Stories like these cut deep. Names and venues may change, but the pain is real. In Colombia, gunmen stormed a family home and killed a 23-year-old man named Carlitos Uragama Canoe, right before his wife and children. He belonged to an indigenous victims association in Chocó, about 565 kilometers from Bogotá. He and others faced the same fate that year, including Pedro Alirio Guerrero, a community leader from the southern part of the country. Across Colombia, 186 social leaders were killed in 2022, largely at the hands of far-right groups or drug trafficking networks. The scale is alarming. NGO Front Line Defenders reports that nearly half of all such murders worldwide in that year occurred in Colombia. The previous year saw 42 ex-guerrillas killed after they laid down arms under a peace agreement with FARC.
People ask what is failing in the country, as the magazine To Change reflects. The situation did not improve in 2023, with 35 more people murdered so far. Linder Steven Sepúlveda, a 24-year-old artist and cultural manager in Tumaco, a remote Pacific town 1,103 kilometers southwest of Bogotá, is listed among those living under fear.
Mauricio Valencia, a researcher with the Peace and Reconciliation Foundation, notes that the most vulnerable leaders are those in rural areas who defend land rights, resist illegal crop substitutions, or fight to protect natural resources. Ariel Danilo Majín Jiménez, once coordinator of the Indigenous Guard, was connected to Río Blanco and its environmental risks. A housing project near a forest reserve important for water in central Cauca has involved a major construction company from Manizales in a years-long dispute, a conflict that has brought troubling news to the region.
Number of defenders killed around the world in the last five years shows Colombia at the top of the list: Colombia 7,332; Mexico 1,773; Philippines 1,334; Brazil 1,555; Honduras 96. This data, shared by activists and researchers, underscores the ongoing dangers faced by environmental and community leaders.
—Sandra Patargo reports on social media that such violence is a global pattern, with visual companions and figures from Front Line Defenders and HRD Memorial.
A rising drama
Indepaz, an institute focusing on peace and development, notes that socio-environmental conflicts in Colombia are intensifying. There are more than 160 problematic situations, ranging from deforestation and mining to megaprojects tied to energy and infrastructure. These projects often clash with local communities and their livelihoods.
Front Defenders highlights that environmental leaders still face high risks despite political changes. The government signed the Escazú Agreement to improve access to environmental information and justice across Latin America and the Caribbean. Since November, there have been calls to strengthen protections for activists and communities defending biodiversity.
There is a persistent gap between the rhetoric of protection and the harsh realities on the ground in Colombia. A left-leaning government editorial in Tiempo warned that the factors driving the assassination of social leaders endure across political lines, threatening democracy and social coexistence. The piece urged readers to recognize that this challenge transcends ideology and directly affects democratic life.
Government response
Front Defenders notes that the government has acted. The Human Rights Director at the Ministry of Interior announced that 49 measures are in place to reduce risks for community leaders and to improve preventive efforts. There is a report of reforms aimed at strengthening policing and institutional responses to protect at-risk leaders.
The Ministry of Interior has committed to increasing its budget to support these preventive measures. Yet critics point to a long-standing pattern in which violence has become a grim norm in certain regions. A Tiempo editorial calls this a bitter paradox, highlighting how threats persist even as memory of slain leaders remains vivid and their communities seek safety and justice.