota.
7 May – High levels of violence against JAC community council members continued with the murder of José Jesús Monsalve Valencia, JAC president of the Piedritas district in Tuluá, department of Valle del Cauca. A number of armed groups are active around Valle del Cauca due to its strategic importance for trafficking routes and other activities.
8 May – Armed assailants killed three young people at a football pitch in Argelia, Valle del Cauca. Reports said the attackers opened fire at the victims without speaking.
11 May – Indigenous leader Teófilo González Coqui was killed in Inzá, department of Cauca. He was a spiritual elder who promoted traditional customs and knowledge in the reservation La Gaitana.
11 May – Social activist William Arnulfo Marín Amaya, who was 39, was murdered in El Bagre, Antioquia, where he belonged to a conciliation committee on the JAC community council for the district of El Castillo.
12 May – In Lerida, department of Tolima, Israel Cifuentes Guerrero became the 21st former FARC member murdered since the start of 2025. His body was discovered alongside that of another unnamed person.
16 May – Four men were killed in an attack inside a restaurant called El Amanacedero in Mercaderes, Cauca, the 24th massacre of 2025. The victims were named as Oscar Mera Vivas, Jonier Martínez Bolaños, Héctor Fabio Salazar and Carlos Sandoval Rodríguez.
18 May – A group of people were gathered outside a house when armed assailants opened fire at them, killing three, in Ocaña, Norte de Santander.
18 May – The day’s second massacre claimed three lives in Riofrío, Valle del Cauca, with two of the victims named as Juan David López and Heider García Quintero. A third person died in hospital soon afterwards.
18 May – Zuleima Mosquera, a women’s rights activist and community leader, was killed in Santander de Quilichao, Cauca. She was JAC community council president for the Puente Real district and worked with peasant organisations in nearby Caldono. She was attacked while socialising in a bar with friends.
18 May – An explosion injured seven people injured and damaged over 20 homes and various shops in Cali’s Los Lagos neighbourhood.
19 May – High levels of violence against JAC community council members continued with the murder of Freddy Ballesteros in Tibú, Norte de Santander, where he was JAC president in the district of El Milagro. He was travelling by motorbike when armed assailants pursued him and subsequently killed him. Tibú is one of the zones worst affected by insecurity since the Catatumbo crisis erupted in mid-January. Social activists and communities have come under intense levels of threat, with more than 100 people killed and over 50,000 forced from their homes.
20 May – Indigenous organisations and congress members condemned social media death threats and insults directed at Sandra Chindoy, Colombia’s first television journalist of ethnic Kamëntsá heritage. Anonymous social media accounts linked to the far right posted doctored images of the 29-year-old with a bullet mark on her forehead. The Cauca Regional Indigenous Council (CRIC) called on the Attorney General’s Office to conduct investigations and guarantee her safety. Indigenous senator Aida Quilcué said ‘the hate attacks, stigmatisation and violence she has received are unacceptable’.
22 May – Human rights defender and trans activist Nawar Jiménez was murdered in El Cármen de Bolívar, located in Bolívar department. She belonged to LGBTQ rights organisation Caribbean Affirmative and was coordinating campaigns for collective reparations for conflict victims. LGBTQ people face particularly high levels of aggression in northern Colombia.
30 May – Two indigenous leaders survived separate attacks on their vehicles committed within a three-hour period. The incidents took place in Cauca.
30 May – A state employee at the National Ombudsman’s Office, Jorge Rangel, was murdered in La Gloria, department of Cesar. He oversaw human rights initiatives to support vulnerable populations in the zone. He was also a community spokesperson for over 15 years.
31 May – Community organiser Lina María Puentes Vega was killed in Baraya, department of Huila. She worked at the Search Unit for Disappeared People (UBPD), a state body created in the 2016 peace agreement to locate the whereabouts of victims of forced disappearance during armed conflict. She was also secretary of the JAC community council in the Nueva Reforma district. Her brothers José Oswaldo Puentes Vega and Wilson Armando Puentes Vega were disappeared 15 years ago. Lina María was attacked at a community market.
31 May – In the day’s second killing of a social activist, Aquiles Vallejos López was attacked in Linares, department of Nariño. He was renowned for his work in upholding the region’s carnival traditions. He also organised local motorbike taxi drivers for fairer conditions.