Leaders in Sucre and Bolívar continue to be persecuted for their work

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.

*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.