Anti-Militarism: News & Updates

The risk to human rights defenders and community leaders in Cauca department is exacerbated by the presence of armed groups such as the “Iván Mordisco” dissident faction of the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) and the ELN (National Liberation Army), which are vying for control of territory and the illegal economy in the region.

Two social leaders were killed on April 22. Milton Penagos and Edwar Rubiano Álvarez, two social leaders who were both killed on April 22, 2026. 

Milton Penagos was a union leader and public official from Sandtander de Quilichao in northern Cauca. He was in charge of planning for the public services company Emquilichao, a former secretary to the mayor, and vice president of the Sintraemquilichao union.  He was murdered in his home on April 22 under unknown circumstances.

Edwar Rubiano Álvarez, age 34, was a leader of the Micay Canyon Peasant Association and president of the Community Action Board of the Los Tigres village in northwest Cauca.  His body was found on a rural road between El Estanguillo and La Fonda in the municipality of El Patia on April 22.  Rubiano was promoting organizational processes with cocoa farmers, seeking the voluntary substitution of illicit crops in one of the most conflict-ridden areas of southwestern Colombia.

On April 19, the National Police used a local school as a staging center for armed maneuvers in the La Esperanza neighborhood of Saravena, Arauca Department. On that Sunday afternoon, the armed rebel group National Liberation Army (ELN) attacked Colombian state security forces with explosives, injuring eight police officers. According to Municipal Ombudsman José Luis Lasso Fontecha and several community residents,  about 30 minutes later law enforcement indiscriminately fired on a pickup truck carrying teacher union member Paola Infante Jaimes, causing injuries to her skull, chest, and upper extremities. She was treated at the same hospital but died on the morning of April 20 due to the severity of her injuries.

The Cauca Network for Life and Human Rights issued an early social and community alert urging the government, state institutions and international organizations to take action against the increasing violence in the department.  In the first half of April alone, 22 people were murdered in the region, and the situation is becoming increasingly dangerous to the local community. Civilian communities in Cauca have further been threatened by videos of firearms and pamphlets announcing possible plans for a “social cleansing” in the region.

Last month, approximately 300 students at the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH) in Tegucigalpa gathered to protest proposed reductions to the university budget and to demand compliance with the constitutional mandate guaranteeing funding for public higher education. During the protest, police forces deployed tear gas, armored vehicles, and rubber bullets against demonstrators. As a result of this repression, at least one student suffered severe injuries, including the loss of an eye.

Witness accounts indicate that the protest began as a peaceful demonstration and that students were exercising their legitimate democratic right to advocate for the protection of public education. Instead of facilitating and safeguarding this constitutional right, authorities responded with disproportionate force that endangered the lives and safety of young people.

The violent response to these demonstrations reflects a broader pattern in which public dissent is met not with dialogue, but with intimidation and violence. The right to education and the right to peaceful protest are fundamental pillars of any democratic society, and attempts to silence students through force undermine both democratic participation and public trust in state institutions.

On April 7, 2026, indigenous leader Reinaldo Campos was assassinated after being kidnapped in the department of Arauca, Colombia. Campos was governor of the Macarieros Indigenous Reserve of the Makaguan people in Tame (Arauca) and former president of the Association of Councils and Traditional Authorities (ASOCATA). He also served as a liaison for the Special Consultation Mechanism for Development Programs with a Territorial Focus (PDET), which worked to transform Colombia’s countryside and fulfill the rights and needs of communities in the most conflict-affected areas.

The death of Reinaldo Campos marks the 37th murder of a social leader in Colombia in 2026, a stark reminder that the promises of Colombia’s 2016 peace agreement to protect Indigenous peoples and human rights defenders remain unfulfilled. As the situation for human rights defenders and community leaders in Colombia remains critically dangerous, we are calling on Colombian authorities to take immediate action to protect those most vulnerable to violence, and carry out a thorough investigation into Campos’ murder.