Fray Torres: another victim in the conflict over land in Magdalena and throughout Colombia

Fray Torres represented communities in land reclamation processes in the department of Magdalena until his murder in September 2022.

*Article written by Natalia Cueto, Laura Diaz & Yicela Espinoza.

For many years social leaders in Colombia have been targeted for trying to protect the human rights of vulnerable sectors such as indigenous groups, Afro-descendants and rural communities. Nowadays, violence committed by illegal armed groups has taken different forms of abuses in remote areas known as “Brown Spots”. These are the zones where the State does not apply the law and the armed groups are in effective control, allowing them to intimidate the population, harm the community, and cultivate drugs, among other acts. But also, these illegal groups are focused on preventing implementation of components of the peace process as they have been interpreted as being bad for their business interests. Consequentially, Human Rights defenders, journalists, demobilized FARC fighters, indigenous and Afro-descendent leaders often face death threats and violence to halt their work, which is often seen as an obstacle to the interests of the illegal groups. On that point, according to a special report of Indepaz (2020), between the signing of the peace agreement in Colombia in 2016 until July 15th, 2020, almost 971 leaders and Human Rights defenders were killed, and 681 of these cases targeted peasant, indigenous, Afro-descendant, environmental and community organizations. These cases have occurred throughout Colombian territory, with departments such as Cauca, Antoquia and Nariño being the most affected. However, the Caribbean region has also seen prevalent cases of violence against social leaders, with murders occurring in all the departments of the region (Atlantico, Bolivar, Cesar, Sucre, Córdoba, La Guajira, Magdalena and the islands of San Andres and Providencia. This article will explore this issue by taking a look at the department of Magdalena. According to the reports published from 2020 to 2023 by Indepaz, during that period in the department of Magdalena there have been a total of 25 murders of social leaders. In recent years, there have been some well-known leaders murdered in the department. These include the cases of Maritza Quiroz, a leader of women victims of displacement, and Wilton Orrego, a park ranger defending Colombia’s national parks were both murdered within days of each other in January 2019, while Cristina Cantillo, a well-known trans activist, was murdered in her home in Santa Marta in 2021. This text will focus primarily on the case of Fray Torres, a leader involved in land restitution projects, who was shot dead in September of 2022.

Fray David Torres Marroquín was a leader who was forty-one years old. He worked as treasurer of the Community Action Board (JAC) of the locality of Nueva América, near to Palmore de la Sierra, in the jurisdiction of the municipality of Ciénaga, Magdalena (El Espectador, 2022). Fray Torres was a social leader involved in land restitution processes for the rural population of Palmore de la Sierra. According to Urieles (2022), this region has been severely affected by the presence of different illegal actors and armed groups in recent times such as the Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces and Conquistador Self-Defense Forces of the Sierra Nevada. Also, this author affirmed that these are both illegal armed groups which were established following the demobilization process of the right-wing AUC paramilitaries and are both heavily involved in illegal economies such as drug trafficking. At the same time, Urieles (2022) analyzed that both groups have been in conflict since early 2022 to determine which group would have control over this territory and its strategic routes. Torres's work was also aligned with the promotion of farming families living in the countryside until his life was taken abruptly. According to Infobae (2022) citing the news site Diario del Magdalena, the incident took place at 11:00 in the morning on September 21st, 2022. Torres was with his partner and his son, who both witnessed the attack. As mentioned previously, the killing of Fray Torres is part of a worrying pattern in the department.

What results more alarming is the numerous cases of murdered social leaders in this zone of Colombia. In Magdalena there have been many homicides of these advocates such as the case of Maritza Quiroz. This courageous woman was murdered on the 5th of January 2019, years after having been displaced from the village of Palmor, in the jurisdiction of Ciénaga, to San Isidro, a rural area of Santa Marta. Maritza was known for her work as an alternate member of the Victims Board in Santa Marta, sticking up for Afro-Colombian women displaced from the Sierra Nevada and her leadership in land restitution processes too (La Paz en el Terreno, n.d.). Another relevant event happened on January 14th, 2019, in Don Diego, a small village, an hour from the capital, Santa Marta. In this place, Wilton Orrego was killed after arriving at his home. This leader worked to protect the environment in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta as a defender of nature since he labored as a park ranger in the Parque Nacional Natural Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (Mojica, 2023). Like Fray’s story, it seems both were viewed as “obstacles” to the interests of armed groups by carrying out their work in areas where they have drug plantations and trafficking routes. Not only have these unfortunate cases taken place in this region, but also there are many other stories, such as the case of Patricia Pérez, a woman from Ciénaga who was killed on the 1st of October 2021 after she left her attorney's office (HOY Diario del Magdalena, 2021). According to Indepaz (2021), Patricia and her husband's lives were taken in the middle of their fight for claiming land ownership, which is an issue that has arisen in the department of Magdalena and throughout Colombia, especially for social leaders and advocates who are disputing these territories against illegal armed groups still active following the peace agreement of 2016. To understand why these people who were working with transparency for honest causes were targets of homicides, it is necessary to reflect briefly on the fact that Colombia has a historical land ownership problem. This issue was caused by the unequal distribution of land, the complex geographical location of Colombian regions, and the legacy of colonization where a few powerful rich families inherited the majority of land and the rest, a poor and powerless majority, had to survive with what was left (Pardo, 2022). As reported by the National Center of Historical Memory (2018), “this historical debt of the State was deepened by the armed conflict, which put thousands of peasants in the middle of the fire, forcing them to leave their land”. After looking at the cases, each one of the covered social leaders had their own lines of work such as campesino communities' rights, environmental conservation, displacement of Afro-descendant groups, and land restitution processes. However, the common thread among all these cases is land: its repartition and ownership are issues that have been arising because of the internal conflict and the presence of many different actors depending on the region in question.

The previously mentioned cases all occurred in Magdalena, home of the Sierra Nevada. This majestic coastal mountain range, home to four indigenous cultures and an incredible array of wildlife, has also been home to two-armed groups in expansion who dispute the control over this zone: the Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia (AGC), also known as Gulf Clan Cartel, and the Autodefensas Conquistadoras de la Sierra Nevada (ACS), commonly referred to as Los Pachenca. The ACS has been operating in this zone since the 80s when most paramilitary groups were created. The scope of the ACS operations covers 40% of the street-level drug dealing in Santa Marta in comparison to the AGC, which has only 10% (Posada, 2021), which makes them the actors with the most political and military control, financed by drug trafficking and extortion in places such as Sierra Nevada, Palomino (from the department of La Guajira), Santa Marta, Ciénaga, Aracataca and the Zona Bananera. However, the Gulf Clan is well known throughout all the Colombian territory as a ramification of the AUC paramilitaries and has specialized in the continued growth of their organization to have complete influence over drug trafficking resources, which explains why they have been seeking dominance in this department (El Heraldo, 2022). As a result of this, the civilian population of Magdalena is being left in the middle of these circumstances, which blend with the exacerbation of other social issues such as poverty, racism, ecological damage, land restitution, internal conflict, and a lack of guarantees for rural communities. Collectives focused on these causes are the most affected by the conflict between the AGC and ACS in the whole department since they represent territories that are of interest for the plantation of illegal crops and the proximity to the maritime ports to export illegal drugs (Llamas, 2022). Consequently, the great power vacuum created by the weak presence of the Colombian government has allowed for the presence of illicit groups to persist for decades, leaving consequences such as impunity for the murders of social leaders. Based on the data provided by Indepaz, between 2022 and so far in 2023 (April at the time of writing). There have been 5 cases of murdered social leaders in Magdalena. Perhaps 5 can be seen as low figure, but it represents simply a fraction of, as reported by Indepaz on the 12th of April 2023, the 1,457 leaders that have been killed since the peace agreements of 2016 in Colombia.

If we analyze the issue at the national level, the situation is no less complex. Violence has now taken new forms and abuses by armed groups in remote areas, reaching levels in 2022 like those that existed before the peace process (Human Rights Watch world report, 2023). Therefore, indigenous leaders, Afro-descendants and other activists face death threats and widespread violence from these armed groups. On the other hand, as for the current government (led by President Gustavo Petro and in office since August 2022), it promised to fight for the implementation of the 2016 peace agreement and prioritize "total peace" in search of agreements with the ELN (National Liberation Army guerrilla) and the negotiated disarmament of other armed groups and criminal gangs (Human Rights Watch world report, 2023). However, the Colombian Caribbean has its own peculiarities according to the Indepaz Report on armed groups, as that part of the country is characterized by the actions of narco-militaries. This area is of special interest due to the corridor that connects the Colombian Caribbean port cities, key to drug and arms trafficking (2022). However, there are efforts by national institutions to manage the situation, for example, the truth commission is developing a monitoring system for the implementation of its work, with the purpose of continuing to raise awareness and foster the appropriation of the recommendations among state institutions and civil society, in order to guarantee their inclusion in the National Development Plan (Security Council, UN Verification Report, 2022). Likewise, the creation of the PDET (Development Programs with a Territorial Focus) represents part of this effort, given that, as a 10-year planning and management instrument, they prioritize those territories most affected by the armed conflict, that is, areas with higher poverty rates, presence of illicit economies and institutional weakness (Confianza y Paz territorial, PDET, 2017). Generally speaking, such areas that have been historically affected by the conflict continue to see high rates of violence against social leaders, as can be seen in Ciénaga and the Sierra Nevada areas of Magdalena. The previously mentioned programs and measures have the aim of achieving a comprehensive, stable and lasting peace in Colombia. Therefore, although armed conflict does not continue to be the same as in its beginnings, its evolution has implied new negotiation strategies between government entities and armed groups and criminal gangs. But despite the difficulties with the implementation of the 2016 peace agreement, the current government and institutions such as the truth commission and the PDET programs aim to contribute to an improvement in the situation of vulnerability faced by social leaders and other vulnerable groups in civil society. Although, these efforts are recognized, the arduous work that remains to guarantee security in these areas of the country cannot be ignored, and it is imperative for Colombia to arrive at a point where our activists do not run the risk of death threats and persecution for their social work within their communities.

Finally, as we have seen, social leaders in Colombia have been assassinated by armed groups for trying to protect the human rights of vulnerable communities such as indigenous people, Afro-descendants, and marginalized rural communities. Additionally, the figures shown at the beginning of the article are shocking when we realize the number of social leaders who have died over the years because of armed groups. This alarming situation has been sadly reiterated in the case of the social leader Fray Torres, and his situation is unfortunately quite common in places such as the Magdalena region, which is affected by narco-paramilitaries and guerrilla groups and criminal gangs that are also seen throughout the Caribbean region. This problematic issue can also be evidenced in the stories of other leaders such as Wilton Orrego, Patricia Pérez and Maritza Quiroz, who dedicated a large part of their lives and time to helping others, despite the risk and pain that not only they go through but also their families after their deaths. However, as we mentioned in the previous paragraph, the government and state institutions have developed strategies such as the Development Programs with a Territorial Focus (PDET). These programs and resolutions of the truth commission have been supported by international organizations such as the UN and Human Rights Watch. But despite these efforts, the situation continues to be alarming, which means that there is still much work to be done to ensure the protection of the leaders by the State and to end the attacks by the armed groups. Therefore, we believe that social leaders should receive effective support and protection from the State and relevant institutions. In addition, it is imperative to give greater visibility to the cases of social leaders for communities in both rural and urban areas, and to share information regarding the work they had done for their community. Likewise, considering the impact that the deaths of these leaders have on families, where in most cases that leader is the head of the household and the one who provides the income in their homes, more should be done to support the families of victims financially. Finally, we suggest the creation of historiographic files on the leaders to have more data recorded and have more information about their work and their projects with the community. Such a measure would provide timely support and raise awareness of their work and perhaps even to attain support from organizations related to the causes of the leaders.

References:

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