Families displaced following abduction of three men by armed group

At least fifty people were forcibly displaced by armed groups operating along the Naya River in Valle de Cauca, western Colombia. The displacements of local families came amid a security alert following the abduction of three men from the Community of Juan Santos.

On 17 April, Obdulio Angulo Zamora, 33 years old, Hermes Angulo Zamora, 28, and Simeón Olave Angulo, 32, were taken by a group of armed men operating in the zone. The same group is believed responsible for forcing at least 15 families from their homes in the early hours of 3 May.

The forced displacement came after 15 armed men entered the community during the afternoon of 2 May. They fired salvos of gunfire and searched for local resident Iver Angulo Zamora, the brother of one of the missing men. When they were unable to find him, the armed men forced Norman Angulo, another community member, into their boat before leaving him a few kilometres away.

There have also been threats made against the families of the missing men to discourage them from looking for their loved ones.