Another violent month took the number of social activists killed in 2024 to 150, while the number of massacres reached more than 60. Although there have been recent breakthroughs in peace talks between the government and certain armed groups – a ceasefire extension was announced with the EMC, while government and ELN negotiators will soon meet for the first time in months – ongoing instability continued to claim lives and harm communities.
Here is JFC’s monthly update for October 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.
3 October – Social leader Jairo José Rodríguez Rueda was murdered in Arauquita, department of Arauca, where he was a member of the JAC community council in the district of Lejanías. The previous week, social leader Didier Vargas was killed in the same zone. Arauca’s location on the border with Venezuela has made it an important region for contraband and other illegal activities, leading to competition for control among rival armed groups.
4 October – Three men were killed in Colombia’s 51st massacre of 2024, carried out in la Playa de Belén, department of Norte de Santander. The victims’ bodies were found with gunshot wounds by a football pitch.
4 October – The department of Norte de Santander saw its second massacre of the day, as three people were killed in the municipality of Ábrego. In total, six of the 52 massacres recorded in 2024 have been committed in Norte de Santander.
5 October – In a particularly brutal incident, the third massacre in two days was committed in Santander department, which neighbours Norte de Santander where two such attacks took place one day earlier. Armed assailants entered a home at around 6am and killed three children inside. The victims were aged 12, 15 and 16 and included two brothers. The mother was beaten but survived.
5 October – Social activist and cultural practitioner Andrés Erazo was killed in Argelia, department of Cauca. He was a founding member of the folklore group Soles de Micay which promotes traditional dance and theatre. He was attacked with a firearm in the town’s central park.
5 October – Yet another massacre, the fourth in two days, saw three people killed in La Victoria, department of Valle del Cauca. The victims were two men and a woman. Valle del Cauca has seen a severe escalation in violence in recent months as armed groups exercise their control over much of the region and surrounding departments.
5 October – Human rights defender Martín Emilio Rodríguez was killed in Bogota’s Chapinero neighbourhood. He was a former member of the Medellin Youth Network and had worked more recently in the government’s Human Rights department.
6 October – Social activist Gustavo Antonio Lozada Zambrano was murdered in Tame, Arauca. He was president of the JAC community council in the district of El Cesar. JAC members continue to come under high levels of aggression, with multiple killings each month.
7 October – Three people were killed in Acevedo, Huila, when at least 15 armed men entered the home of a local JAC council member and attacked those inside, having first thrown a grenade at the house. One of the victims was reportedly the partner of the JAC president, while the two others were coffee plantation workers.
7 October – Three people were murdered n Toribio, Cauca, among them former FARC guerrilla José Alfredo Yosando Julicue, who was 28 years old. Armed assailants attacked people gathered inside a public establishment during the night. The other victims were Fredy Pequí Cometa, who was 26, and Wilson Eduardo Ascue Ramos, 22. Another six people were hurt. José Alfredo was granted protective measures last year due to threats to his life. In a statement, the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca (CRIC) urged the Colombian government and the international community ‘to join efforts to attack the structural causes of the armed conflict, reduce gaps in inequality and mitigate the conditions of vulnerability that allow armed actors to engage our young people with false promises’.
7 October – Kogui indigenous leader Daniel Nolavita was found dead in Ciénaga, Magdalena, more than one month after he had been abducted with his wife from their home. While she was released soon afterwards, Daniel had remained missing until now. He was a traditional authority in the Sierra Nevada region, where paramilitary groups have long had a strong foothold. INDEPAZ said Daniel was the 140th activist murdered in 2024.
8 October – Cultural and social activist Jaime Roncancio was murdered in Bogota. He was founder of the community tourist project Rompiendo Fronteras (Breaking Borders) located in the capital’s Barrio Egipto neighbourhood. Alongside other volunteers, Jaime sought to improve conditions in the area, which has long suffered high levels of insecurity and the presence of gangs. While killings of social activists are relatively rare in Bogota, this was the second case in four days, following the death of Martín Emilio Rodríguez on 5 October.
9 October – The United Nations Human Rights Office in Colombia issued an alert over the apparent forced recruitment of a 13-year-old girl, Melanie Scarlet Cuchimba Londoño, by an armed group in La Plata, Huila, last month. The UN called for Melanie’s return and said that eight girls in total had been forcibly recruited during the previous month, two of whom had since been released.
9 October – Another massacre killed three men in the city of Barrancabermeja, Santander. They were named as Jairo Badillo Garcés, Carlos Villalba Jiménez and Edinson Puentes Tarazona.
11 October – Heavily-armed members of an illegal group were filmed operating in an urban zone of Silvia, Cauca. Gunfire was heard in residential streets.
13 October – Human rights activist Ferney Aponte was murdered in Florida, Valle del Cauca. He was an organiser among local peasant farmers.
16 October – A renowned human rights defender and campaigner for the rights of people with disabilities, Juan Diego Cubides, was killed in Bagre, Antioquia. The 25-year-old was vice-president for the Bagre Association of People with Disabilities and Victims, as well as a member of the JAC community council in the Villa Echeverri district.
16 October – Indigenous youth activist Didier Yesid Vélez Ogari was killed in Alcalá, Valle del Cauca, where he belonged to the ethnic Embera Chamí indigenous guard. Didier’s body was found with gunshot wounds and signs of torture.
18 October – Nasa indigenous groups reported the forced abduction of a local woman, Carmen Elena Cotillo, in Florida, Valle del Cauca. The Nasa Council said an armed group had taken Carmen and called for her safe return.
19 October – Colombia’s National Ombudsman condemned an attack on human rights lawyer Máximo González, who worked at the department. He was taken to hospital for treatment but was expected to recover.
18 October – Political candidate Nelson Pérez was killed in Chaparral, Tolima. He had previously stood in council elections for the New Liberalism Party and was well-known for his community activism.
19 October – Social leader Omar de Jesús Muñoz Vasco was killed in Salgar, Antioquia. He was president of the JAC community council in the district of La Amagaseña.
22 October – Two men and a woman who all belonged to the same family were killed when armed assailants attacked the vehicle in which they were travelling in Suárez, Cauca. They were named as Ronaldo Valencia Tróchez, Nayive Valencia Tróchez, who was pregnant, and Juan Sánchez Tróchez. It was the 58th massacre of 2024.
22 October – The day’s second massacre claimed three lives in Soledad, Atlántico. The three male victims were reportedly carrying out roadworks when they were attacked. Two were named as 30-year-old Jesús Alandete Morales and Omar Puello Magallanes, 28.
22 October – LGBTQ activist Karis Saldarriaga was murdered inside her home in Caldas, Antioquia. She had appeared in a well-known book promoting Colombia’s LGBTQ culture.
24 October – Armed assailants killed three people at a family gathering in the city of Pereira, Risaralda. The victims were Isabella Collazos Buriticá, who was 26, Brayan Hidalgo Escobar, 25, and 32-year-old Yuri Montaño Izquierdo.
27 October – The 60th massacre of 2024 saw three people killed in Palmira, Valle del Cauca. They were named as Diego Muñoz, Gustavo Salazar and Brayan Juspian. A fourth person was injured. In July, a Justice for Colombia delegation went to Palmira to visit young people imprisoned over taking part in 2021’s protests against the then-government.
28 October – Former FARC guerrilla Carlos Jeison Jiménez Gutiérrez was murdered in Mesetas, Meta. He had been taking part in the reincorporation process at the nearby formal transitional zone Mariana Paéz, one of the 24 such spaces created in the 2016 peace agreement. As well as vice-president for a local JAC community council, he belonged to the CONELAEC association, set up to support former combatants carrying lasting injuries from conflict, as well as elderly people and those with illnesses. He is the 26th former FARC member killed in 2024.
31 October – The double murder of Gustavo Taquinás in Jambaló, Cauca, and his wife Evangelina Quiguanás Quebrada took the number of social activists killed in 2024 to 150, according to INDEPAZ. 66-year-old Gustavo was a Nasa indigenous leader who practiced traditional forms of medicine. The couple’s six-year-old daughter was found abandoned in their home.
31 October – Three young people were found dead from gunshot wounds in Valle del Guamuez, Putumayo.