Colombia, 7/25/2026

July 25, 2026

Dear President Petro and Attorney General Camargo:

We are writing to express our profound concerns regarding the brutal murders of four farmers on June 6 on the El Bosque farm in the Camelias hamlet of Remedios, Antioquia Department. The 4th Front dissident faction of the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) claimed responsibility, stating that the farmers collaborated with the Gaitanista Army of Colombia (EGC), another illegal armed group. Also present in the region is the illegal armed group the National Liberation Army (ELN), which exerts control over the population and collects illegal extortion payments. All three groups are vying for territorial control.

Armed members of the 4th Front entered the Botero family farm, tied up Efraín Botero, his wife Rosa Silva, farm administrator Alexander Restrepo García, and his assistant Leidy María Cáceres Carrillo. Alexander and Leidy María were taken to a separate location and murdered. Efraín and Rosa were separated and killed individually, their bodies left in the pasture. The victims were tortured and burned alive. The armed group also set fire to the house and left behind explosive cylinders, constituting a serious violation of international humanitarian law.

Alexander and Leidy had left Chocó Department to escape the violence there. Alexander was the son of Liria Rosa García, a land rights leader of the Caracolí Humanitarian Zone in the collective Afro-Colombian territory of Curvaradó, Carmen del Darién, Chocó Department.  Recognized as a victim by the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) for land dispossession in the lower Atrato River region, Liria Rosa García was a beneficiary of precautionary measures issued by the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (Case 140-14). Displaced from Caracolí, Alexander and Leidy arrived in Remedios over the past year. Alexander was hired as farm manager by Efraín Botero in November 2025. Leidy María, a 40-year-old mother of five, had just begun working for Alexander in May 2026, assisting with housework and caring for small livestock.

We urge authorities to:

• conduct a thorough and impartial investigation into the murders of Efraín Botero, Rosa Silva, Alexander Restrepo García, and Leidy María Cáceres Carrillo, and bring those responsible to justice;
• ensure full support, including psychological, legal, and humanitarian assistance, for the families of the victims, particularly Liria Rosa García and Leidy María’s five children
• investigate and address the activities of the 4th Front FARC dissidents, the EGC, and the ELN in Remedios, Antioquia, in a way that prioritizes the protection of civilian communities.

Sincerely,

Brian J. Stefan Szittai               

Co-Coordinator

copies:         Inter-Church Commission for Justice and Peace ~ via email

Daniel García-Peña Jaramillo, Ambassador of Colombia to the US ~ via email

IACHR (Inter-American Commission on Human Rights): Rapporteurs José Luis Caballero Ochoa (Colombia), Gloria Monique de Mees (Rights of Afro-descendant Persons )

UN: Scott Campbell, Representative in Colombia of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights ~ via email

US Embassy: Hugo Guevara (Chargé d’Affaires) ~ via email

US State Department: Desk Officer for Colombia ~ via email

US Senators from Ohio: Husted and Moreno ~ via email

US Representatives from Ohio: Beatty, Brown, Jordan, Joyce, Kaptur, Latta, Miller, Rulli, Sykes  ~ via email

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