Rural leader José Luis Quiñones was murdered in Tamalameque, Cesar, in August 2022. He had been leading processes of land claiming in the region.
Originally published on July 12th, 2023
Article written by Maria Andrea Camacho, Sara Correa & Valeria Quintero.
The situation of social leaders in Colombia is a complex and challenging issue. Social leaders in Colombia are at a high risk of being victims of homicide, torture, and displacement. INDEPAZ reported that since the signing of the peace agreement in 2016, there have been a total of 1,409 social leaders killed in Colombia, as of August 2022. Social leaders work in a wide range of matters that affect Colombian communities: environmental matters, ethnicity recognition, women rights, and land claiming, in every department in Colombia. Departments such as Antioquia, Cauca and Valle del Cauca have the highest number of cases of social leaders’ homicide. But they face threats, forced displacements and are at risk of homicide in all Colombian territory. In the Caribbean coast, social leaders who work for the representation of indigenous rights and land rights of communal plots are the most likely to suffer from violent acts organized by armed groups.
An example of the critical situation faced by social leaders in Colombia is the case of José Luis Quiñones. Quiñones was a social leader in Tamalameque, Cesar, who worked tirelessly to recover land that had been taken by paramilitaries and landowners in the region. Quiñones sought the promotion of peasant life, since that was the only means to which they had access to obtain money in their rural community and in a post-conflict context. He also dedicated his efforts to rebuilding the ‘Ciénaga de Zapatosa’ ecosystem, as it would help to promote community activities such as fishing as part of the local economy.
Quiñones’ work was extremely important for assuring a dignified life for the community, as he worked for the recognition of land rights of empty lands. Having access to those plots assured entire families the possibility of working on the land, and developing other economic activities that would help them to provide 3 meals a day. Most of the 150 families that live in the ‘Matarredonda’ plot, that Quiñones fought for, are dedicated to agricultural activities for their subsistence. Luis Quiñones was shot dead in August 2022, and more blood was spilled over the same issue earlier that year. Quiñones’ case is related to the homicide of other social leaders, Teofilo Acuña and Jorge Tafur, who also worked on recovering land rights for communal purposes in Cesar and the south of Bolivar. Both leaders were shot dead in the same incident in February 2022. These cases are part of a systematic pattern of homicides of social leaders in Cesar, where there have been 23 victims since 2016. Their work puts them in positions where they are seen as a threat to the interests of certain actors.
Colombia’s critical situations for social leaders has created the need of intervention from international organizations to prevent murdering and promote the work of social leaders. International Organizations (IOs) in Colombia have adopted different strategies to work with social leaders and communities. One strategy is to support social leaders in building their capacity to engage with the state and to advocate for their rights. IOs provide training and technical assistance to social leaders to improve their leadership skills, develop their organizational capacity, and to increase their knowledge of the law and public policies. Also, IOs have carried out investigations into social leaders’ work, threats and the reasons for violence against them.
An example of those investigations is the one carried out by The Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE), an international organization that has studied social leaders whose work is focused on restoring land that was illegally taken by armed groups or private organizations. CORE (2022) notes that the reason for violence against those leaders is related to mining projects, crops for illicit use, hydrocarbons, deforestation and extensive cattle ranching. Jose Luis Quiñones’ case, and others social leaders’ cases in Cesar and elsewhere, including those of Teofilo Acuña and Jorge Tafur, can fit into CORE’s conceptualization.
Also, with the signing of the Peace Accords in 2016, the creation of “La Comisión Especial para la Paz” or “The Special Commission for Peace” by the “Jurisdicción Especial para la Paz” or “Special Jurisdiction for Peace”, became a guiding tool for Colombian society and the State to consolidate peace. The commission was created to oversee the implementation of the peace agreement, and to make recommendations to the government on a range of issues related to peacebuilding, including the protection of social leaders and to recognize the land rights of victims of the conflict.
In 2016, with the implementation of the Peace Accords (signed between the government of Juan Manuel Santos and the FARC guerrillas), Colombia’s constitution added a law that seeks to return land to people who were forced to sell it, were displaced from their land, or whose land was illegally appropriated by armed actors, along with their respective property titles. Although the law has allowed the restoration of 538,212 hectares, the Truth Commission’s Final Report added recommendations to the State in order to improve, speed up, and refine the processes of land restitution in the armed conflict. One of the most remarkable recommendations made by the Truth Commission stated that:
To the National Government, Congress, the judicial branch and organizations of the victims’ society and human rights, review the restitution process to give greater agility to its different phases (administrative, judicial and post-ruling), and agree on legal and institutional modifications that are necessary for it (Truth Comission, 2022)
These recommendations were widely accepted by Gustavo Petro’s administration, whose commitment to land restitution for victims of the armed conflict can be seen in the accelerated process of studying new requests for land restitution. Since Petro’s government took power in 2022, 8.000 hectares have been intervened by the Special Unity of Land Restauration (Presidencia de la República de Colombia, 2023).
However, it is a well-known truth that there are still many failures, processes to improve, and new elements to include in the Victims and Land Restitution law. The murder of Jose Luis Quiñones, who lived in a rural community that was widely affected by armed conflict, is an example of what happens when the law is not implemented and the mechanisms for protecting communal lands and human rights do not function.
Land rights is one of the most complex subjects to solve, as it involves many powerful actors who would use any legal and illegal way to impede rural communities acceding to those plots. Recommendations made by the Truth Commission can only be helpful if the State promotes and uses them by opening spaces for dialogue between communities and decision-makers.
Furthermore, the effective and accurate implementation of the recommendations of the Final Report of the Truth Commission is essential for promoting democracy, peace and human rights in Colombia, and to prevent that the voices of social leaders such as Jose Luis Quiñones are not silenced for promoting land restitution and many other matters that affect marginalized communities in Colombia. Also, it is a necessity to consider the studies and recommendations of different international organizations, who often get to enter marginalized communities to hear the claims and requests of communities and are thus able to do a more detailed and personalized analysis of their situations.
Social leader Eva Amaya was found stabbed to death at her home in Santiago de Tolú (Sucre) in September 2022.
Originally published on August 3rd, 2023
Article written by Sandy Pallares, Juan José Pavajeau & Daniela Sierra.
The department of Sucre may be a paradise for cattle raising and a land of vast savannas where the heat surrounds its inhabitants making it a warm and pleasant territory, but it also has a series of problematic issues that affect its growth. It is located in the north of Colombia with access to the Caribbean Sea, and proximity to large and important rivers, such as the Magdalena and the San Jorge, which converge to the south where the “Depresión Momposina” floodplains are found; thanks to this water wealth, the department has a great advantage for agricultural production. However, it is also an essential strategic route for illegal armed groups, due to its proximity to various departments such as Antioquia and Córdoba, which is also an essential factor in the increase of drug trafficking through the waterways. Nevertheless, illegal armed groups and illegal economic activities are not the only issues that plague this department, as it has also generated very serious structural problems such as sporadic violence and labor informality, which, together with insecurity, corruption, and poor-quality public services, form the main problems that the department is facing (Semana, 2022). Therefore, the work of social leaders has been essential. Social leaders are people that stick up for the rights and necessities of Sucre’s society. As they do throughout Colombia. Even though their labor is dangerous, it is vital, and it helps the improvement of the department. In Sucre there have been many social leaders who fight against powerful and dangerous groups that can threaten their lives. This article will explain the case of Eva Amaya, a persistent and proactive social leader from Santiago de Tolú who fought in defense of women’s rights and innovation in the department but sadly was found dead in her own house.
Social leaders in Sucre, whether men or women, face a series of significant challenges and can face similar difficulties. These include the threat of violence and intimidation by illegal armed groups, which makes it a dangerous labor in almost every case: “Four years after the Peace Agreement, nearly 47 attacks on social leaders have been registered in eight municipalities in the department of Sucre. Of the total number of cases, 30 are threats, 11 assassinations, and six attacks against men and women who lead victims process, community and land restitution processes, mainly” (Arias, et al., 2020). Such a situation is allowed to occur due to the lack of resources and support from the government and institutions, and discrimination based on the ethnicity or political position of the leaders. However, it is important to emphasize that women social leaders may face additional challenges due to their gender. Women often have less access to the resources and funding needed to lead organizations and carry out social projects and can also be victims of gender-based violence, harassment and discrimination both at home and in the community. In addition, women may have fewer opportunities to access leadership positions and to participate fully in decision making in their community; even so, when they access these positions, they are a clearer target of intimidation and violence that can foreshadow their death sentence. These factors are all clearly and sadly present in the case of social leader Eva Amaya Vidal.
Eva Amaya Vidal was one of the outstanding social leaders of the department of Sucre, whose work continues to have great relevance nowadays. According to El Heraldo (2022), Eva Amaya Vidal was part of different programs of the Governor’s Office of Sucre, such as the Productivity and Innovation Strategy, Sucre Innova and Sucre Sabe Diferente, where she developed as a female leader. This shows that she was an innovative, creative, and strong woman who pursued social change in her community. Eva strived for greater opportunities for women and was an important representative of the Afro-Colombian community in her region. She was born, grew up and lived in Santiago de Tolu in Sucre, a Colombian municipality located on the Caribbean coast, where social problems such as corruption and a marked gender inequality still persist, as well as environmental problems such as the existence of large amounts of solid waste. The aforementioned issues are related to Eva’s work, because she was a woman who was always active and looking for optimal solutions to improve the living conditions of her community. For instance, she worked on the Sucre Sabe Diferente project, which offered “training in business plans and endowment for positioned enterprises of local cooks with traditional knowledge” (Fondo mixto de promocion de la Cultura y las artes en Sucre, 2021), which shows that Eva worked for the benefit of economic development to mitigate a social problem that was affecting Santiago de Tolu. In fact, according to the Fondo mixto de promoción de la Cultura y las artes en Sucre (2021), the objective of providing equipment and utensils to 12 cooks to improve the productive processes of their enterprises was successfully achieved. Likewise, Eva Amaya worked for the Sucre Innova project, which “seeks to increase the creation of businesses in the department of Sucre” (Region Caribe, 2021). Considering the above, it can be said that Eva Amaya Vidal was one of the most important leaders of the department of Sucre due to her participation in various social and economic projects in the department. In addition, it is worth mentioning that she stuck up for human rights and believed in gender equality. However, unfortunately this great leader was cut down in an act of extreme violence.
The dead body of Eva Amaya was discovered in her home in September 2022. Eva Amaya’s femicide caused great consternation and rejection in the department. The president of the Afro Consultative of the department of Sucre, Ana Palomino, said in an interview with Resumen Latinoamericano that “Eva’s death is an irreparable loss for the Afro community” and assured that they are very hurt, since Eva was a leader in processes of cultural ethnic strengthening. According to Resumen Latinoamericano, (2022) the most important details of the crime are that:
The leader was found dead on Sunday, September 11, when her relatives went to look for her after not hearing anything from her since Friday; upon entering the house, they found the body in the bathroom with 4 wounds caused by a knife, in the village of El Guerrero, in the rural area of Santiago de Tolú. Eva lived with her partner, Freddy Rodríguez and her two children, 7 and 10 years old, but no one was found in the house and their location was unknown. Subsequently, on Monday, September 12, the minors were found in a municipality of Cundinamarca, and hours later Freddy Rodríguez, the leader’s romantic partner, and allegedly the person responsible for the crime, was found dead. The news came in the afternoon, when the man’s body was found in a hotel room in Fusagasugá, where he was a native. The authorities indicate that it could have been a suicide.
When this happened, the Ombudsman’s Office spoke out in condemnation of the femicide and emphasized the risks faced by human rights leaders; apart from this, an early warning was issued called AT 004/22, which points out the differential risk on women leaders and defenders, who in addition to be being targeted due to the valuable work they do, are often victims of gender-based violence. In the case of Eva, it seems the violence that ended her life came from someone who was supposed to always care for her. However, the threats faced by such leaders often come from various sources.
There are many factors that contribute to the persistence of violence against social leaders in Sucre. First, one factor is the armed conflict which means that like in many other regions of Colombia, Sucre has experienced decades of armed conflict between illegal armed groups, military and local groups. According to INDEPAZ, (2022) the groups that are present in the area where Eva was murdered are the AGC (Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia: a criminal organization which emerged from the demobilized AUC paramilitaries) and other local groups. This conflict has established the normalization of violence and a lack of trust in institutions and justice. As a second factor, there are the economic interests. The Sucre region is rich in natural resources such as oil, gas and minerals. These economic interests result in motives for armed groups outside the law and for other actors that result in decisions such as intimidating and attacking social leaders who oppose the exploitation of these resources or who defend the rights of communities affected by industries. As a third factor, there is discrimination and exclusion which refers to the pushback experienced as social leaders often defend the rights of vulnerable groups, such as indigenous communities, Afro-descendants, women and people in the LGBTIQ+ community. As a final factor, there is a lack of protection and justice. Despite of the Colombian government’s efforts to protect social leaders, a lack of resources and corruption often prevents the protection measures from being implemented. INDEPAZ data states that from 2016 until the end of July 2023, 1,512 social leaders have been murdered, and in the department of Sucre, where Eva was murdered, there have been 21 such murders. In addition, impunity in cases of violence against social leaders promotes a culture of violence and foments mistrust in institutions. As can be seen in the case of Eva, the danger some leaders face may even extend to their homes.
In summary, the department of Sucre in Colombia faces challenges that continue hindering its growth and development. These challenges include illegal armed groups, corruption, poor quality public services, and sporadic violence; but that’s not all, violence comes in different ways. In this case, we addressed violence against social leaders, especially women through the example of Eva Amaya. This is a serious concern in the department. These leaders face threats, discrimination, and gender violence, which makes their work even more challenging. The persistence of violence against leaders in Sucre can be attributed to various elements such as armed conflict, economic interests, discrimination, exclusion, and the lack of justice. Government efforts to protect social leaders are hampered by a lack of resources and corruption, which produces a culture of violence and mistrust in institutions. All these issues are increased thanks to the marked culture of gender-based violence in the region. Addressing these issues is critical to ensuring a prosperous future for the department and its people in order to achieve a true change that makes possible an improvement in terms of rights and matters of security. These improvements are the very least that slain leaders like Eva Amaya deserve.
Osvaldo Enrique Hernández Zuñiga & Alexander Fonseca Peñaranda were murdered in La Guajira.
Originally published on April 28th, 2023
Article written by Laury Cervantes, Yenifer Salgado & Laura Escorcia
In the Colombian context, a social leader is “a person who defends the rights of the community and develops an action for the common welfare recognized in its community, organization or territory. Every social leader is considered a human rights defender” (Indepaz, 2020). Even though they have a fundamental role withing the communities, their lives have been often threatened and, in many cases, taken. Osvaldo Enrique Hernández Zuñiga and Alexander Fonseca Peñaranda were both social leaders in their respective communities and both were murdered. Unfortunately, these murders have been near constant due to the existence of a wave of violence that is fueled by the absence of the state in certain territories, as in the case of the department of La Guajira. Therefore, many social leaders face the danger of receiving death threats, experiencing the attacks and murders of colleagues in similar positions and ultimately, for many, being assassinated for defending their community and territorial rights. This issue should not occur, as the state government should be responsible for establishing security and protecting the rights of the population, instead of leaving responsibility with the social leaders who risk their lives by making up for the inadequacies or limitations of the State. Fundamentally, social leaders in Colombia have a pivotal role in the defense of rights, especially in marginalized zones, where many indigenous communities are located, by trying to ensure their human rights and fighting against corruption and illegal activities that affect the development of their communities. Osvaldo Enrique Hernández Zúñiga and Alexander Fonseca Peñaranda faced such challenges and such corruption and, in their struggle, suffered great challenges that ultimately cost them their lives. That is why this text will address the cases of both social leaders in order to expose the challenges faced by human rights defenders in the department of La Guajira, and by extension throughout Colombia.
Osvaldo Enrique Hernández Zúñiga was one of the many social leaders who have been assassinated in Colombia throughout the last 7 years. He was a public worker in the Secretary of Education of the Mayor’s Office of Maicao, a municipality in La Guajira. Besides this work, he was a delegate of the Junta de Acción Comunal (Community Action Board; the most local level of community representation being a civic corporation to manage community needs) of the Erika Beatriz neighbourhood, in this part of the department. Woefully, he was assassinated on October 5th, 2021, by two hitmen, who shot him dead, silencing his voice immediately and leaving many vulnerable people defenseless. The 33-year-old had been working as a school feeding contractor in Maicao, while also serving as a neighbourhood activist, being recognized as a community leader and an example to follow for his great work and for being a teacher with a high-ranking title, holding a master’s degree in education. Since his killing, there has been great consternation in that border town due to the death of this social leader, which makes apparent the security crisis that exists in La Guajira, and sadly throughout the country. When reviewing reports of this murder, it is perhaps worrying to see how the initial story gave an indication that this crime was an act of robbery, with Osvaldo’s motorbike being the target. Strangely enough, those same reports state that the perpetrators shot Osvaldo instantly and failed to take his motorbike after the crime. Unfortunately, Osvaldo has not been the only social leader murdered for defending the rights of his community, since a similar situation was presented with the case of Aura Esther Garcia Peñalver, who was a Wayúu (the Wayúu are an Amerindian ethnic community and the most populous indigenous group in Colombia; their homeland covers the Guajira Peninsula in the northernmost part of Colombia) social leader in the same department since she participated actively in different activities related to activism and the defence of indigenous rights. This work led her to denounce irregularities and mismanagement of children’s resources of the School Feeding Plan. Pithily, she was murdered by gunmen on a motorcycle, just like what happened with Osvaldo. This is evidence of the violence and difficulties that social leaders and activists have in fighting against corruption and defending their rights, and as El Espectador (2021) states, threats against journalists and social leaders have increased for reporting cases of corruption and mismanagement of resources, highlighting the misappropriation of funds in school feeding projects for the most vulnerable. This problem is so serious that there have been constant appeals for help from the Asociación de Periodistas Independientes de Colombia (APIC) and the social leaders of La Guajira on the security crisis and the spread of violence against leaders who protect their communities. Unfortunately, far from being isolated incidents, cases like those of Osvaldo and Aura before him occur with alarming regularity.
Another important case which demonstrates the widespread violence towards social leaders in the department is the assassination of Alexander Fonseca. Alexander was a Wayúu indigenous leader and a teacher in one of the educational institutions in Manaure —a municipality of La Guajira— who, after defending the rights and ensuring the well-being of his community through education, was killed in a shooting on April 2nd of 2022. This specific case acquires a high degree of importance because, within the extensive problem of political violence against social leaders, it represents an aspect that is not usually rigorously analyzed. Even though teachers are often victims of political violence, there is little documentation on the extent (Novelli, 2009). The murder of Alexander Fonseca represents the assassination of a social leader, but also represents the murder of an ethnoeducator. As it is widely known, teachers play an essential role in the social and political transformation of a system. Through these educators, indigenous communities can better understand the role of society and the position they have —and could have— within it. This case is also part of a very predominant pattern in La Guajira regarding this specific issue of ethnoeducation and social leaders. Alexander’s case is not the first case of its kind to happen in the department. Three years earlier, on February 19th of 2019, the teacher and indigenous leader Jose Victor Ceballos Epinayu was murdered when he was leaving his home to fulfil his duty as an educator. In both cases, different NGOs and individuals —especially from the communities— urged the national and international control entities to act effectively in response to the steady murders of social leaders. However, as is far too common within the context of political and social violence, their demands were not attended by the Colombian government. Colombian educators have been subject to a widespread violation of their human rights through political violence for a long time. For example, a report from UNESCO in 2009 established that “Between 1991 and 2006, 808 Colombian educators were killed, 2015 received death threats, 21 were tortured, 59 were “disappeared”, and 1008 were forced to leave their homes and jobs for fear of violence” (Novelli, 2009). Violence against teachers may have reduced since those darkest days of the conflict, but it remains. More striking is the numbers regarding violence against social leaders since the signing of the peace agreement with the FARC in 2016. Sources such as Indepaz place the number of social leaders killed since then at higher than 1,400, with indigenous leaders representing a significant proportion of that figure. The question that must be asked is what the root causes of such violence are.
These cases demand an analysis of the increase of violence in La Guajira. Regardless of how kind or welcoming people from Colombia might be, there has been a history of violence dating back to the formation of the state and sadly, this violence has been hard to eliminate. As was mentioned above, since the signing of the peace agreement in 2016, the focus of much of this violence has fallen on social leaders and activists. If one looks at the situation in a department such as La Guajira, it is perhaps possible to identify some of the underlying factors which allow this violence to flourish. There is always violence surrounding an environment and this is the case of La Guajira, a department rich in culture, tradition and natural beauty, but with risky situations such as forced displacement, threats against those claiming land, forced disappearance and selective homicides, in addition to the recruitment of children, youth and adolescents by illegal organizations, and indeed, the very presence of those illegal actors (Conversatorio La Guajira: Dinámicas del Conflicto, Situación Humanitaria y Políticas Públicas, 2011). All of these dynamics generate an unsteady feeling and difficulties for the population of the zone in general because according to Guajira 360 (2017): “in the current phase of violence and insecurity, in La Guajira everything is related.” This highlights the relationship between these different types of insecurities and topics such as development of the region, economic activities, local and regional tourism and other topics like the high levels of poverty and social inequality in the department. These difficulties are reflected in violence in the region and throughout Colombia, which is so concerning to the point that the United Nations (2021) expressed “concern at the occurrence of massacres and the continuous killing of human rights defenders, social leaders, and former FARC-EP fighters”. Concern that not only the members of the United Nations have; others in the region have expressed concern about this situation and their concern grows more and more because, according to Hoz (2022), “…disadvantaged communities without these people (social leaders) who provide them with a valuable service” end up as even more marginalized and seeing a lot more violence. On the other hand, according to Salamanca (2014), La Guajira is also suffering from abandonment by the Colombian state, because all these things that are happening in this territory, like violence, famine, drought, and economic problems, are thanks to the lack of presence and attention from the State in order to sort these problems out. As a result of this situation, it is clear that the level of violence and insecurity are increasing, not only in La Guajira, but also the territory of Colombia in general.
In conclusion, social leaders have been strongly affected by the waves of political violence in the country. In the department of La Guajira, the murders of Osvaldo Enrique Hernandez Zuñiga and Alexander Fonseca represent the magnitude of the violence against social leaders in the territory. In both cases, it is possible to observe some distinctive characteristics since each of these cases was developed from a different perspective regarding the forms of political violence. On the one hand, through the case of Osvaldo, it was possible to analyze the role of the press in these types of issues. The national press, especially from important media outlets, tends to minimize the assassination of social leaders and does not give them the necessary recognition to address the problem in an effective way. Alexander’s case, on the other hand, exposes the relationship that can develop between violence and education; giving a high degree of importance to the role of educators —especially ethnoeducators— as agents of social transformation. In both cases, it is possible to observe specific patterns concerning the situation of social leaders, so a comparative analysis was carried out between the cases of Osvaldo and Alexander and the cases of Aura Esher Garcia Peñalver and Jose Victor Ceballos Epinayu respectively in order to analyze these patterns in greater depth. This analysis shows that these are not isolated cases, but rather part of the increasing violence in La Guajira and throughout Colombia. In the same way, this analysis highlights how the lack of state presence in La Guajira (and other areas of the country) can completely change the course of a region that could become a tourist powerhouse for the country, but instead ends up trapped in the nightmare situation of violence against the citizens of the area and their defenders.
References
(2011). La Guajira: Dinámicas del Conflicto, Situación Humanitaria y Políticas Públicas. Riohacha, Colombia.
Oswaldo Duglas Bula represented the interests of informal vendors in Montería until his murder in November 2022.
Originally published on July 21th, 2023
Article written by Sergio Hernandez, Mariana Makarewicz & Jorge Paez.
In countries like Colombia, it is common to find social leaders in various parts of the country -small rural areas in particular- as the lack of State presence makes their communities vulnerable, and therefore community leadership is essential. Social leaders defend the rights of the community and actively work for the common good in their organization or territory, often by trying to deter their community and its members from drugs, violence, or actions which could be harmful for the local environment. They have very important roles as they improve society by drawing attention to the issues in these regions and by trying to improve or solve them. The role of social leaders can be dangerous and many of them are murdered by people with opposing interests. This article will focus on the violence towards social leaders in the region of Cordoba and elsewhere in the country. It will do this by exploring the cases of three social leaders who have been murdered over the last five years.
The first social leader, and the most recent of three cases presented, was Oswaldo Duglas Bula. He was a social leader based in Monteria who was shot dead on the streets by hitmen on the night of November 25th, 2022. Oswaldo was a well-known community leader who worked for the relocation of market vendors in southern Montería, a guild of which he was also a part. According to Raquel (2019), “In 2019, the percentage of informal employment in Colombia stood at 62.1 percent of the total employed population.”. In other words, in Colombia there are more informal workers than formal workers, and this makes situations like Oswaldo’s even more common. Social leaders like him are necessary in regions with little State presence to better the community and to make it a safer place in which to live. Oswaldo led this whole process, in addition to doing charity work for those who most needed it in the capital of Córdoba. The president of the Informal Vendors Association indicated that they knew they could not oppose the development of the city, but that they were concerned none of the authorities had shown any real interest in the possibility of appropriately transferring them to another site. According to relatives, one of the sons of the victim, who was also a market vendor in the Mercadito del Sur site, had recently received threats, so he fled from Córdoba. It is more than likely that said threats are linked to Oswaldo’s assassination. Cases like Oswaldo’s are sadly not uncommon.
Oswaldo isn’t the only tragic case in recent years. Another social leader murdered in Córdoba was María del Pilar Hurtado, a scrap metal collector who worked in a sawmill with her husband. Like Oswaldo, she also advocated for the relocation of vulnerable communities; in the case of Maria del Pilar, these were communities who had been displaced due to conflict. However, these families began building homes on land belonging to a local politician, and that was the end of her story. She was declared a military target by the Clan del Golfo (also known as the Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia or the AGC; this group can be traced to the AUC right-wing paramilitaries, and they are now considered the largest illegal group in Colombia) and was later murdered right in front of one of her children. It is sad to see that this is the Colombia we live in, and that very little has been done to support people in these situations.
Similarly, there was the case of Temístocles Machado. Temístocles was a resident of Buenaventura (in the department of Choco on the country’s Pacific coast) and a strong defender of his territory in the face of the threat of armed groups. Temístocles was defending the interests of his community which were being threatened by the expansion of infrastructure and facilities of the shipping port in Buenaventura, one of the Colombia’s principal maritime ports. He was assassinated by a couple of hired killers in January 2018 in the parking lot in which he worked to support his 11 children. This situation can be seen as similar to Oswaldo’s as both social leaders represented the residents of disadvantaged and marginalized communities which were threatened by the ¨development¨ of their respective cities. It is hard not to view such crimes as a grim and bloody metaphor for the human and social cost of Colombia’s economic development.
Throughout the three cases we can observe informal communities being overlooked and perhaps even eliminated if they are deemed to be standing in the way of “progress”. As can be seen, there are many cases of social leaders being murdered for trying to make a positive change in their communities. These crimes are occurring throughout much of Colombian territory, often in marginalized rural areas with little true state presence. In the Caribbean region, the most affected department is Córdoba. According to the Instituto de estudios para el desarrollo y la paz (Indepaz), there have been 62 cases of such murders in Córdoba between 2016, when the peace treaty was signed between the Colombian government and the Farc guerrillas, to April 2023. Cordoba is known to be a dangerous zone not just due to the lack of State presence, but also the presence of armed groups such as the previously mentioned AGC and the ELN (left-wing guerrillas) in addition to other dangerous groups. It is also important to take into account that Córdoba borders Antioquia, which is one of the most dangerous regions in Colombia due to the high numbers of narcotrafficking organizations operating in that particular department. That region, as a whole, is coveted as a highly strategic area for the cultivation, processing and transport of coca and cocaine, as well as other illicit activities such as illegal mining. The terrible rates of violence against social leaders and human rights defenders have not only attracted the attention of state entities, but also several international organizations.
Due to so much violence in these rural areas of Colombia, many international organizations have written reports about these cases such as the Human Rights Watch. They base their research off the facts available. One such fact is that “More than 1.000 human rights defenders and social leaders have been killed in Colombia since 2016”. This organization has also evaluated the measures taken to reduce these issues; “But implementation, especially of measures established under the 2016 peace accord, has often been poor.”. Other international organizations, such as Amnesty International and the UN have also stated the need for much greater protection of social leaders, and for more integral approaches towards the theme of rural development in Colombia. It has been important to have international organizations talk about these issues and their realities as it helps spread awareness. For cases such as Oswaldo’s, it would be beneficial to see more presence of the State to implement a sense of security in the region and to reduce the violence. Beyond this, it seems essential that there is true dialogue between all the various stakeholders when it comes to decisions which affect both the formal and informal sectors.
In conclusion, there are many regions in Colombia where the state does not have much (if any) presence, and so communities are led by social leaders to try to better the situation of these societies. The roles of social leaders are so dangerous that many of them are murdered. People like Oswaldo, who chose to spend his life working in defense of market vendors and doing charity work for those who most needed it in the capital of Córdoba, are usually left aside by authorities in Colombia who prioritize urban development over the needs of the vulnerable and show little to no interest in the possibility of fixing the issue. Ideally, it would be nice to see permanent solutions for the violence in the country and an improvement of the living situations for the vulnerable communities in rural areas. A solid peace treaty with the illegal groups that harm said communities, and policies that guarantee safety and protection for the social leaders who stand up to draw attention to the issues they face would be an ideal solution. Unfortunately, with the corruption that exists in the government, from the local to the national level, and the lack of state presence in many parts of the country, it is difficult to envision this reality in the near future.
Social leader Filadelfo Anzola was murdered amidst the state abandon that defines the south of Bolívar, a region whose lack of basic infrastructure, among other factors, allows illegal groups to prosper.
Article written by Daniela Arcon, Isabella Castrillon & Adriana Peña
Throughout the history of the armed conflict in Colombia social leaders have fought for the well-being of their communities. Some of the ways they have done this have been through defending the ownership of their lands, the health of their ecosystem and the human rights of their community. Being a social leader in Colombia is not easy, since by being a social leader, one may become a target of armed groups, the military and on occasion the government itself, as leaders are viewed as an obstacle to the interests of these groups or sectors. Leaders fight without being recognized and sometimes die without their name being remembered. After the peace agreement between the government and the FARC guerrillas in 2016, the number of social leaders’ murders have increased as a variety of armed groups have filled the power vacuum left by FARC, and fight for the control of the territories in search of gaining control over coca production, mining and other illegal activities. According to Human Rights Watch (2021) “The killings have exposed an underreported pattern of violence and abuse in remote parts of Colombia where law enforcement and judicial processes rarely reach. This absence of state institutions has left countless communities undefended”. The problem here is the absence of the State and the lack of policies created and applied for marginalized communities that have been impacted by the armed conflict. Social leaders in Colombia deserve to be recognized and protected for everything that they do for their communities. This text will aim to explore this issue by focusing on the case of Filadelfo Anzola, a significant leader in the Magdalena Medio region, who was killed just because he believed in protecting the rights of his people and the environment.
A clear reflection of the situation regarding social leaders in Colombia is the case of Filadelfo Anzola in the department of Bolivar. Filadelfo was a social leader and human rights defender dedicated to promoting, protecting and denouncing the alarming state of human rights in the Magdalena Medio region. Anzola employed several mechanisms and civilian organisations to fight for the rights of the community. For example, he had participated in the Environmental Commission of the Human Rights Committee of the NGO CREDHOS, he led the land reclamation commission of the community of Los Alpes and he was leader of the Community Action Board, Junta de Acción Comunal, (JAC) of the municipality of San Pablo (BLU Radio Santander, 2022). Part of Filadelfo’s job in CREDHOS was to denounce military actions or environmental damage in the area that could or had affected the community. However, the projects led by Filadelfo suffered a grave and tragic setback on Thursday the 6th of December 2022, when he was shot dead by two men on a motorbike in the township of Cagüices. Despite the lack of information about the motives of his murder, it is considered that the crime is related to the civic activities Anzola was carrying out in that jurisdiction, namely, his intentions to be part of the council for the MAIS party. Likewise, the authorities are not certain who the perpetrators were, but it’s considered that those responsible could be the “Auto Defensas Gaitanistas de Colombia” an armed group with strong presence in the territory (Montaño, 2022). Unfortunately, the presence of armed actors such as these means that Filadelfo’s case is far from an isolated occurance.
It is sadly evident that individuals engaged in social leadership and the protection of human rights have been victims of fatal violence in Colombia, particularly in traditionally marginalized areas such as the southern region of Bolívar. These territories have strategic importance in the control of economies such as gold and the cocaine production chain, consequently, the role of different groups, both legal and illegal, to this region will be observed. It is imperative to consider the previously stated remarks to understand the dynamics present in this area of the nation: its strategic relevance to the growth of armed groups, the conflicts between them, and the absence of state control which facilitates the spread of these dynamics. In the first place, territories in the south of Bolivar provide an advantageous environment for armed groups that have been in control of certain areas of the department for many years, such as the southern region and the villages of Montecristo and Mina Piojó. The year of 1997 stands out for, with the region already having an established presence of the ELN and the FARC (both left-wing guerrilla organizations), the entry of the AUC (right-wing paramilitaries) into the panorama. Such a dynamic meant the region was the scene of horrendously violent clashes between these rival forces. Now more than two decades later, the presence of subversive armed actors such as the 24th and 37th fronts of the FARC (dissidents from the peace treaty) and the front José Solano Sepúlveda of the ELN prevail in the region, in addition to the AGC (an armed group (heavily involved in illegal economies) formed following the demobilization of the AUC paramilitaries in 2006. These locations are attractive to these groups due to their high fertility soil, commercial borders, and the aforementioned lack of state presence.
Another example, the Montes de Maria region, located between the departments of Bolivar and Sucre, is worth noting. According to Indepaz (2011), the development of road infrastructure in this area was initially unstable, which caused it to be neglected and hard to reach. The Troncal Occidental and the Troncal del Caribe routes provided new access to the Atlantic coast and its ports, allowing for the potential of strategic pathways to the coast that could be used for drug and arms trafficking. However, it is important to remember that the exploitation of these resources is also of international interest, specifically to companies from the global north. Andrés, a miner from the Federación Agrominera del Sur de Bolívar said that in the south of Bolivar “mining is a lottery: there is only one who buys the ticket and that is the one who wins it”. The winners would be those large international mining companies that exploit the territory with the permission of the different governments with specific financial objectives, but without considering the general welfare of the population or region. Furthermore, The AGC, ELN, and 37th Front are vying for control of the Serranía de San Lucas, which is part of a region that encompasses the municipalities of Montecristo, Santa Rosa del Sur, Simití, and San Pablo in the south of Bolívar department. This area holds strategic importance due to illegal goldmining economies and the cocaine production chain. The Comisión de la Verdad (Truth Commission established as part of the 2016 peace agreement between the Colombian state and the FARC guerrillas) found that certain groups implemented an extractive business model in certain territories, which was supported by the cultivation of illegal crops and mining. This led to the forced displacement of communities and land grabbing. It is important to emphasize that even if goal of this article is to understand the illegal dynamics present in the Bolivar department, it cannot be ignored that these dynamics represent the day-to-day reality for numerous rural communities in the country. Consequently, it is undeniable that the lack of state sovereignty and inadequate governance in the Bolivar department has led to certain dynamics, particularly in the nation’s rural areas. For well over twenty years, the southern region of the department has been occupied by armed groups that take advantage of the lack of state authority. These illegal groups attempt to provide “security” and fulfil the “hard duties” of the state but do so by using intimidation and violence. An example would be the extortion rackets, exploitation of income or land claiming. However, it is also essential to consider what methods the community in Bolivar has employed to address the destruction inflicted by armed groups in the area.
It is undeniable that the Bolivar community has endured hardships, however, it is equally significant to comprehend the methods through which they attempt to confront these situations. Currently, the communities are trying under the framework of the peace accords to make use of the mechanisms at hand to bring security and reparations to the region. For example, The Junta de Acción Comunal (Community Action Board-JAC) stands out as one of the primary tools utilized by local communities. The definition provided by the Mayor’s Office of Tesauquillo establishes the JAC as a non-profit civic corporation composed of the residents of a place, who join efforts and resources to procure the solution to the most urgent needs of the community. Some of the objectives of the JAC are to “disseminate, promote and watch over the exercise of human, fundamental and environmental rights enshrined in the Constitution”. Another tool widely used by the Bolivar community is the practice of land restitution, which defends the right of the victims to have their land returned to them when it was taken or abandoned as a result of the armed conflict. Finally, it is important to highlight the government policies which intend to work as support of the Peace Accord. Under the administration of the former president Iván Duque, the National Government opted to develop a protocol known as the Plan de Acción Oportuna de Prevención y Protección or PAO. Its main goal was the protection of human rights defenders, social and community leaders, and journalists. Sadly, social leaders continue to be hindered by constant death threats and ineffective protection mechanisms (PAO). Currently, the authorities proclaim that they are following the new framework defined by PAO, but its measures are not clearly defined.
To conclude, it is important to acknowledge that the terrible reality which Filadelfo had to go through, and not only him but also other social leaders in Colombia, like the ones mentioned in this article, is a reality that can and must change. Nonetheless, for this reality to change, the actions taken by the government and the awareness that civil society has about social leaders needs to improve. It is necessary that we as a society push our government to take substantial action on the armed conflict, not only with the peace accords but also by protecting the victims of the conflict in order to prevent them from being revictimized. Government entities need to follow-up on the situation facing social leaders and help them with their labors by connecting the public policies with the reality that people in the areas most affected by conflict have to go through, and assuring protection against the repercussions of armed groups by demonstrating true state presence.
Social leaders in Colombia want to change the reality of our country with their advocacy for the protection of their people and their lands. As citizens we need to reflect on Filadelfio’s story, and those of all social leaders in the country, and realize that we are part of the change too. We can do this by acknowledging the importance of the work that these leaders do in their communities and the impact that their deaths can cause on the marginalized communities of our country, on our environment and in the political arena.
Rafael Moreno was shot dead in October 2022. He had been investigating cases of corruption involving local elites in the south of Córdoba.
Originally published on June 16th, 2023
Article written by Alisson Abello, Oscar Ladino & Javier Navas.
Colombia has been experiencing a systematic assassination of social leaders which is occurring throughout its territory. These killings have become all too common in recent years and represent a serious threat to Colombia’s fragile presence in rural areas of the country. Córdoba is one of these areas and Rafael Moreno is one of these victims. Rafael Moreno was a journalist and social leader in Montelibano, Córdoba, who dedicated his life to generating an impact and improving his community by exposing corrupt practices and the control and consequences of the presence of illegal groups in his municipal town. Unfortunately, Córdoba, where he executed his activities, is one of the most dangerous zones in the country for social leaders due to it having one of the highest amounts of social leaders killed for defending human rights and the interest of their communities; actions which affect the interests and illegal economies of illegal groups in the different municipalities of this department, and also threaten those involved in practices of corruption such as local political elites.
Rafael Moreno served as director of a digital news media service, Voces de Córdoba, in the department and was also a community leader in the municipality of Puerto Libertador. According to Quesada (2022), this journalist and community leader was widely recognized in Puerto Libertador, where he ran the media outlet until he was cruelly shot dead on October 16th, 2022. Rafael Moreno, 37 at the time of his murder, was born in a remote hamlet in Córdoba, perhaps an unlikely birthplace for an investigative reporter. This department had been historically disputed by guerrillas and paramilitaries, and it continues to suffer from the presence of illegal groups to this day. After his parents divorced, he moved with his mother to a modest house in Puerto Libertador. He grew up in an unpaved neighborhood, with precarious construction, where on stormy days rivers of water threatened to wash away everything in their path. He dropped out of school and returned to his father to work in a mine in search of gold nuggets. During that time, he married and had three children (in addition to a child he had from a previous relationship). Rafael also participated in the collection of coca leaves, a common undertaking for marginalized rural communities in the south of Córdoba. Since the signing of a peace agreement between the Colombian government and the FARC guerrillas in 2016, many social leaders who represented communities of coca growers wishing to transition to legal crops have been murdered in this sub-region. However, in the case of Rafael, it seems that it was his later work as a journalist which saw him targeted.
It is important to address the danger faced by journalists in Colombia. Free speech is usually a threat in the country when the opinion or thoughts that are expressed are seen as a threat to the interests of an individual, entity or organization. This is a situation that many journalists live daily, not only in the country but also internationally, since these cases have been increasing and, in the process, gravely threatening the free speech that the Colombian Constitution promotes. Rafael Moreno, besides being the director of the departmental news, was also a social leader in Puerto Libertador, Cordoba. According to local media, a few months ago the protection scheme he had been assigned by the UNP (Unidad Nacional de Protección), which had been granted due to the death threats he had received on different occasions, was removed. As mentioned, if you are a journalist in Colombia who questions the influence of illegal actors, raises awareness of corruption scandals or queries the social and political choices made by those in charge in the country, you face a range of dangers. Precisely, Rafael Morenos’s case highlights this risk and danger that they face in Colombia. Journalists in the country are constantly threatened by different armed and illegal groups in Colombia such as paramilitary groups or drug cartels. In the particular case of Rafel Moreno, it seems that the forces who decided he should be murdered were unable to totally silence his voice despite ending his life. Days before Rafel was murdered, he had contacted the French non-profit organization Forbidden Stories and signed up to the SafeBox network, a system whereby threatened journalists can share their files so that their investigations can continue in the case they are murdered. As a result, over 30 media outlets around the world, including The Guardian in the UK, corroborated and shared the findings of Rafael’s investigations; practices of corruption carried out by local political elites and illegal extraction of resources for public construction works from a protected area. In carrying out these investigations, it seems that Rafel made some powerful enemies. Politicians and public actors may use legal measures to silence journalists who disagree about their choices or actions. However, it is a much worse and more precarious situation for journalists who cover social and political issues in rural areas, where armed groups have a significant presence. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (2022), Colombia has been listed as one of the most dangerous countries for journalists, making it one of the deadliest in the continent.
There are very similar cases to that of Rafael Moreno. One such case is that of journalist and social leader Wilder Córdoba. Wilder was murdered by hired killers who shot him dead in the Colombian town of La Unión, department of Nariño, on the border with Ecuador. Despite being in a department very far away from Córdoba, we can find some similarities in the contexts; the department of Nariño is experiencing a situation of violence because of the presence of FARC dissidents, drug trafficking groups and the National Liberation Army (ELN). In addition to the above, we also found a case that particularly catches our attention because of its impact on the population and it is about the political and peasant leader Milton Rocha Peña, who was murdered in the municipality of San Sebastián de Buenavista, in Magdalena in February 2023. According to the Indepaz Foundation, this would be the 16th social leader killed by that stage in 2023 and number 1,425 since the signing of the Peace Accords between the FARC and the Colombian government in 2016. These killings have led to constant complaints on behalf of organizations representing journalists in Colombia.
Rafael’s case is not the only unpunished case in the department of Cordoba because according to the Consultancy for Human Rights and Displacement (Codhes), 86% of the cases there are unpunished. In fact, the Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP) strongly condemned the threats suffered by Córdoba journalists Rafael Gómez, Édgar Astudillo, Organis Cuadrado and Rafael Moreno. FLIP called on local and national authorities to take effective measures to protect journalists and carry out thorough investigations to identify those responsible. But these appeals were in vain. FLIP learned of a pamphlet signed by the Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia in 2021, sometime before Rafael Moreno was murdered, in which the illegal group (formed following the demobilization of right-wing AUC paramilitaries between 2004-2006) threatened to kill eight people, including two journalists from the department of Córdoba: Rafael Gómez and Édgar Astudillo. Gómez, who physically received the pamphlet in his office, because he had been covering in the newspaper and the radio network La Piragua the activities of illegal armed groups and the alleged irregular management of public funds in the municipalities of Montelíbano, Tierralta and Puerto Libertador. Furthermore, Rafael Moreno and Organis Cuadrado, also from Voces de Córdoba, had also informed FLIP that they were not the first threats they had received. Moreno had said that on June 17th, 2021, in Puerto Libertador, an unknown person approached him while he was having lunch and warned him that he had been orders that he was to be killed, after the journalist published information about the murder of a young man in the municipality. For his part, Cuadrado reported to FLIP that on June 13th, 2021, he was intimidated by a man in Montelíbano, who told him that “it would take its toll,” after the communicator denounced irregularities in the management of a former mayor of Puerto Libertador through his journalistic work. It is crucial that the UNP and the Attorney General’s Office work together with the Ombudsman’s Office, the government of Córdoba and the mayors of Puerto Libertador and Montelíbano to assess the context of violence in the region, as well as the vulnerabilities and risk factors of the press in this area. This context is fundamental to determine the level of risk of journalists and apply the most efficient measures to safeguard their life and integrity. Departments such as Córdoba require concerted efforts to reduce the risk factors encountered.
Córdoba is a department in Colombia that has had a historic presence of armed groups, which has led to an alarming security situation, especially in the municipalities of Alto Sinú and San Jorge and the south of the department, where illegal groups have a strong presence. In this context, it is worrying that journalists are exposed to risks related to complaints about public order, corruption and criminal organizations. These threats against the press generate an atmosphere of fear and silence among journalists in Córdoba, which affects the flow of information in the area on issues that impact the community. Of course, journalists are not the only civilians affected by this worrying scenario. According to the Human Rights Watch report (2023) the Ombudsperson’s Office reported 182 killings of human rights defenders throughout Colombia between January and October 2022. One of the most affected departments is Cordoba with an affectation of 77% of paramilitary activity and besides that, more than 90% of the municipalities in the department affected by paramilitarism (Indepaz, 2022). Because of this high presence of illegal groups, social leaders have suffered persecution and systematic murders due to them being perceived as against the interest of those groups which want to consolidate and materialize their objectives in the department. In addition, political groups, or as they are frequently known in certain regions in Colombia “Clans”, are families who belong to political groups with a long tradition in public administration positions. In departments such as Córdoba, many of these used to collaborate with, or at the very least turn a blind eye to, the activities of paramilitary organizations because sometimes those activities coincide with their own interests, or those groups assist them in maintaining their power within local governance. The parapolitica scandal shed light on the links between politicians and paramilitaries in departments such as Córdoba. However, despite the AUC paramilitaries long being demobilized, it seems that these sorts of links between local political elites and illegal groups are still a reality. This is just one reason why the work of social leaders is so precarious in departments like Córdoba. As evidence of the above-mentioned problem according to the Observatorio de DDHH, Conflictividades y Paz (2023), in the first two months of 2023, two social leaders, Jorge Luis Jaraba Plata and Alfonso Arteaga Cuadrado, were assassinated in the region. They were farmers in Córdoba in the municipality of Tierralta who had both been involved in voluntary crop substitution programs. These two cases, in addition to that of Rafael Moreno, are but three cases of the 62 murdered social leaders in the department of Córdoba between 2016 and April 2023.
In conclusion, Rafael Moreno was a journalist and social leader that was killed due to the dangerous reality which exists in many corners of Colombia due to the presence of illegal armed groups, the propensity for corruption among local elites and the negligence of the government in terms of addressing topics such as the importance of defending free speech and protecting the lives of social leaders in Colombia. As a result, Colombia is nowadays one of the deadliest countries for social leaders and journalists with the threats coming from a large range of sources such as illegal armed groups, private actors and even political elites. Such a scenario leaves them in a very precarious situation. Social leaders and journalists in Córdoba are just two of the many groups who face risks in their efforts to advocate for justice and equality. The impunity of these cases alarms the population and increases the insecurity for social leaders. Despite this, social leaders and journalists continue their work to achieve a better awareness of the dangers and the issues that the country faces daily, highlighting the importance of respecting free speech for the press in Colombia.
Indepaz. (2022). Desafío a la Paz Total: Lo que recibió el gobierno de Gustavo Petro. Informe sobre la presencia de grupos armados en Colombia 2021-2022(1).
The annual Festival of Drums and Cultural Expressions of Palenque is a celebration of the unique culture and identity of San Basilio de Palenque. It is a demonstration of the enduring resistance of the first free town of the Americas and indicative of the rich cultural diversity found in Colombia. Last year, La Libertad Sublime visited to learn more about what Palenque represents in terms of the diaspora, music, tradition and power.
Originally published on October 10th, 2023.
Diappora – Diaspora
/dʌɪˈasp(ə)rə/
The dispersion or spread of a people from their original homeland.
It is difficult to think of Palenque, or its festival, without thinking of the diaspora. A settlement established by those escaping the ravages of slavery in the 17th century, Palenque and its early inhabitants fiercely defended this independence to the extent that it has endured to this day. A piece of Africa, as performers Justo Valdez and Viviano Torres pointed out. In doing so, the town has become synonymous with Afro-Colombian identity and culture. Its annual festival of drums and cultural expressions is the most vivid manifestation of this culture and identity, and the ideal moment for a gathering of the diaspora. While Palenque itself is an expression of the African diaspora, disseminated through the horrors of slavery, the town counts on its own diaspora. Like many rural towns throughout Colombia, its inhabitants have a long history of migration; to nearby cities such as Cartagena and Barranquilla principally, but also further afield to places like Bogotá and internationally to neighboring countries and beyond.
The festival was originally conceived as an occasion for the settlement’s diaspora to come together and strengthen their shared culture and identity. Iveth Herrera Miranda is an example of Palenque’s near diaspora; she was born in Barranquilla to Palenquero parents and runs the Kasimba cultural centre there promoting food and dance as expressions of Palenque’s culture. The centre takes its name from the hollows traditionally dug out of creek banks and used for washing clothes in Palenque in times gone by. Iveth, like many of Palenque origin living in cities like Cartagena and Barranquilla, stays with family members when visiting for the festival, and expresses satisfaction that the festival has grown from what was traditionally a day to celebrate the role of colonizers (Columbus day) to being a celebration of the particularities of Palenque culture.
Cultural leader Iveth Herrera is from the Palenque diaspora in Barranquilla, where she runs the Kasimba cultural centre. Photo courtesy of Iveth Herrera.
Like Iveth Herrera, Sidney Reyes Reyes, a researcher, music collector and radio presenter, also hails from the Palenque community in Barranquilla. Sidney speaks of childhood trips to San Basilio de Palenque as being the highlight of every year, and he continues to visit as frequently as possible. For Sidney, Palenque represents a town and community that has led a valiant resistance since the era of colonialism, maintaining its honor and a sense of freedom despite the many challenges and obstacles it has faced.
Researcher, collector and radio presenter Sidney Reyes Reyes. Photo courtesy of Sidney Reyes Reyes.
Kairen Gutierrez grew up in Cartagena, where from an early age she was exposed to racist and discriminatory comments focusing on the color of her skin and her Palenquera background. This discrimination led Kairen to a life dedicated to political and community activism on behalf of Palenque and other Afro-Colombian communities throughout the region. Kairen is in no doubt of the importance of the festival: ‘(the festival) is the moment, the stage, the meeting, the most important date for the Palenque diaspora, every year…it’s the opportunity to enjoy and share our culture’. Figures like Kairen, involved in national Afro-Colombian networks such as Procesos de Comunidades Negras (PCN) have been pivotal in establishing the festival as a reference point not only for those with familial ties to Palenque but also for Afro-Colombian communities in distinctive regions of Colombia, such as the Raizal population from the islands of San Andres and Providencia and the many Afro-Colombian populations located on the country´s Pacific coast. Increasingly, the town and its festival are attracting interest from the African diaspora throughout the Americas.
The festival at Palenque welcomed artistic acts from Colombia’s Pacific coast, another hotbed of Afro-Colombian identity in the country.
Tamia Jordan is the director of intercultural student affairs at Emerson College in Boston. Her work had previously seen her travel with students from the U.S. to Ghana as part of a music exchange program. Making connections with the African diaspora has been a long-held objective for Tamia, and she had previously travelled to Havana, Cuba, and Portobello in Panama in order to forge such links. While on her first visit to Colombia in 2018, Tamia visited Palenque, and established a relationship with the Palenquero hip-hop group Kombilesa Mi, whom she would later help bring to Emerson College in July 2022. Months later, Tamia was back in Palenque for the festival, which she views as the type of experience that assuages the heartache etched in the DNA of those who can trace their ancestors to the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade.
Tamia Jordan, visiting from the U.S. with friend Jeanné Anderson, poses for a picture with the legendary Justo Valdez, of Son Palenque.
Filmmaker and researcher Carolina del Mar Fernandez emphasized the importance of technology in terms of allowing younger generations of Palenqueros to establish connections with their peers of African origin elsewhere in the world, at a time when black pride messages are much more pronounced than in the past. It seemed appropriate that among all the colorful murals which decorate the town with messages exalting pride in the community, its identity, and its achievements, there were but three words in English: Black Lives Matter. Singer and cultural ambassador Viviano Torres sees the festival as the perfect occasion for these disperse communities and cultures to come together, with the drum as the central pillar, while Justo Valdez, leader of the legendary Son Palenque, highlighted how more and more people arrive at the festival these days to hear ‘the music of the African diaspora’.
Músika – Music
/ˈmjuː.zɪk/
An art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody, harmony, and color.
Originating from the Latin «musica» which is derived from the Greek term «mousike», which makes reference to the education of the spirit, placed under the patronage of the muses of the arts.
It is an impossibility to think of Palenque without music. Music is both a link to the past of Palenque and the bridge which connects the town and its inhabitants to the nations and peoples of the African continent, from where their ancestors had been seized and sold into slavery centuries ago. Music is the language which courses through the diaspora from Palenque to Port-au-Prince, Havana and San Juan and across the waves to Kinshasa, Lagos and Nairobi. In Palenque, music marks the times of joy, such as its festival, and also times of sadness, such as during the Lumbalú funeral traditions, where days of mourning are filled with wailing, prayers, songs and dance as a way of aiding the transition of the departed, a ritual that can be traced back to Bantú territory in western Africa.
Researcher, collector and picotero Don Alirio. Photo courtesy of Don Alirio.
Palenque has also been at the vanguard of the popular music scene throughout Colombia. It was in Palenque and among Palenquero communities in Cartagena and Barranquilla that genres from the Congo, Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa (among others) gained popularity at the picó sound systems from the 1970s onwards. However, the importance of Palenque as an entrance point extends far beyond then. For Don Alirio, an avid record collector, picotero, and researcher, San Basilio de Palenque does not receive the national acclaim it merits in relation to the popularity of Salsa music: “The first manifestations of Afro-Antillan rhythms such as Son Guajiro, Son Cubano or Son Montuno, were made in Palenque, not Barranquilla, and not Cali”. These rhythms were interpreted by a group of musicians with a musical legacy of almost a hundred years of tradition, a group known today as the Sexteto Tabalá. Their exposure to Cuban rhythms as far back as the 1920s has been credited to contact with Cuban engineers who had visited the region to share knowledge of sugar cane production, and who in the process, brought instruments of African origin such as the marimbula. This group, under the guidance of maestro Rafael Cassiani Cassiani (until his death in 2022), has made a massive contribution in terms of putting Palenque, and Palenquero culture, on the map at a national and international level, as well as playing a fundamental role in the perpetuation of this rich musical and cultural legacy through the training and teaching of subsequent generations. This musical apprenticeship forms younger generations in the tambor-drumming, dancing and singing required in traditional rhythms such as Bullerengue, Chulapa and the Mapale.
Marimbulas in the casa cultural of Kombilesa Mi in Palenque. The instruments were originally introduced to the Palenque community by Cuban engineers visiting Colombia in the 1930s.
All of these rhythms and dances are present throughout the three days of a festival where the tambor is the “central epicentre” according to Viviano Torres. Viviano was a leading figure in the development of Terapia music scene in the early to mid-eighties. Effectively, this genre saw artists from Palenque, Cartagena and Barranquilla reinterpret the rhythms and melodies of the hugely popular African music which dominated the local picó culture from the 1970s onwards. Rhythms such as soukous (from the modern-day Democratic Republic of Congo), highlife (from Nigeria and Ghana), mbaqanga (from the townships of South Africa) or benga (from Kenya) ruled the local sound system culture throughout the Caribbean region following their arrival through the ports at Cartagena and Barranquilla. These records were so highly sought after by the owners of the picó sound systems that they would fund trips by the so-called “corresponsales” to find records throughout the Caribbean and even further afield to cities such as New York and Paris, as well as making the ultimate pilgrimage to cities such as Kinshasha, Lagos, and Nairobi, in search of new music to set their picó apart. Many of these records were held as treasured exclusives by sound systems and as such, all evidence of their identity was concealed, with covers guarded jealously and labels scratched off.
Musician and cultural ambassador Viviano Torres during the 2022 festival in Palenque.
For researcher and collector Sidney Reyes Reyes, it was difficult to put into words the affinity he felt upon hearing these genres as a youth, music that “connected us to the motherland, a magical experience that strengthened the invisible thread which connects us as African descendants”. As a young man growing up in the midst of the mighty picó soundsystems of Palenque and Cartagena, Viviano Torres would use a handheld device to record the hypnotic guitar driven melodies transported from far foreign lands. The languages of the lyrics may have been unfamiliar, but the underlying rhythms were not: “I said to myself that when I heard an African rhythm, a soukous rhythm, or a mbaqanga rhythm…if we took out the harmony of a soukous, what you hear is what (music) sounds like in Palenque, or if we’re listening to a mbaqanga, and we take out the harmony, I’m listening to bullerengue, so I thought of us and them as the same, that we have a lot of similarities”. Inspired by these African genres and other Caribbean rhythms which blasted out of picós such as compa, cadence and zouk, Viviano embarked on a musical career under the stage name of Anne Zwing and forged a path which set the tone for the Terapia and later the Champeta genres which melded these hugely popular foreign rhythms with locally inspired lyrics. Viviano made an effort to include lyrics written in the Palenquero language to make sure that these new genres resonated strongly with the local community.
Justo Valdez & Son Palenque onstage on Saturday night at the festival.
Another giant of the Afro-Colombian music scene, and pioneer of the incorporation of the Palenquero language in popular music, is Justo Valdez, leader of the emblematic Son Palenque. Before taking to the main stage in the square on Saturday evening, Justo could be found wandering throughout the streets of Palenque in a typically flamboyant outfit. Like Viviano, Justo Valdez was one of pioneers of Terapia and Champeta Criolla music in the region and was pivotal in the promotion of the Palenquero language. Justo stated that Son Palenque have always fought for their language and culture, and pointed out that anthem of Palenque, which he wrote, was recognised by Unesco when it awarded the status of cultural patrimony for the town (Unesco, 2005). Like Viviano and Justo, among the revellers at the festival were other giants from the local music scene with legendary groups such the Estrellas del Caribe and the Grupo Son San forming part of the line up on the main stage in the square over the weekend, in addition to numerous acts highlighting the rich folkloric traditions of Afro-Colombian communities from both of Colombia’s coastal regions. However, the main attraction was a group hailing from the smallest country in Africa, the island nation of Sao Tome and Principe, that was making their first visit to a distant region where their music has been celebrated since the early eighties.
Grupo Son San perform “A Pilha La Roz” to a delighted audience on Saturday night.
The popularity of the group Africa Negra in Palenque, Cartagena and Barranquilla is a testament to the power of the picó culture. For Don Alirio, these soundsystems eliminate the boundaries between musical genres and countries, allowing picoteros, selectors and DJs to take revellers on a musical journey across space and time. Such a dissolution of the linguistic and cultural boundaries that separate nations and regions of the world allowed a group such as Africa Negra, led by their iconic frontman General Joao Seria with lyrics in the local Forro language (a form of Creole language incorporating aspects of Portuguese with traditional local languages), to be hugely popular in the town of Palenque and among its diaspora who speak the Palenquero creole language and Spanish on the opposite side of the Atlantic ocean. The popularity of the group is attributed to the arrival of their second LP (‘Carambola’ recorded in 1983) to Cartagena. The record proved a hugely popular hit among local audiences and was a treasured exclusive of the El Conde picó for an incredible sixteen years until the identity of the song was finally discovered (Fukafra, 2015). For Don Alirio, the group’s guitar driven style broke the mould of the African genres that had been hitherto popular in the soundsystems despite being clearly influenced by Congolese rumba rhythms.
Africa Negra perform “Vence Vitória” to a rapt local crowd on the Friday of the Festival.
The group’s visit saw them perform in Palenque on the Friday and Sunday of the festival, with a performance in between in the neighborhood of Nueva Colombia (a Palenquero enclave in the centre of Barranquilla), in between. For those lucky enough to see these concerts, it was a hugely significant experience. Political representative Kairen Gutierrez expanded on this: “…for the palanquero community, we were used to hearing these songs, at the picós and on vinyl records, but we had never seen them live and direct, and so for the community, especially the older inhabitants, they couldn’t believe that they were seeing Africa Negra right there in Palenque…it was really beautiful”. It seems that the feeling was mutual, with band leader Joao Seria telling media outlet RTSP (2022) that they never knew their music had been so popular in Palenque and Colombia for such a long time and expressed his honor at how well the band had been received. The cherished performances to a rapt local audience would take on even greater poignancy following the sudden death of Joao Seria in May 2023.
General Joao Seria of Africa Negra posing in front of the Gran Lobo picó during his time in Barranquilla and Palenque in October 2022. Their appearance in Palenque would take on added poignancy following his sudden death in May 2023. Photo courtesy of Julio César Lobo.
Tradisio – Tradition
/trəˈdɪʃ.ən/
The transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation, or the fact of being passed on in this way.
The festival in Palenque is a celebration of, and an effort to maintain and conserve, the traditions which define the town and its identity. These traditions can be traced all the way back to the establishment of the town by its iconic founder Benkos Biohó, who had led a party of people escaping slavery towards the mountainous region to the south-west of Cartagena in the 17th century. Following several attempts by Spanish soldiers to recapture these cimarrones (known as maroons in English), a royal decree eventually recognized the autonomy of the town in 1714, as researcher and filmmaker Carolina del Mar Fernandez pointed out, a full 90 years before the independence of Haiti.
The spirit of resistance exemplified by the Cimarrones lives on in Palenque: “We are daughters of Cimarron strength”.
The relative isolation enjoyed by the town in the years since allowed the inhabitants to maintain many of the traditions that had crossed the ocean with their ancestors. These traditions are central to the identity of the town and its inhabitants and as such form the centrals pillars of their annual festival. Visitors to the festival can attend and participate in workshops across the weekend including ones focused on the Palenquero language, traditional dances, braided hairstyles, local gastronomy and ancestral medicines, among others. Singer and activist Viviano Torres sees all of these as central to the identity of Palenque and views the town and its festival as representing “…the preservation, the conservation of our Afro identity”. Each and every cultural tradition encountered during the festival is imbued with the complex and rich identity which defines the town and its people.
The Palenquero creole language is one of the 69 recognized languages in Colombia, in addition to Spanish, and it is a fusion of Spanish with African Bantu languages. It is estimated that there were once more than 70 African languages spoken in Cartagena (BBC, 2016) at the height of the slave trade which brought these representatives of so many ethnic groups and nations across the ocean in the harshest manner imaginable. These languages may have faded into the past in Colombia, but their legacy lives on in the traces found within the Palenquero language. The language runs through all the events which take place during the weekend and is visible in the many murals which decorate the town and its houses. Political activist Kairen Gutierrez emphasized the importance of the festival as a way of perpetuating and strenghtening the many cultural expressions of Palenque, and pointed out that the Palenquera language was the most important way to maintain their cultural identity. The 1991 constitution declared Colombia to be a pluralistic nation, seeking to redress the damage caused to the nation’s many ethnic communities with the push for a homogenous national identity dating back to the 1886 constitution and beyond, including the establishment of Spanish as the sole officially recognized language. Article 10 of the 1991 constitution stipulated Spanish as being the official language of the nation but enshrined the official status of other ethnic group’s languages and dialects within their territories (Derechos del Territorio). One result of this plurilinguistic approach has been the spread of ethno-education schools and institutions across the many diverse communities found in the country. San Basilio de Palenque is of course not the exception in this case and there are such ethno-education schools in the town and within Palenque communities in Cartagena and Barranquilla. As Kairen pointed out, the festival and its celebration of the language among other cultural expressions is a vital tool in guaranteeing the cultural identity of Palenque.
“Ancestral identity and culture united in the rhythm of peace”
As mentioned above, each component of the festival is infused with significance in terms of its relation to the identity of the first free town in the Americas. The braiding of hair is of course synonymous with Afro identity, yet the workshops offered to visitors elaborate on the profound significance incorporated into individual designs, such as how in the time of the establishment of the settlement at Palenque, braided hairstyles were used as a way to share clandestine maps needed to escape slavery. As Iveth Herrera, part of the Palenquera community in Barranquilla and founder of the Kasimba cultural centre, revealed: “When I began to learn how to make braids, I learned the history of braids, (how they were) maps to freedom, and a history of rebellion”.
Maestro Rafael Cassiani Cassiani (RIP). Photo courtesy of El Beat.
Palenque’s rich cultural history and identity saw the town and its cultural representations, including its music and dance, in addition to its social, medicinal and spiritual practices, added to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2005 (Unesco, 2005). One manner through which these traditions are maintained from generation to generation is the Kuagro, a form of social organization based on family networks across shared age groups. Kuagros are the cornerstone of community life in Palenque, and membership of a one entails a lifelong commitment (including participation in funeral processes) to a shared sense of responsibility and solidarity. Researcher and filmmaker Carolina del Mar Fernandez worked on making the acclaimed film El Beat, alongside director Irene Lema, which traces both the history and enduring cultural wealth of the town. Part of the film includes extensive footage and conversation with maestro Rafael Cassiani, the deceased former leader of the emblematic Sexteto Tabala. Carolina witnessed first-hand the dedication of maestro Cassiani in passing on this rich cultural legacy from generation to generation: “Cassiani understood the importance of the younger generations learning their music, and about their music, (as a way for them) to understand where they came from…(he) would always talk of the Kuagros, of the importance of the Kuagros, traditionally and to this day. When he died, his Kuagro was there to bid him farewell”.
Filmmaker Carolina del Mar Fernandez and Kombilesa Mi frontman and activist Afroneto celebrate the prizes won by “El Beat” at the Quibdo film festival. Photo courtesy of El Beat.
One of the most representative ambassadors of Palenque identity and culture throughout Colombia and internationally in recent years has been the group Kombilesa Mi (My Friends in Palenquero), whose rap-folklorico has seen them bring their language and culture to newer, younger and more diverse audiences. Steeped in the history and cultural identity of their town, the group’s members were involved in activities throughout the weekend, offering workshops on traditional drumming and dances, participating in demonstrations of the language and other customs, or merely receiving visitors to their home and cultural centre near the town’s main square. Despite their huge success in recent years, they never got to present their unique take on hip-hop on the main stage. However, as the Saturday night wore on, and the older members of the community took some needed rest, these youthful ambassadors of a proud Palenquero culture were central to the alborada, a procession of drumming and dancing throughout the streets of the town on the cusp of dawn. Watching the exuberance of the procession move through the town, with the flag of Palenque being waved proudly at its forefront, it was not difficult to interpret that the future of the town and its unique culture was in safe hands. And that maestro Cassiani could indeed rest easy.
Palenque’s younger generations show that the town’s unique cultural identity is in safe hands as they lead the “alborada”, a procession through the town on the cusp of dawn.
Polé – Power
/ˈpaʊə/
The capacity or ability to direct or influence the behaviour of others or the course of events.
“a political process that offers people power over their own lives”
The festival of drums and cultural expressions in San Basilio de Palenque is a riotous mix of music, identity and culture. But it is also a demonstration of pride in the resistance that is at the very core of the town and its inhabitants. This sense of pride, etched into the identity of Palenque, stretches all the way back to the founding of the town in the 17th century. Palenque is a statement of resistance against two of the great evils of human history: colonialism and slavery. This sense of resistance can also be found in the very fact that the town, and its unique identity and culture, has endured, despite the numerous challenges it has faced.
The emblematic statue of Benkos Biohó by the main square of Palenque.
As researcher and collector Sidney Reyes Reyes commented, it’s a town that has resisted “…all the battles since the colonial period, and above all maintained its honor and objective of liberty”. This pride is evident in the manner in which the community speaks of their language, their culture and the impact the community has had on Colombia. Palenque is of course known for being the first free town in the Americas, yet this is not the only first; one of the very first Colombian actors to appear in an international production was the Palenquero Evaristo Márquez, who starred alongside Marlon Brando in the historical drama Burn, and the first Colombian to hold a world title in boxing was the Palenquero welterweight Kid Pambele. Despite the pride in these achievements, Palenque and its inhabitants have faced marginalization, discrimination and racial prejudice. Viviano Torres recalls his early musical recordings being looked down upon outside of the Palenquero community due to where the music came from.
The flag of Palenque on a mural in San Basilio de Palenque (photograph from 2018).
Political representative Kairen Gutierrez vividly recalls the racial abuse she was exposed to as a child in Cartagena, and cites these experiences as being formative in terms of her later activism, having been told by her mother that she would face these attitudes all her life and that she should always hold her head high as a Palenquera. Kairen would go on to become an active member of Procesos de Comunidades Negras (PCN), a nationwide organization focused on strengthening links between, and empowering, Afro-Colombian communities throughout the country. The PCN is organized around a set of regional palenques (located mainly throughout the Pacific and Atlantic coastal regions) which work with a national coordinating committee and with technical teams at a national and regional level, with today’s palenques serving as “…spaces for discussion, decision making, and policy orientation” (Escobar, 2008, p.224). Kairen cites the importance of an organization like PCN in fostering greater connections between Colombia’s dispersed communities of African origin and in promoting events and festivals like the one in San Basilio de Palenque, which she refers to as a “cultural strengthening of the roots”. Resilience has been an absolute must for communities in many of the regions where the PCN is most active given the hardships, historically and ongoing, caused by the conflicts which plague much of rural Colombia.
Political representative Kairen Gutierrez represents the interests of Palenque and other Afro-Colombian communities through her involvement in Procesos de Comunidades Negras and in the political sphere. Photo courtesy of Kairen Gutierrez.
In addition to the marginalization and racism experienced by the community, San Basilio de Palenque, like so many other towns and communities throughout Colombia, also had to deal with the internal armed conflict and the horrendous acts of violence which have been a feature of it. The surrounding Montes de María sub-region is an area of huge attraction due to its fertile soils and strategic location in terms of transport routes and proximity to marine ports. These factors meant that it was highly sought after by guerrilla groups and right-wing paramilitaries during the most intense years of the armed conflict. The result of this dangerous cocktail was a brutal wave of violence wrought on rural communities in the region. According to the National Centre of Historical Memory (2019), between 1985 and 2017, there were over 3,000 selective murders and 117 massacres in the region. The year 2000 was a particularly gruesome year with the El Salado massacre (on the outskirts of Carmen de Bolívar) seeing 60 unarmed and innocent civilians brutally murdered by 450 AUC paramilitaries (El Espectador, 2023). Similar massacres were perpetrated against Afro-Colombian communities at Maria la Baja and San Juan Nepomuceno in the same year. The geography of the region, like so many others in the Colombian countryside, is tinged with painful memories of loss. Travelling to Palenque from Barranquilla, the road runs past the Canal del Dique, which links the port at Cartagena to the Magdalena River. According to Colombia’s transitional justice system (JEP), there are an estimated 9,000 bodies in the depths of the canal (El Heraldo, 2022), perhaps accounting for just a fraction of the estimated 121,768 who were forcibly disappeared between 1985 and 2016 throughout Colombia (Comisión de Verdad, 2022).
While the community at San Basilio de Palenque was of course impacted by this terrible wave of violence, it did not suffer on the scale as some of the surrounding communities did during the worst years of the violence, a fact that filmmaker Carolina del Mar Fernandez suggests is attributable to the level of social organization and cohesion found within the town and its inhabitants. While the worst of the conflict is hopefully a thing of the past in the region, the communities of the region are still threatened by the presence of illegal armed groups. In 2021, Palenquero cultural leader and lawyer Fredman Herazo Padilla was shot dead while visiting Afro-Colombian communities elsewhere in the Caribbean region. Fredman’s case is just one among the over 1,500 cases of activists, social leaders and human rights defenders murdered in the country since the 2016 peace agreement with the FARC, 105 of whom were dedicated representatives of Afro-Colombian communities (Indepaz). For those intent on controlling territory and land, the collective land rights Afro-Colombian communities are entitled to through the 1991 constitution are seen as something to be resisted at all costs.
Message on a mural paying tribute to cultural representative Fredman Herazo Padilla, murdered in 2021: “Fredman lives!”
Despite all the challenges that exist in terms of achieving the fulfillment of their rights, and the historic and current dangers faced by Afro-Colombian communities throughout the country due to armed conflict and presence of numerous illegal armed groups, Afro-Colombian communities continue to defend themselves and assert their voice across all levels of society and the state. The long and lasting legacy of resistance which exemplifies San Basilio de Palenque is seen as a reference point for Afro-Colombian communities throughout Colombian territory. The tenacious spirit of Benkos Biohó and the Cimarrones who claimed their freedom and fiercely defended it is still visible today in the shape of the Cimarron Guard, an unarmed community defense organization which maintains harmony in the community in addition to instilling and promoting the key cultural values of Palenque. The Cimarron Guard are a visible presence throughout the weekend of the festival, and they comply with many of responsibilities which the National Police have throughout other parts of the country. They are a visible representation of the autonomy ethnic communities such as San Basilio de Palenque are entitled to in the Colombian context. The model of the guard has been an inspiration to other Afro-Colombian communities with similar initiatives spreading to departments such as Cauca and Chocó. This sense of solidarity across dispersed communities is another clear theme over the weekend of the festival. On the stage, traditional dance and music from Palenque and the Caribbean region is complemented by performances from visiting artists from the Pacific coast of Colombia.
Cha Dorina Hernandez is a former ethno-educator who became the first Palenquera woman to be elected to the Colombian congress. Photo courtesy of El País.
Whilst culture is clearly front and centre across the days of the festival, political representation is also evident. On the Saturday of the festival, the first Palenquera woman to be elected to the Colombian congress, Cha Dorina Hernandez, hosted a meeting with representatives of Afro-Colombian communities from different regions of the country in her family home close to the main square. With the sounds of the festival booming out in the background, the topic of discussion was concerned with establishing shared perspectives and positions ahead of talks related to the National Development Plan. In Palenque, it seems impossible to discern culture from politics. When discussing the youthful energy brought to Palenque culture by the folkloric rap group Kombilesa Mi, filmmaker Carolina del Mar Fernandez pointed out that frontman Afroneto has been a part of the town council for the past four years. Amidst the revelry as the festival came to a conclusion on the Sunday night, the link between culture and politics was to the forefront as Cha Dorina and other figures of note took to the main stage to announce that Palenque would soon be awarded a special municipal status. Political representative Kairen Gutierrez would later elaborate that the significance of this lay in the fact that it would allow the town to enjoy greater autonomy and to generate “…the development that we want”.
Kairen Gutierrez with Colombian vice-president Francía Marquez. Photo courtesy of Kairen Gutierrez.
Reflecting on the festival and all its display of culture, identity, pride and politics, it was hard not to be moved by the fact that Colombia itself was in a period of profound change. The festival came just two months after the first progressive government was elected in the country, with Francía Marquez becoming the first Afro-Colombian to hold the office of vice-president. Kairen Gutierrez has known the vice-president since their days working together via Procesos de Comunidades Negras, and she was certain of the significance of this juncture in history: “…(this moment shows), with Dorina in the congress, and Francia as vice-president, that we can hold other offices, like a mayor, or a councilor, in all of the spaces where decisions and discussions occur”. Six months later, in May of 2023, Francia Marquez led a diplomatic mission to South Africa, Ethiopia and Kenya in an effort to build closer political, economic, educational and cultural links between Colombia and their counterparts in Africa. It was a visit which made huge sense given the potential for South-South collaboration and the demographic, social and cultural connections between the countries. Among the representatives who travelled with the vice-president were Cha Dorina Hernandez and Kombilesa Mi frontman Afroneto, proud representatives of San Basilio de Palenque, the first free town of the Americas, and the pulsing heart of Africa in Colombia.
Article written by Conor Keogh
Additional audiovisual support from Angie Galofre, Catalina Barraza & Natalia Cueto.
Former union leader Nicodemus Luna Mosquera was shot dead near Dibulla, La Guajira, in November 2022.
Originally published on July 24th, 2023
Article written by Isabella Auque, Natalia Castrillon & Maria Alejandra Celedon.
Over the years, Colombia has been a theatre of war with different armed actors who have unleashed this violence upon the lives of the civilian population. In recent times, this dynamic has been most evident in the wave of violence faced by social leaders. According to Ball (2018), a historical feature of the Colombian armed conflict, and its truces and transitions, has been the assassination of social leaders or human rights defenders, individuals who “act in favour of human rights as diverse as the right to life, food and water, the highest attainable standard of health, adequate housing, a name and nationality, education, freedom of movement and non-discrimination”. Despite the fact that the country is a pioneer in recognising the need to protect social leaders with articles such as article 81 of Law 418, which proposes the creation of a protection programme for people whose lives, integrity, security or freedom are at risk due to political or ideological violence, there is still evidence of an almost systematic assassination of social leaders in the country. The Institute for Peace Development Studies (Indepaz) has produced an updated report on the numbers of massacres and assassinations of social leaders in the country, following the signing of the Peace Agreement, highlighting the criminal acts that have been recorded so far in each year. As of 2022, these reports stated that since the signing of the Peace Agreement between the National Government and the extinct FARC, 1,327 social leaders and signatories of the Agreement have been assassinated. The study was carried out between November 2016 and March 2022, leaving a chilling figure that should alert the authorities (this grim figure has risen to 1,505 as of the time of publication in July 2023). It is for this reason that the issue is hugely relevant today and it is vital to understand the human impact and stories behind each of those numbers; that is why we present in this article the specific case of Nicodemus Luna and his murder.
Nicodemus Luna Mosquera was a USO (The Workers’ Trade Union, USO by its acronym in Spanish) trade unionist who was murdered on Saturday November 26th, 2022, in a village in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, in the jurisdiction of Dibulla (La Guajira). According to El Heraldo report of his death, he had been in this department for about two months and had arrived with some family members from the Pacific coast, attracted by the possibility of a better way of life, as the intention was to stay in the region and work. Nicodemus, 73 years old, had been a councillor in Tibú in Norte de Santander and had been a USO leader for many years. He was also one of the most persecuted Colombian trade unionists for his dealings with labour processes and complaints to companies such as Ecopetrol. Ecopetrol is a mixed economy company, as part of its capital is private and the other part public, which participates in all the processes of the oil and gas sector, from the exploration of hydrocarbons to the commercialization of fuels derived from crude oil in the markets of Colombia and the world. Despite the commotion caused by his sudden assassination, to this day the perpetrators are unknown. However, there has been much speculation over who bears responsibility for this crime, which has been attributed to paramilitary groups operating in the region. According to Colombia Informa (2020), there is a possible alliance between companies and paramilitaries as a method of “cleansing” to assassinate social leaders. According to this report, Ecopetrol had in the past allegedly given money to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC right-wing paramilitaries) in exchange for security. While there is no clear evidence of a link of the murder to the work of Nicodemus as a trade union activist, given the history of violence towards union workers in Colombia, such a possibility cannot be discounted.
The issue of violence against union activists and human rights defenders is a long-standing problem both in La Guajira and throughout Colombia. It is a problem that affects labor activists fighting for workers’ rights and social justice in the country. According to statistics from the Human Rights System of the National Trade Union School (Equal Times), between 1971 and 2021, 3,288 union activists were murdered in Colombia. To give just two names in amongst all this carnage, university union workers Gloria Mendoza and Maria Elena Mendiga were shot dead at the entrance to the Universidad del Valle in Cali on February 22nd, 2023 (WOLA). As mentioned earlier, in recent years, there has been a wave of violence directed towards social leaders in Colombia, with union activists among them. Social leaders also include communal leaders, environmental defenders and indigenous activists, among other profiles. Just like Nicodemus, Aura Esther Garcia Peñalver, was another activist who was assassinated in La Guajira, with Aura being shot dead at the entrance to her home on March 31st, 2021. Aura was an active member of the non-profit indigenous organization “Nación Wayúu”, which is committed to the defense of human rights. She was specifically working on denouncing the inadequate management of children’s resources in relation to the school feeding plan. As a woman leader and activist, she had to face many threats and was more likely to be targeted by those who did not want to see changes occur in the community. The Colombian Commission of Jurists has denounced numerous cases of murders, threats or forced disappearances of social and union leaders in La Guajira in recent years, such as the one mentioned above. The Commission has noted that the situation in La Guajira is of special concern due to the presence of mining companies, which have been a source of conflict over the environmental and territorial rights of local communities. It is essential that Colombian authorities adopt effective measures to provide protection for human rights defenders and trade union leaders in La Guajira and throughout the country. According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the preservation of human rights is fundamental to ensuring peace and security in Colombia, and it is the responsibility of the State to guarantee that human rights activists can carry out their work without concern about possible retaliation.
In the face of such violence, it is necessary to assess what is being done to address this serious problem. When it comes to the Colombian government, they have implemented certain efforts to mitigate the number of social leaders who become victims of violence and murder in the country. One measure adopted by the national government was to increase by 38% the budget that is destined for the protection of more than 3,500 social leaders and human rights defenders. However, it seems that even with this added investment, there are still leaders who cannot access protection. For example, Aura Ester Garcia Peñalver had requested protection but it had not been granted in time. In another recent case, journalist Rafael Moreno, based in Cordoba in the Caribbean region of Colombia, had been granted protection but it had been removed by the time he was shot dead in October 2022. Cristina Cantillo, a trans activist in the city of Santa Marta, was shot dead in her home in December 2021 after her protection had dropped her home. Beyond these limitations of the protection services available, there are other obstacles that make finding a solution difficult. It is clear for the government that these cases occur for the most part in rural areas where there is a strong presence of criminal groups such as drug traffickers; the very same areas where the Colombian State has traditionally had a very weak presence. It becomes evident, therefore, that state control in certain regions of Colombia is scarce, to the extent of being even nonexistent. In that regard, violence propelled towards social leaders and human rights defenders is a problem that can be solved to a great extent, by the government’s engagement in the country’s economy, politics and overall presence in both rural and urban areas of the territory.
In conclusion, Colombia has long faced a problem of violence against social leaders and human rights activists, with La Guajira being one of the most heavily affected areas because of conflicts between armed groups and the social and environmental impacts caused by mining companies and other stakeholders in the region. Regardless of the presence of protection programs, there is still evidence of systematic assassinations of social leaders in the country. The murder of Nicodemus Luna Mosquera and other social leaders highlights the State’s neglect of their safety and protection, as well as the need for effective measures to ensure the protection of human rights defenders and union leaders in Colombia. While the government has implemented some efforts to mitigate the problem, it is clear that state control in certain regions is weak and low, and violence against social leaders can only be solved through government participation in the country’s economy, politics and by establishing a true presence in rural and urban areas of the territory.
Referencies
Ball, P. D., Garavito, C. A. R., & Ángel, V. R. (2018). Asesinatos de líderes sociales en Colombia en 2016-2017: una estimación del universo. Bogotá: Dejusticia.
Fayad, D. S. (2014). Petróleo y conflicto armado en Colombia: el caso de Arauca entre 1984 y 1992. Bogotá, Colombia.
LGBTQ+ leaders Dania Polo and Franklin Pabón were both murdered in 2023, highlighting the continued threats faced by LGBTQ+ activists in Colombia’s Caribbean region.
Originally published on December 4th, 2023
9 min read
Article written by Mariana Benavides, Valeria Morales & Lucas Parra.
When it comes to LGBTQ+ rights and social leaders, many Latin American countries, such as Colombia, have a complicated and diverse past. Efforts to address these issues and create a more inclusive environment for this community have been a huge endeavor in Colombia, requiring the time and efforts of dedicated leaders and activists. The role of social leaders within the LGBTQ+ community has been critical in driving development, and social campaigns have contributed to raise awareness of the impact that minority communities have in every society. However, it has not been without difficulties. As stated by the LGBTQ+ rights organization Caribe Afirmativo, many social leaders representing this community have suffered several difficulties in their quest for acceptance in Colombian society. Colombia, to a certain extent, is a socially conservative country, and many of the leading political movements have close ties to religious groups or other conservative minded entities that are resistant to embracing acceptance of this community. This means that activists and leaders cannot count on the same level of political and societal support as they may in other countries. Furthermore, Colombia in general is a dangerous context for any activists and leaders who are seeking to challenge the status quo in their quest for equality. Since 2016, over 1,500 social leaders and activists have been murdered in Colombia (Indepaz, 2023). Within this figure, there are of course several examples of leaders who have been murdered for their activism on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community. This article will explore this issue by examining three cases of LGBTQ+ leaders who were murdered in the Caribbean region of Colombia; Dania Sharith Polo, Franklin Pabón and Alfredo Arrieto, all murdered during 2023. By focusing on these tragic cases, we wish to highlight the critical contributions of social leaders in the continuous fight for equality and acceptance, and the fact that there are so many challenges to overcome and measures that governments must implement in response to this worrying current reality.
Dania Sharith Polo, “La Pola”, was born and raised in El Carmen de Bolivar, in the Montes de María region. She was an Afro-descendant Human Rights defender, transexual leader, victim of the armed conflict, and an active participant of peace-building structures. Dania loved speaking openly and without judgment. She always looked happy, smiling in photos with her frizzy hair, earrings and makeup, despite the fact she lived amidst poverty and marginalization. Dania had a big heart; she was welcoming and sheltered her friends in transition in her home and even when she did not have enough to eat, she would share what she had with them. In 2020, the LGBTQ+ population of El Carmen de Bolívar was recognized by the Victims Unit as a subject of collective reparation. Dania provided testimony before the Truth Commission and the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) with the aim of advancing justice and reparations for the LGBTQ+ community in the municipality of Carmen de Bolívar for the historical abuse that this community had suffered during the most intense years of the armed conflict. Her work focused on defending the rights of people with diverse sexual orientation and gender identity. Dania was clearly a hugely significant figure for her immediate community and also a dynamic peacebuilder. However, earlier this year (2023), on April 30th, she was violently attacked in her home. Dania fought for her life during 12 days in the hospital, but the gunshot wounds she had received were too severe. She died on May 12th, 2023. In March, the leader had reported the distribution of intimidating leaflets directed at the varied community of that town, purportedly by the ‘Gulf Clan’, also known as the AGC (Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia), an illegal organization which sprouted from the demobilized AUC right-wing paramilitaries. It seems speaking up and demanding the respect her community is entitled to had cost her her life.
The shocking murder of Dania Sharith Polo reopened many of the wounds of the LGBTQ+ community in the region of Montes de Maria. According to the Truth Commission’s final report (2022), in the year 2000, at the height of the internal armed conflict involving left-wing guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries and various state entities, an LGBTQ+ collective was established in El Carmen de Bolívar and began to become visible, meeting in parks and plazas. However, this group and their actions were not welcomed by everyone. The following year they became victims of members of the AUC right-wing paramilitaries and the police. They were attacked in the community and even within National Police facilities. Arbitrary detentions were carried out, which in many cases were subsequently aggravated by claims of rape and violence. Some trans women were treated barbarically and there were many human rights violations. The paramilitaries would come to their houses and force them to serve them, wash their belongings and find them female friends for their sexual pleasure. In other cases, they were intercepted in the streets, raped and forced to commit sexual acts. There were also cases of discrimination, where the LGBTQ+ community was forced to leave their jobs and move. Leaflets with the names of members of the community inside a coffin provoked fear throughout the territory. The LGBTQ+ community in the Montes de Maria region faced sexual violence, torture, threat, displacements, arbitrary detentions, attempts of homicide, and attacks on freedom of association. Why did society allow this? The Truth Commission report (2022) recognizes some explanatory factors for the persecution of LGBTQ+ people in the context of the armed conflict: colonial heritage, sociocultural, institutional and political factors among others. Twenty years on from these shocking and violent accounts at the height of the armed conflict, many of these factors are still sadly relevant. Many people are still rooted in traditional roles, Colombian society is still very “machista” regarding traditional gender roles, and such a reality is reflected in its deliberate silence in relation to cases such as Dania’s. Sadly, the reality faced by the LGBTQ+ community in areas such as Montes de Maria, and by leaders like Dania, is replicated in many other parts of the Caribbean region.
Another such example is the case of Franklin Pabon. Franklin was a person with non-binary trans life experience who carried out leadership activities in the municipality of Malambo, in the department of Atlántico. From early on, they served as LGBTQ+ liaison and had been part of the Malambo Territorial Council for Peace, Reconciliation and Coexistence. In terms of academic background, Franklin was trained on social leadership issues at the Casa Caribe de Soledad Leadership School, where they stood out for their joy, camaraderie, and tireless work in order to raise awareness of the importance of guaranteeing LGBTQ+ rights. It is pertinent to say that Franklin also carried out fundamental work in the department of Atlántico with a commitment to inclusion and vindication of the rights of people with diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. Additionally, they assisted all of the people in their territories, for the construction of peace and memory in the department of Atlantico. The main reason for Franklin to be motivated on this topic is due to the lack of acceptance across society in relation to minorities, especially when it comes to the LGBTQ+ community. Even though in 2022, Franklin had received threats in a pamphlet, allegedly from the AGC, these warnings were not heeded by authorities, resulting in the murder of Franklin on July 13th of 2023, in their hometown, Malambo. Another case to mention is that of Alfredo Arrieta, a LGBTQ+ leader in the department of Sucre, who was murdered on January 25th of 2023. Alfredo was acknowledged for serving as director of the Manglaria Diversa Foundation, an organization that works for the rights of the LGBTQ+ community in a region that like the Montes de María suffered greatly due to armed conflict. Over the years, Alfredo promoted human rights for the LGBTQ+ community, a hugely necessary task given the historic marginalization and stigmatization faced by this community. It is essential to affirm that Alfredo was allied to the organization, Caribe Afirmativo, with whom he worked hand in hand during the first years of the consolidation of the Human Rights Observatory. Unfortunately, witnesses and authorities indicate that the murder occurred inside Alfredo’s home, in Cienaguita, where he was shot dead. In conclusion, Arrieta’s and Pabon´s murders must be seen as acts of homophobic violence that shocked the LGBTQ+ community not only in Sucre and in Atlantico but in the entire country. Thus, Caribe Afirmativo denounced the crime as an attack on the human rights of LGBTQ+ people and demanded that the authorities investigate the case and bring those responsible to justice.
As mentioned above, these cases illustrate the constant violation of the human rights of LGBTQ+ and transgender leaders in Colombia. For this reason, it is vital to see how organizations such as Human Rights Watch and the UN have expressed concern about violence towards these leaders in Colombia. In a 2022 report, Human Rights Watch pointed out that LGBTQ+ social leaders are “especially vulnerable to violence” because of their gender identity or sexual orientation. The report concluded that threats, harassment, and murder are common forms of violence against LGBTQ+ leaders. The UN has also expressed concern about violence against social leaders representing this community in Colombia. In a 2020 report, the UN noted that violence against LGBTQ+ social leaders is “a form of discrimination and violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity.” The report urged the Colombian government to take measures to protect LGBTQ+ social leaders from violence. In this regard, the Colombian government has taken certain measures to address violence against these leaders. However, these measures have not been sufficient to protect individuals from violence. Some of the measures requested by Human Rights Watch and the UN to protect LGTBQ+ leaders are: (I) To effectively investigate and prosecute cases of violence against LGBTQ+ social leaders; (II) To provide protection to leaders who are at risk of violence; and as a final measure, (III) To promote tolerance and inclusion of LGBTQ+ people in Colombian society.
The previously mentioned Caribe Afirmativo organization is an example of the type of grassroots movement that works to promote the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people in Colombia. In its work, the organization has highlighted the importance of transgender leaders in the Colombian Caribbean. In a report made by the organization, Caribe Afirmativo states that transgender leaders have been fundamental in the struggle for LGBTQ+ rights in the region. These leaders have faced discrimination and violence but have persisted in their work to promote equality and justice. The report (Social and political mobilization of LGBTQ+ people in Colombia: A look from the Caribbean), highlights how transgender leaders have had a significant impact on the advancement of LGBTQ+ rights in the Colombian Caribbean. They have achieved changes in laws and policies and have helped create safer spaces for LGBTQ+ people. Some examples of the achievements of transgender leaders in the Colombian Caribbean are: The approval of Law 1808 of 2016, which guarantees the legal recognition of the gender identity of transgender people; the creation of public policies that promote the inclusion of LGBTQ+ people in the educational, labor and social spheres; And clearly, the increased visibility of LGBTQ+ people in the media and culture. However, as the case of the murdered leader Dania Polo demonstrates, there remains so much more to do in terms of guaranteeing a safe and dignified life for members of the trans community. The killings of Franklin Pabón and Alfredo Arrieto further highlight the challenges faced by the LGBTQ+ community in the Caribbean region and throughout Colombia.
In conclusion, despite much progress in terms of improving respect for the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, there is still so much to do. This can perhaps be best seen in the ongoing targeting of LGBTQ+ social leaders in the Caribbean region and throughout Colombia. There are multiple specific cases of LGBTQ+ leaders who were attacked and killed because of their activism, pointing to the broader issue of discrimination and violence against the LGBTQ+ community in the country. LGBTQ+ social leaders in Colombia, including transgender people, face significant threats to their safety and well-being because of their activism and visibility. The murders of individuals such as Dania Sharith Polo, Franklin Pabón and Alfredo Arrieta exemplify the grave dangers faced by LGBTQ+ leaders in their efforts to advocate for equal rights and social acceptance. And the participation of organizations has highlighted the crucial role transgender leaders have played in advancing LGBTQ+ rights in the Colombian Caribbean, leading to legal changes and greater visibility for LGBTQ+ people. The work of such organizations is absolutely vital to guaranteeing a more prosperous and inclusive future for the region and for Colombia. This work requires valued leaders and activists such as Dania, Franklin and Alfredo, and they require the support of all of us.
Murdered social leaders Ever Ortega, Rafael Rodriguez Barrios & Elkin Echávez Cañavera were all murdered in Sucre and Bolivar over the course of 3 days in May 2022.
Originally published on April 28th, 2023
7 min read
Article written by Juan Camilo Muñoz, Juliana Castro & Natalia Osorio
Colombia is facing a horrifying period of terror and given that there are territories of the country where there is low state presence and illegal activities, there is free reign for the intervention of illegal actors in these marginalized areas. That is the reason why social leaders and activists are extremely important in these territories. A leader is a person who stands up for collective rights and acts selflessly for the benefit of an entire population, specifically their community or region. Unfortunately, many of the Colombian social leaders are being murdered by illegal groups because it is not in the interest of these armed groups for the rights of these marginalized people to be heard. Consequently, all these indigenous groups or people from marginalized places are struggling. Therefore, this article aims to create awareness of the violent situation that is going on in Colombia, more specifically in the region of Sucre, where the government does not have complete control of the territories, nor the ongoing violence and killings. We would like to focus on the killing of three important social leaders, which all happened around the same date, highlighting the discouraging events that are evidenced every day in the country. Furthermore, we will analyze the wave of violence by exploring armed groups that are threatening peace in Sucre and throughout Colombia so that people can understand the importance of human rights defenders to represent and protect the rights of the communities.
To begin with, it is essential to start with the deaths of three social leaders who fought for the rights of their communities. The first victim was killed on May 3rd and his name was Elkin Echávez Cañavera. Elkin was loved by his community; he not only had stood out for the work he did for the inhabitants of the municipality of Sucre, but was also a member of the leftist coalition “Pacto Historico”. This case has an interesting and shocking story behind it. According to Indepaz (2022), days before his death, Echávez, had denounced fraud in the congressional elections and he was going to serve as an electoral witness for the May 29th presidential elections. Keeping in mind the historic links between political figures and paramilitary forces in the region, it is impossible to rule out the idea that these denouncements could have been the reason for his sudden death. Two days later after Elkin’s death, Rafael Rodríguez Barrios was murdered. As maintained by Indepaz (2022), this social leader was the president of the Junta de Acción Comunal (a community-based, non-profit social management organization, voluntarily made up of the residents of a place who join forces and resources to pursue integral, sustainable and sustainable development)of his village, La Gloria, located in the municipality of San Pedro. It is relevant to keep in mind that this type of organization, as a form of micro-governance, is particularly important in weak state presence areas, as an initiative to contribute to better security and participation of the population. Rafael was shot dead by armed men who came to his house. Moreover, he became the 68th social leader killed at that point in 2022. One day later, on May 6th, Ever Ortega Monroy was murdered by an armed man as well. The social leader was reportedly the president of the Junta de Acción Comunal in, Norosí, Bolivar, a neighboring department of Sucre, where he served as president and stood out for his honest concern for the territory and the people living in it. These last two cases happened during the armed strike perpetrated by the Clan del Golfo (also known as the Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia or AGC) criminal organization in May 2022. The impact of this showing of strength by the illegal organization demonstrates the reality lived by communities where groups like the AGC hold power.
Secondly, it is necessary to mention that, during the days when these crimes took place, Sucre was enduring a perilous public order situation due to the armed strike of. An armed strike consists of attacking civilians, blocking roads, impeding mobility and closing commercial establishments in a territory, and it was a strategy widely used by the guerrillas in Colombia. These types of strikes are used for the purpose of “taking over” cities; however, as claimed by LaSillaVacia (2022), the Clan del Golfo effectively decreed these armed strikes as a response to actions carried out by public forces against this criminal organization, now reportedly the strongest such organization in the country, which emerged from the legacy of AUC paramilitaries. According to El Espectador (2022), the illegal armed group carried out an armed strike between May 5 and 9, 2022, and it was estimated that 24 homicides occurred, in addition to the incineration of nearly 200 vehicles to block roads. The authorities and inhabitants of Sucre said that this event happened in response to the extradition process of alias Otoniel, former head of the Clan del Golfo. In addition, it must be known that it is difficult to penalize this group due to the lack of clarity in separating it from its different names, such as “Aguilas Negras”, “Banda Urabá” or “Los de Urabá”, “Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia”, etc. In the view of Huertas, et al., “the available information does not allow, beyond any doubt, to affirm the responsibility of the Gulf Clan in the commission of several key acts of violence to study the level of intensity of the group” (2016). Such an action demonstrates the strength and capacity of this organization and indicates the limits faced by the state in terms of tackling this worrying situation. To further demonstrate the weak presence of the state in Sucre, one could look to the March 2021 murder of indigenous leader Jaime Basilio near San Onofre in Sucre. The leader was shot dead outside his home, yet the authorities did not arrive at the scene of the murder until the following morning due to their fears of being attacked for infringing a “curfew” imposed by the previously mentioned armed group. The body of the indigenous leader was left sitting on the porch until the authorities finally arrived the following day; an apt example of the state absence experienced in so many forgotten corners of Colombia.
Finally, social leaders are being killed not only for exposing this problematic situation, but also because their actions help to attract the interest of state entities towards these local realities. They achieve this by representing their communities’ interests, and by doing so attract the presence of the state to remote locations, which in turn leads to more vigilance and communication between the state and the communities. Such a situation is generally not favoured by illegal actors and on occasion by the local elites in such regions, as this state attention threatens their hegemony and interests. Nevertheless, cases like Elkin Echavez Cañavera and the other cases outlined above are far too common nowadays, and this is at least amplified since the media and internet is present to aid the reporting of these crimes. During the period between 1980 and the early 2000s, violence exceeded normal behavior of a violent country and records and deaths were not even published in their totality, and in fact many of the victims from this period have no official record. This supposition is common in multiple sectors of Colombian politics. Those who seek to establish the truth and details of these forgotten cases, or those who try to claim land which they lost due to the threat of violence caused by the armed conflict, often become targets of these illegal actors, opening the door for them to be re-victimized, making it essential that the state tackles this issue by establishing a true and functioning presence throughout its territory. Despite the threats faced by those who represent their community and their interests, social leaders continue to strive for a better future. One of the recommendations from the final report of the Truth Commission into the armed conflict in Colombia is a full and thorough implementation of the peace agreement made with the FARC, in particular the chapters focused on rural development in areas such as Sucre which have felt the worst of the conflict throughout the years. With the participation of Francia Marquez, a social leader and now the vice-president of Colombia, there is renewed hope all around the country for more presence and protection. However, it must be noted that there has been little progress made on the issue of security for social leaders after almost 10 months of the new government.
In conclusion, social leaders experience many dangers every day, and they need much more support from other sectors of society and the government to rectify this critical situation. The hard work of these leaders for the community is costing them their lives and the government still does not present any guarantees so that these illegal groups do not continue in impunity and that cases like Elkin, Ever or Rafael do not happen again. There is still a great challenge for peace; we must become aware and join efforts to achieve a great social pact from below, capable of transforming step by step a painful reality, building what we are and can be, rescuing ourselves as subjects capable of reshaping the future of the country. It is a task for everyone, collectively, to contribute from the social place that we have forged. The Truth Commission report also suggests the elaboration of a political agreement, to reject violence as a means to resolve disputes, and it also suggests that the state responds through independent and transparent investigations of the perpetrators of human rights abuses, as well as on those who have benefited from them. There is a debt to be paid to leaders such as Elkin, Ever and Rafael, and to the families and communities impacted by their cruel murders. Following these recommendations would be one way to start paying that debt.
La Libertad Sublime 