A social leader alongside two peasant workers from a sugar factory were killed in separate incidents across Colombia, one in Cauca in the southwest and another on the border with Venezuela in Norte de Santander.
According to the Mission of the Organization of American States to Support the Peace Process in Colombia (MAPP/OEA), the first killing occurred in a rural area of Tibú, Norte de Santander, where José Antonio Pérez, identified as the chair of the Community Action Board for the Socuavo hamlet, lost his life. The agency expressed solidarity with Pérez’s family and urged the State to provide immediate security guarantees for community leaders throughout the country.
In Corinto, workers at the Inauca mill were targeted by assailants described as armed occupiers. The company reported that several workers on its Ukrainian farm were attacked, resulting in two deaths, two injuries, and one kidnapping. The company characterized the incident as the most serious in a sequence of assaults on workers, which have also included crop burnings and the destruction of machinery and facilities of various kinds.
The milling operation has denied any attacks on private property since December 2014, noting that violence has intensified and culminated in the tragedy reported today. In its statement, the company called for the immediate release of the kidnapped worker and for life and personal safety to be protected.
In late September of the previous year, the Colombian Ombudsman’s Office warned of rising illegal land occupations across the country and reported 108 cases to date. Occupations have been most common in the regions of Antioquia, Atlántico, Cauca, Cesar, Chocó, Guainía, Huila, Magdalena, Valle del Cauca, and Vichada. At that time, Cauca had the highest share of incidents, accounting for about 36% of the total. In Cauca and adjacent Valle del Cauca, indigenous, Black, and peasant communities have asserted land rights historically held by hacendados or sugar mills, claiming ownership and seeking recognition of their ancestral claims.