Rapid Response Network

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. 

Human rights defender in Caquetá Department Ludivia Galíndez Jiménez had previously suffered two forced displacements because of serious threats against her. For the past four years, she was under a protection scheme authorized by the National Protection Unit.  On the night of February 23, her security team left her at her home, complying with all appropriate security measures. Once the bodyguards left, hitmen made their move.  They arrived at her house in the Villa del Prado neighborhood of Florencia, Caquetá Department, stood at the fence, shot several times, and killed her.

Ludivia Galíndez Jiménez was an active social leader in many associations, including the Departmental Board of Directors of the Permanent Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CPDH) and the  Communist Party of Colombia  (PCC), which sees her killing as a direct attack on the party. She was the person in charge of issues related to women for the Association of Community Action Boards (ASOJUNTAS) of La Montañita, Caquetá, also serving as president of the organization.

Ludivia Galíndez Jiménez. She was president of the Association of Community Action Boards (ASOJUNTAS) of municipality La Montañita, Caquetá Department.

At the time of her death, Ludivia Galíndez Jiménez was the recipient of protection measures from the National Protection Unit (UNP). When her bodyguards left her at home on February 23, the hitmen made their move.  From the fence outside her house, they shot her several times and killed her.

We wrote to officials in Colombia about our concerns for the safety of Indigenous community members and leaders in Cauca Department, especially in light of a recent assassination and attempted assassination.

Eywar Yamid Morán Campo was a member of the Nasa Indigenous Territory of Sa'th Tama Kiwe in Caldono, Cauca Department. As a former FARC combatant and signatory to the 2016 Peace Accords, the young man was enrolled in the government’s reincorporation process (ETCR, Territorial Spaces for Training and Reincorporation) at the Pueblo Nuevo reservation. He was shot and killed by hitmen on February 10.

Giovanni Collazos Coque is the local coordinator of the Indigenous Guard of the Indigenous Council of Paletará (Kokonuko People) in Popayán, Cauca Department. On February 25, hitmen arrived outside his house, shot at him, and injured him in the arm. For the past twenty years, the Kokonuko People have been recognized as collective victims and protected by a ruling issued by the Constitutional Court in 2004.

Several Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities in the Bajo San Juan River region of Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca Department, have declared themselves as Peace Facilitating Territories. Nevertheless, they are still subject to intimidation and even periods of confinement, primarily due to the presence of the Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces (AGC paramilitaries) and the National Liberation Army (ELN rebels) On February 1, armed men entered the Wounaan Indigenous Reserve by boat at Unión San Juan, intimidated community residents, and forced another boat  to take them to Puerto Pizario. There they acquired markers from some shops and proceeded to write the logo and initials of the ELN on some homes in the town.  Another boat picked them up at the pier at 1:00 pm. They fear another period of confinement (and humanitarian crisis) like the one they experienced in February 2023.

Most of the alerts we receive from Colombia are from rural communities, mostly where armed groups are vying for control of territory and resources. But community organizers in urban areas are also threatened. Astrid Silva Barreto is the president of Building Dreams Foundation-Mothers Heads of Household in Barranquilla, Atlántida Department.

The social foundation Building Dreams is based at Las Gardenias, a large public housing project built by the national government in 2014. In addition to providing educational and recreational activities for residents, Building Dreams also works with residents to address issues of concern, such as reported incidents of homicides, gender-based violence against girls, micro-trafficking, and the disappearance of a young man in this community, which is still ongoing.

On February 18, Astrid Silva Barreto received a phone call warning her that she had to leave Las Gardenias and that she was being followed. The threat came after an attack against the administrator of complex 6 of the housing project.

Human rights defenders are at great risk in the Magdalena Medio Valley of north-central Colombia.

Several individuals and organizations were named in pamphlets circulated by Magdalena Medio Block of the FARC-EP (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People's Army) on January 18. Then on February 1, the AGC paramilitaries (Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia) issued their own pamphlet declaring members of even more organizations as military targets. At least two well-known and respected organizations appeared in both sets of pamphlets: Regional Corporation for the Defense of Human Rights (CREDHOS) and Peasant Association of the Cimitarra River Valley (ACVC). IRTF’s Rapid Response Network has written about 20 letters on behalf of CREDHOS and its leadership over the past 20 years, and several for ACVC as well. The faithfulness and persistence of these human rights defenders is admirable considering the toll that these threats take on them and their families.

We wrote to officials in Honduras about another attack on a campesino cooperative leader in the Aguán Valley, Colón Department, in northern Honduras.

José Abel López Perdomo has been outspoken in denouncing the activities of criminal groups (suspected to be aligned with agroindustrialists) who threaten and extort the families of the Remolino Cooperative in Trujillo. He has also been falsely criminalized by the Agroindustrial Company Oleopalma and the head of security of the company Grupo Litoral, hired by Oleopalma, who accuse him of usurpation of the Remolino farm.

On January 30, while transporting palm fruit with other farmers, their vehicle was intercepted by armed men in hoods who forced José Abel López Perdomo into another vehicle and drove away. He has not been seen since.