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Oct 27, 20229 min read

Between a rock and a hard place: The dangers faced by Women's and LGBTQ rights activists in Colombia


Aura Esther Garcia, LGBTQ+ activists, the midwives of Chocó & Francia Marquez.


Article researched and written by Nicolas Convers, Valeria Mier & Maria Alejandra Plata.


Although human rights are inalienable; indivisible; interdependent and interrelated, in Colombia, there are many public violations yet very little reporting about this. This is the reason why social leaders must be appreciated, as they exist to defend people who believe that they do not have a voice. For example, there are indigenous and Afro-Colombian leaders, environmental defenders, union leaders, women's rights activists, and LGBTQ+ leaders, among other areas of activism (Corredor, 2018). It's important to emphasize that this is not an easy job. They are in constant danger and face many challenges for the work they do. Women specifically, have an even more complicated job being a leader because there is a conception that a good leader must necessarily be a man, but over time women have begun to develop a more important role in leading communities. In the specific case of Colombia, thanks to the armed conflict, both women social leaders and the community they represent are seriously affected by violence, mainly sexual violence, with the aim of frightening them, silencing them and being able to control the territory. This has always represented an obstacle and a problem that needs urgent attention. This article seeks to eliminate any misconceptions about the role of women in the leadership of minority groups, as well as to praise the achievements, acknowledge the challenges, and celebrate the changes accomplished by female leaders, despite being perceived as less capable of leading their own community.


The OECD encourages gender equality as a key facilitator of inclusive growth and national well-being (OECD, 2016). In particular, the equal participation of women and men in decision-making positions in public institutions is inherent in their perception as being legitimate, representative, and trustworthy. Inclusion must take into account intersecting factors such as gender, identity, race, age, socio-economic background, and minority status, among others. Political empowerment is also essential for democratic governance; this relates to citizens’ legal rights to vote, express their opinions, run for elected office and exercise these rights without facing discrimination.


However, in Colombia, there have always been challenges for women in general. This is particularly true for Afro-descendant and indigenous women. According to the Inter-American Commission Of Human Rights, they have been victims of multiple forms of discrimination on the basis of their race, ethnic background, and their condition as women, a situation aggravated by the armed conflict. They face two layers of discrimination since they are born: firstly, as members of their racial and ethnic group, and secondly, their sex. It is important to note that Colombian women have lobbied for legislation, advocated for human rights, and also promoted a public discourse in favor of peace, mediated or mitigated the conflict in their communities, mobilized their members, and repaired community relationships broken by the war.


A great example of an Afro-Colombian social leader is Francia Marquez, who today is the vice-president of Colombia, without having previously held political office. Francia is on the list of the 100 most influential and inspiring women in the world and among her first acts as an influential social leader was to convene 80 women for a 10 day march to the capital of Colombia in protest against illegal mining in their territory. Francia won a Goldman Environmental Prize for this act and for making herself heard. Among her most recognized and important postures are the protection of the environment, the economic equality of women, the decriminalization of abortion (which today in Colombia is a reality) and the lack of state presence in long marginalized regions of the country. As vice-president, she aims to tackle these issues through the creation of the Ministry for Equality. She is perhaps the most well known social leader in Colombia given her status and achievements, but there are many notable female leaders throughout the country, and they often face difficult circumstances.


In Colombia's rural society, permeated by the armed conflict, there are men and women who organize themselves to prevent human rights violations. These are social leaders, people who for years have built relationships of trust with the communities, suffering a high risk of being victimized by criminal structures. With the signing of the Peace Accord at the end of 2016, defenders had the hope of being able to carry out their leadership publicly without running the dangers of the past. However, this illusion is being minimized by the extermination to which they are being subjected. And, although this is not a new phenomenon, it has become more visible in the media and academic circles in recent times. It is worth remembering that, within the framework of the armed conflict, specific violence has been directed against women and sectors belonging to the LGBTQ+ population. The best example of this phenomenon is sexual violence, which signifies a power relationship between the perpetrator and the victim. Women, then, have fewer opportunities to represent their communities, as their transcendence in the public sphere is still limited. And, when they do, they are at risk of femicides, threats, rape, and displacement, which discourages the emergence of new women leaders. Of the total number of defenders assassinated since the signing of the Peace Accords, more than 300 according to Indepaz (20% of the total) have been against women leaders. Two such leaders were Aura Esther Garcia and Maria del Pilar Hurtado. Aura Esther Garcia, who according to the newspaper El Tiempo was ambushed and murdered when she was returning with her husband to the indigenous community of Arronshy, of which she was a traditional authority, had campaigned against corruption in the region which has seen funds allocated for student’s food resources being embezzled in a department where as many as 5,000 children have died of nutritional issues in the past 14 years. And on the other hand, we have Maria Del Pilar Hurtado, who was murdered in Tierralta in the south of Cordoba in 2019. One of the most complex problems in southern Córdoba is access to land and housing, which led this woman to participate in the illegal construction of homes on land belonging to the local political elite, for which she was threatened and later murdered. Three years later, the case remains unsolved in terms of establishing those ultimately responsible. This case received nationwide attention due to the viralisation of a video showing her young son crying and wailing angrily following his mother’s murder. Most cases however, pass with very little comment or analysis.


Women in Colombia, including female activists, also face severe threats in terms of challenges to their health. Problems include the poor access to it; problems which create the need for outstanding women who perform minor miracles to compensate for the situation we have. Women in Colombia suffer many reproductive health risks due to major obstacles in accessing minimum health services. With this we can evidence the power vacuum that exists within several territories in Colombia and how communities are affected by it.


In the specific case of women in the jungles of northwestern Colombia, access to a health system is almost impossible and because of this, every time a woman is about to give birth, it represents a great risk to which they, unfortunately, have to subject themselves. According to Mantilla (2020), one of the most common misconceptions about the recent armed confrontation in Colombia is the idea that the demobilization of the FARC created a power vacuum in the peripheries that is being occupied by other armed groups. The truth is that when it comes to the politics of crime, "vacuum" is an inoperative concept, thanks to the fact that there is a power, just not the state. Fortunately, there are midwives in this region who cross the jungle to attend to these women. Midwives without any recognized knowledge of medicine are in charge of reducing the risk to which women are subjected. This is very common in the department of Chocó where the women are used to giving birth at home, without a doctor but with the help of these midwives who give their all to make this moment easier. This knowledge is transmitted from generation to generation, from woman to woman. Some of these important midwives in this community are Pacha, Keyla and Manuela; these amazing women have helped many women at the time of childbirth. Pacha, for example, is the most experienced, and she makes medicine from the properties that the jungle provides and this knowledge is transmitted to the other women. And on the other hand, there is the leader and activist Manuela, who is a nurse that founded an organization to help the midwives of the jungle and involve them a little more with medicine in order to increase their knowledge from a scientific perspective. The incredible efforts by these amazing women demonstrate the length that community members will go to in order to make up for the lack of state support they can count on. Their work is even more impressive given that such noble work is often rewarded with threats, violence and human rights infringements by the informal powers that be who hold sway in the region.


The Colombian conflict has been huge in terms of violations of human rights. Communities like the LGBTQ+ and women have suffered discrimination throughout the years of conflict. According to Gutierrez (2018), for decades, many women’s, feminist and LGBTQ+ organizations have pressed for a peaceful resolution to the armed conflict. They were influential in the creation of a ‘gender subcommission’ at the peace negotiation table (as part of the peace process between the Colombian government and the FARC guerrillas), which was responsible for incorporating a gender approach in all of the chapters of the peace agreement because the guerrillas wanted to recognize their own responsibility in the violations faced by women.


Throughout decades of conflict, women and members of the LGBTQ+ community have suffered various types of violence at the hands of guerrilla groups, paramilitaries and members of the public forces including sexual violence, forced recruitment and murder.

The consequences of the Colombian conflict for the LGBTQ+ community are explained by Cheverry (2016) who says that these types of sexual discrimination generate fear and unconscious attitudes that limit the freedom of women and affect LGBTQ+ people, as evidenced through panic attacks, and a constant awareness about how they express their sexuality. According to information from Caribe Afirmativo (2021), members of this community continue to face threats and harassment: "They told us that they did not want to see areperas or marimachos (derogatory terms used to refer to members of the LGBTQ+ community) here in the department of Arauca, that we had to leave because if we didn't, they would kill us. It was not only me who was threatened at that time; it was several of our colleagues, several of our companions'. To survive they have to follow certain strategies like demonstrating social control in front of armed groups, hiding their sexuality, or being forced to move to another location. The Colombian government didn't do anything to resolve this issue at that time and even now in the countryside of the country, many people continue to be harassed because of their sexual orientation.


Nowadays Colombia needs to focus more than ever on new ways of facing the conflict in the countryside. We have a peace agreement with the FARC, but we still have to resolve a lot of problems. Social leaders need a better representation because of the mass of people that they represent. Also, the government has to give them security and support in order to continue the labor in their communities. Many LGBTQ+ and female social leaders are truly representing a community marginalized by their own country, unprotected, and without several resources such as medical support in many parts of the country, or even proper food and water. We need to be more supportive of this cause because of the risks that social leaders face, facing the constant danger and the challenges of their line of work in a place that has been forgotten, marginalized, and discriminated against by the government and armed groups.


These social leaders want to improve and save their communities and also make Colombia a better place to live for everyone, not only the inhabitants of that region or even the LGBTQ+ community. These leaders are working to make Colombia a place for everyone; a place where you can live in peace and respect for what you are and for what you want to be, bringing some freedom and peace to a country full of violence and in the shadow of conflict.




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