The Case of Oswaldo Duglas and the Struggles Faced by those Deemed an Obstacle to 'Progress'.

Oswaldo Duglas Bula represented the interests of informal vendors in Montería until his murder in November 2022.

*Article written by Sergio Hernandez, Mariana Makarewicz & Jorge Paez.

In countries like Colombia, it is common to find social leaders in various parts of the country -small rural areas in particular- as the lack of State presence makes their communities vulnerable, and therefore community leadership is essential. Social leaders defend the rights of the community and actively work for the common good in their organization or territory, often by trying to deter their community and its members from drugs, violence, or actions which could be harmful for the local environment. They have very important roles as they improve society by drawing attention to the issues in these regions and by trying to improve or solve them. The role of social leaders can be dangerous and many of them are murdered by people with opposing interests. This article will focus on the violence towards social leaders in the region of Cordoba and elsewhere in the country. It will do this by exploring the cases of three social leaders who have been murdered over the last five years.

The first social leader, and the most recent of three cases presented, was Oswaldo Duglas Bula. He was a social leader based in Monteria who was shot dead on the streets by hitmen on the night of November 25th, 2022. Oswaldo was a well-known community leader who worked for the relocation of market vendors in southern Montería, a guild of which he was also a part. According to Raquel (2019), “In 2019, the percentage of informal employment in Colombia stood at 62.1 percent of the total employed population.”. In other words, in Colombia there are more informal workers than formal workers, and this makes situations like Oswaldo’s even more common. Social leaders like him are necessary in regions with little State presence to better the community and to make it a safer place in which to live. Oswaldo led this whole process, in addition to doing charity work for those who most needed it in the capital of Córdoba. The president of the Informal Vendors Association indicated that they knew they could not oppose the development of the city, but that they were concerned none of the authorities had shown any real interest in the possibility of appropriately transferring them to another site. According to relatives, one of the sons of the victim, who was also a market vendor in the Mercadito del Sur site, had recently received threats, so he fled from Córdoba. It is more than likely that said threats are linked to Oswaldo’s assassination. Cases like Oswaldo’s are sadly not uncommon.

Oswaldo isn’t the only tragic case in recent years. Another social leader murdered in Córdoba was María del Pilar Hurtado, a scrap metal collector who worked in a sawmill with her husband. Like Oswaldo, she also advocated for the relocation of vulnerable communities; in the case of Maria del Pilar, these were communities who had been displaced due to conflict. However, these families began building homes on land belonging to a local politician, and that was the end of her story. She was declared a military target by the Clan del Golfo (also known as the Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia or the AGC; this group can be traced to the AUC right-wing paramilitaries, and they are now considered the largest illegal group in Colombia) and was later murdered right in front of one of her children. It is sad to see that this is the Colombia we live in, and that very little has been done to support people in these situations.

Similarly, there was the case of Temístocles Machado. Temístocles was a resident of Buenaventura (in the department of Choco on the country’s Pacific coast) and a strong defender of his territory in the face of the threat of armed groups. Temístocles was defending the interests of his community which were being threatened by the expansion of infrastructure and facilities of the shipping port in Buenaventura, one of the Colombia’s principal maritime ports. He was assassinated by a couple of hired killers in January 2018 in the parking lot in which he worked to support his 11 children. This situation can be seen as similar to Oswaldo’s as both social leaders represented the residents of disadvantaged and marginalized communities which were threatened by the ¨development¨ of their respective cities. It is hard not to view such crimes as a grim and bloody metaphor for the human and social cost of Colombia's economic development.

Throughout the three cases we can observe informal communities being overlooked and perhaps even eliminated if they are deemed to be standing in the way of "progress". As can be seen, there are many cases of social leaders being murdered for trying to make a positive change in their communities. These crimes are occurring throughout much of Colombian territory, often in marginalized rural areas with little true state presence. In the Caribbean region, the most affected department is Córdoba. According to the Instituto de estudios para el desarrollo y la paz (Indepaz), there have been 62 cases of such murders in Córdoba between 2016, when the peace treaty was signed between the Colombian government and the Farc guerrillas, to April 2023. Cordoba is known to be a dangerous zone not just due to the lack of State presence, but also the presence of armed groups such as the previously mentioned AGC and the ELN (left-wing guerrillas) in addition to other dangerous groups. It is also important to take into account that Córdoba borders Antioquia, which is one of the most dangerous regions in Colombia due to the high numbers of narcotrafficking organizations operating in that particular department. That region, as a whole, is coveted as a highly strategic area for the cultivation, processing and transport of coca and cocaine, as well as other illicit activities such as illegal mining. The terrible rates of violence against social leaders and human rights defenders have not only attracted the attention of state entities, but also several international organizations.

Due to so much violence in these rural areas of Colombia, many international organizations have written reports about these cases such as the Human Rights Watch. They base their research off the facts available. One such fact is that “More than 1.000 human rights defenders and social leaders have been killed in Colombia since 2016”. This organization has also evaluated the measures taken to reduce these issues; “But implementation, especially of measures established under the 2016 peace accord, has often been poor.”. Other international organizations, such as Amnesty International and the UN have also stated the need for much greater protection of social leaders, and for more integral approaches towards the theme of rural development in Colombia. It has been important to have international organizations talk about these issues and their realities as it helps spread awareness. For cases such as Oswaldo’s, it would be beneficial to see more presence of the State to implement a sense of security in the region and to reduce the violence. Beyond this, it seems essential that there is true dialogue between all the various stakeholders when it comes to decisions which affect both the formal and informal sectors.

In conclusion, there are many regions in Colombia where the state does not have much (if any) presence, and so communities are led by social leaders to try to better the situation of these societies. The roles of social leaders are so dangerous that many of them are murdered. People like Oswaldo, who chose to spend his life working in defense of market vendors and doing charity work for those who most needed it in the capital of Córdoba, are usually left aside by authorities in Colombia who prioritize urban development over the needs of the vulnerable and show little to no interest in the possibility of fixing the issue. Ideally, it would be nice to see permanent solutions for the violence in the country and an improvement of the living situations for the vulnerable communities in rural areas. A solid peace treaty with the illegal groups that harm said communities, and policies that guarantee safety and protection for the social leaders who stand up to draw attention to the issues they face would be an ideal solution. Unfortunately, with the corruption that exists in the government, from the local to the national level, and the lack of state presence in many parts of the country, it is difficult to envision this reality in the near future.

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