Colombia: News & Updates

It is imperative that the government of Colombia provide effective protection measures to land rights and human rights defenders who are in situations of risk—and respond immediately when they report specific threats.

Narciso Beleño Belaides, age 62, was a well-respected peasant leader and dear friend of Community Peacemaker Teams (CPT-Colombia), a close partner of IRTF.  For more than three decades, Narciso worked to defend campesino families and their farm lands in southern Bolívar against the presence of paramilitary groups that isolated and forcibly displaced communities in the region. He was recognized for his constant fight for the rights of peasant communities and the preservation of the San Lucas mountain range, which is currently being disputed by armed groups such as the Gulf Clan (paramilitaries) and the ELN (rebel group).

Narciso was a member of the National Agrarian Coordinating Body (CNA) and was the current president of the Agromining Federation of Southern Bolívar (FEDEAGROMISBOL).  For several decades, FEDEAGROMISBOL has suffered attacks by paramilitary groups through threats, disappearances and murders, as well as by state agents in the past.

On the evening of April 21, Narciso was entering his home in the El Recreo neighborhood, an urban area of ​​the municipality of Santa Rosa del Sur, Bolívar Department.  Armed men were waiting for him. They shot him four times.

Just hours before he was shot to death,  Narciso had denounced the Gulf Clan paramilitaries for a new incursion into the area that began April 18.

The Nasa Indigenous people of northern Cauca Department have been victim to armed violence for many years. One of the primary armed actors is the Central General Staff (EMC), founded by dissident members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels who reject the 2016 peace accords.

Among the revered community leaders of La Bodega reservation is Carmen Yule Paví, age 62, whom residents affectionately called “La Mayora” (the mayor). A weaver with a profound respect for the spiritual essence of nature, she would ask plants for permission to use their leaves in fabrics. As co-founder of the Tejedoras AMA group and professor at the Intercultural Indigenous Autonomous University, she encouraged women to see the practice of weaving as a way to be more independent. Opening paths for other women, she invited them to her house to discuss violent situations they were experiencing.  

The resilient leader and Nasa Yuwe speaker had been a victim of conflict on several occasions, but it was the murder of two of her elven children (2020 and 2021) that led her to fight for the community. She was a staunch vocal opponent of the EMC; their forced recruitment of Nasa children infuriated her. She said that she preferred to die before they took more young people.

On March 16, while community residents attempted to rescue one of their neighbors who had been kidnapped (a young man), armed men fired on the community, and Carmen Yule Paví was shot in the head. She died a day later.

assassinated: two members of the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó

The farming families of the self-declared Peace Community of San José de Apartadó in the Urabá region of Antioquia Department have suffered many tragedies over the past 27 years: hundreds of murders, sexual violence, massive displacements, destruction of homes, usurpation of land, and burning of crops.

In Las Delicias, one of the farming communities that make up the Peace Community, residents have been opposing the construction of an illegal road because it is a protected zone at risk for deforestation. Road construction is likely to benefit transnational corporations; there is a container port being built nearby and a coal deposit under the community’s property that the state permitted for extraction many years ago.

On March 19, just days after Nallely Sepúlveda voiced her opposition at the mayor’s office, armed actors entered her home and shot her in the head; they also killed her young brother-in-law, Edison David, age 14. The bodies were discovered by Nallely’s three young children.

In Colombia, the situation for social leaders remains dangerous, with frequent attacks ranging from threats to kidnappings and even death. The recent assassination of Faber de Jesús Rincón Pérez in Yondó, Antioquia, exemplifies this issue. He was ambushed by armed individuals on motorcycles while returning home at 11:40am on February 3. Despite efforts to seek medical help, Faber Rincón Pérez succumbed to four gunshot wounds. Authorities are asked to investigate whether the victim had received prior threats from criminal groups in the area. A reward of 10 million pesos has been offered for information leading to the apprehension of the perpetrators and those behind the murder. Thirty year-old Faber de Jesús Rincón Pérez was recognized for his advocacy for workers' rights in the oil industry through the organization Guardia Obrera.

In the southern department of Putumayo on the border with Ecuador, social leaders are caught in the crossfire of armed groups battling for territorial control.

February 1, in Puerto Caicedo: Lirnedy Soto, a community leader of La Pradera village, was forcibly taken; his body was found three days later with several gunshot wounds on a road leading from La Pradera to La Arizona. Lirnedy Soto served as treasurer of the Community Action Board of La Pradera village of Puerto Caicedo, Putumayo.  February 3, in Puerto Asís: Jhon Fredy Muchavisoy, age 27, was forcibly taken from his home in Dos Quebradas village and killed less than a hundred meters from his home. Until recently, the young social leader had served as president of the Community Action Board of Dos Quebradas village of Puerto Asís, Putumayo.