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Rural leader José Luis Quiñones was murdered in Tamalameque, Cesar, in August 2022. He had been leading processes of land claiming in the region.
*Article written by Maria Andrea Camacho, Sara Correa & Valeria Quintero.
The situation of social leaders in Colombia is a complex and challenging issue. Social leaders in Colombia are at a high risk of being victims of homicide, torture, and displacement. INDEPAZ reported that since the signing of the peace agreement in 2016, there have been a total of 1,409 social leaders killed in Colombia, as of August 2022. Social leaders work in a wide range of matters that affect Colombian communities: environmental matters, ethnicity recognition, women rights, and land claiming, in every department in Colombia. Departments such as Antioquia, Cauca and Valle del Cauca have the highest number of cases of social leaders' homicide. But they face threats, forced displacements and are at risk of homicide in all Colombian territory. In the Caribbean coast, social leaders who work for the representation of indigenous rights and land rights of communal plots are the most likely to suffer from violent acts organized by armed groups.
An example of the critical situation faced by social leaders in Colombia is the case of José Luis Quiñones. Quiñones was a social leader in Tamalameque, Cesar, who worked tirelessly to recover land that had been taken by paramilitaries and landowners in the region. Quiñones sought the promotion of peasant life, since that was the only means to which they had access to obtain money in their rural community and in a post-conflict context. He also dedicated his efforts to rebuilding the 'Ciénaga de Zapatosa' ecosystem, as it would help to promote community activities such as fishing as part of the local economy.
Quiñones' work was extremely important for assuring a dignified life for the community, as he worked for the recognition of land rights of empty lands. Having access to those plots assured entire families the possibility of working on the land, and developing other economic activities that would help them to provide 3 meals a day. Most of the 150 families that live in the ‘Matarredonda’ plot, that Quiñones fought for, are dedicated to agricultural activities for their subsistence. Luis Quiñones was shot dead in August 2022, and more blood was spilled over the same issue earlier that year. Quiñones’ case is related to the homicide of other social leaders, Teofilo Acuña and Jorge Tafur, who also worked on recovering land rights for communal purposes in Cesar and the south of Bolivar. Both leaders were shot dead in the same incident in February 2022. These cases are part of a systematic pattern of homicides of social leaders in Cesar, where there have been 23 victims since 2016. Their work puts them in positions where they are seen as a threat to the interests of certain actors.
Colombia’s critical situations for social leaders has created the need of intervention from international organizations to prevent murdering and promote the work of social leaders. International Organizations (IOs) in Colombia have adopted different strategies to work with social leaders and communities. One strategy is to support social leaders in building their capacity to engage with the state and to advocate for their rights. IOs provide training and technical assistance to social leaders to improve their leadership skills, develop their organizational capacity, and to increase their knowledge of the law and public policies. Also, IOs have carried out investigations into social leaders' work, threats and the reasons for violence against them.
An example of those investigations is the one carried out by The Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE), an international organization that has studied social leaders whose work is focused on restoring land that was illegally taken by armed groups or private organizations. CORE (2022) notes that the reason for violence against those leaders is related to mining projects, crops for illicit use, hydrocarbons, deforestation and extensive cattle ranching. Jose Luis Quiñones’ case, and others social leaders' cases in Cesar and elsewhere, including those of Teofilo Acuña and Jorge Tafur, can fit into CORE’s conceptualization.
Also, with the signing of the Peace Accords in 2016, the creation of “La Comisión Especial para la Paz” or “The Special Commission for Peace” by the “Jurisdicción Especial para la Paz” or “Special Jurisdiction for Peace”, became a guiding tool for Colombian society and the State to consolidate peace. The commission was created to oversee the implementation of the peace agreement, and to make recommendations to the government on a range of issues related to peacebuilding, including the protection of social leaders and to recognize the land rights of victims of the conflict.
In 2016, with the implementation of the Peace Accords (signed between the government of Juan Manuel Santos and the FARC guerrillas), Colombia's constitution added a law that seeks to return land to people who were forced to sell it, were displaced from their land, or whose land was illegally appropriated by armed actors, along with their respective property titles. Although the law has allowed the restoration of 538,212 hectares, the Truth Commission's Final Report added recommendations to the State in order to improve, speed up, and refine the processes of land restitution in the armed conflict. One of the most remarkable recommendations made by the Truth Commission stated that:
To the National Government, Congress, the judicial branch and organizations of the victims' society and human rights, review the restitution process to give greater agility to its different phases (administrative, judicial and post-ruling), and agree on legal and institutional modifications that are necessary for it (Truth Comission, 2022)
These recommendations were widely accepted by Gustavo Petro's administration, whose commitment to land restitution for victims of the armed conflict can be seen in the accelerated process of studying new requests for land restitution. Since Petro’s government took power in 2022, 8.000 hectares have been intervened by the Special Unity of Land Restauration (Presidencia de la República de Colombia, 2023).
However, it is a well-known truth that there are still many failures, processes to improve, and new elements to include in the Victims and Land Restitution law. The murder of Jose Luis Quiñones, who lived in a rural community that was widely affected by armed conflict, is an example of what happens when the law is not implemented and the mechanisms for protecting communal lands and human rights do not function.
Land rights is one of the most complex subjects to solve, as it involves many powerful actors who would use any legal and illegal way to impede rural communities acceding to those plots. Recommendations made by the Truth Commission can only be helpful if the State promotes and uses them by opening spaces for dialogue between communities and decision-makers.
Furthermore, the effective and accurate implementation of the recommendations of the Final Report of the Truth Commission is essential for promoting democracy, peace and human rights in Colombia, and to prevent that the voices of social leaders such as Jose Luis Quiñones are not silenced for promoting land restitution and many other matters that affect marginalized communities in Colombia. Also, it is a necessity to consider the studies and recommendations of different international organizations, who often get to enter marginalized communities to hear the claims and requests of communities and are thus able to do a more detailed and personalized analysis of their situations.
REFERENCES
https://www.lalibertadsublime.com/post/the-murder-of-rural-leaders-teofilo-acu%C3%B1a-and-jorge-tafur-shows-the-struggles-over-land-in-cesar
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