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Nathalia Jiménez and Rodrigo Monsalve
Unfortunately it seems that a holiday season cannot pass in Colombia without fresh outrage and the loss to society of valuable, knowledgeable and necessary leadership. A year that began ominously with the murder of victim´s representative and land claimant Maritza Quiroz in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada is ending bleakly with the killing of biologist and environmental activist Nathalia Jiménez and her husband Rodrigo Monsalve by the beaches below. It is almost as if those responsible for such despicable crimes chose their moments carefully. Perhaps the holiday plans and mindset of the population at large restricts the outrage and focus somewhat. What is evident is that this particular sector of the Colombian Caribbean region, like so many more throughout the country, is neo-paramilitary territory and worse still, warring neo-paramilitary territory; something which places social leaders such as Maritza and activists such as Nathalia in a precarious position. This aim of this article is to examine why that is and provide some contextual information to understand the dynamics in this part of Colombia.
Nathalie Jiménez was 35 years old, and had lived in Santa Marta for several years. She had studied ecology at Javeriana University in Bogotá, and simultaneously completed an undergraduate degree in anthropology at the National University. Nathalie had studied Caribbean eco-systems and completed a Masters in Rural Development and Cooperation at the University of Lleida in Spain. She had been working for the Natura Foundation as environmental manager on a project related to the Magdalena and Cauca rivers. Her husband Rodrigo Monsalve, whom she had only married a week previously, had studied anthropology and worked as a DJ in Santa Marta. On Friday December 20th, they were driving to celebrate their honeymoon in the popular beach haunt of Palomino when the outrage occurred. The couple had passed the toll booth at Neguanje and Nathalia was on the phone to her father at approximately 5.30pm when suddenly the call was cut short after armed men had entered their car. Nathalia´s father reported that the final thing he heard was a plea from his daughter: “Please don’t hurt us”. The worst fears of a society accustomed to such scandal were confirmed when their dead bodies were discovered near beaches around the village of Perico Aguao. A member of a local indigenous community was walking nearby and was alerted by a large presence of vultures circling in the skies above. Upon arriving at the spot below, the man saw two bodies tied at the hands and feet to a palm tree, the heads cloaked in cloth. They had both been shot in the head. Some reports have indicated that there were signs of torture but the full details are yet to emerge. Nathalia´s mother was quoted by Caracol radio as saying that her daughter had been killed because of her work with rural communities in the area. Curiously, the village of Perico Aguao was also scene of the attack and murder of park ranger Wilson Orrego by armed men on January 14th of this year. It is however the killing of Maritza Quiroz, just over a week before Wilson was slain, which seems particularly evocative given what has just happened, if only for the fact that more details are known about the work Maritza had been involved in.
Maritza Quiroz had survived some turbulent events. Her husband had been killed by armed groups (reportedly related to the guerrilla) near their home in Palmor towards the end of the 1990s. Following the killing, Maritza fled her home with her five children and little more than the clothes they were wearing. Like countless others displaced by the violence raging in rural areas of departments such as Magdalena, Maritza headed towards Santa Marta where she gradually built links with the handful of NGOs working with displaced people and through this became aware of what she was entitled to as a victim of the conflict. Not content to only look after her own interests (all five children gained access to education and are working professionally), Maritza spent the best part of the next two decades working with the most marginalised communities in Santa Marta; victims of the conflict and forced displacement. An avid learner who made the most of any opportunity to attend workshops and learn new skills, Maritza dedicated her life to helping others. She was described as a respected and serene figure who inspired tranquility; a leader whose words carried weight. Maritza had been involved in the regional victim´s board and was also hugely passionate about empowering rural communities and victims groups through rural development schemes. The quietly spoken but hugely determined leader even addressed, albeit reluctantly, the Colombian Senate in 2017. Maritza, alongside 8 other female victims of the conflict, had been awarded a plot of land in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada by the Institute of Rural Development in 2011, but reportedly she had been the only one to look to cultivate the land given the presence of armed groups in the area. It appears that this great survivor, and her message of solidarity, justice and reconciliation was a threat to the powers that be in the region as it was on that plot of land on January 5th of this year that Maritza Quiroz was shot dead by armed men.
Perhaps at first glance, the only common denominator between Nathalia and Maritza is the area where their deaths occurred, and the armed groups who exercise control there. Nathalia was almost 30 years the junior of Maritza, hailed from the interior of the country and had access to the highest levels of formal education. Maritza was from a rural background, and likely had had little in the way of formal education before her contact with relevant NGOs in Santa Marta. Yet both women were clearly avid learners who seized any opportunities which were available to them. Maritza had been married and reared five children, mainly on her own. Nathalia had only been married a week and any dreams she may have had of becoming a mother would be brutally extinguished. Both women exuded and inspired emotions of love. Those who worked with Maritza spoke of her inherent kindness and her ability to bring people together; a woman scarred by the conflict but utterly devoted to peace. Nathalia, from the little information to have emerged thus far, was a passionate advocate for the importance of eco-systems, and how communities can best exist and prosper alongside them. She was an animal lover who had adopted 9 stray dogs. Maritza´s passion was agriculture. Perhaps crucially, both women worked directly with marginalised rural communities and in particular women in these communities. Sharing their experience. Sharing their knowledge. Building a better country. And ultimately one may come to the conclusion that it was this work to build stronger and sustainable communities by empowering long marginalised sectors of society that led to these shining examples of what the country could achieve being identified as threats which must be removed. The Ombudsman’s office has constantly warned of the threats posed to activists, social leaders and human rights defenders in the region of Santa Marta and the Sierra Nevada. The region has as of late been terrorised by the Pachencas organisation, now commonly referred to by the more grand title of the Conquistador Self-Defense Forces of the Sierra (ACS), inheritors of the Bloque Tayrona of the AUC paramilitaries. It has also been reported that the Golf Clan, also known as the Gaitanist Self-Defense Forces (AGC), have been involved in clashes for territorial control with the previously mentioned ACS. An already tense situation has apparently been further aggravated by the presence of ELN guerrillas in nearby towns such as Minca. While these groups are primarily concerned by control of advantageous drug routes, local businesses (including the flourishing tourism on which the region depends) are obliged to pay protection rackets, while illegal groups also benefit from taxing any sales of land with the area. The region is also included in the regional development programs (PDET) which were created as a result of agricultural reform being a key tenet in the 2016 peace agreement between the national government and the now defunct FARC guerrilla organisation. Violence towards social leaders is disproportionately affecting regions where the PDET is being implemented. It is still early in terms of identifying a motive for this most recent outrage, but the apparent dedication of Nathalia to rural development, and indeed Maritza´s before her, would suggest that both killings could be seen as forming part of a larger pattern.
And so, the festive spirit in Colombia is yet again sullied by the spilling of blood. It perhaps seems more chilling in this instance occurring as it does in one of the most important regions for tourism in the country. Thousands of tourists will be heading off on the same path as Nathalia and Rodrigo, seeking the lush vegetation and picturesque beaches which characterise the coastal stretch between Santa Marta and Riohacha. Hundreds more will be seeking the quiet calm of the Sierra Nevada which Maritza so enjoyed. Throughout the recent anti-government protests in the country, some commentators continued to ask for an explanation for the unrest. One of the many justifications provided is the lack of genuine action to stop the rising tide of violence which is enveloping anyone who dares challenge the hegemony of powerful interests throughout the country. Maritza and Nathalia, despite differences in age and background, dared to challenge that hegemony in search of progress for society. Their deaths, which bookend a 2019 full of such violent acts, lay bare the challenges facing Colombia more broadly, and this region in particular, as the country heads into a new decade.
*Information for this article was retrieved from the following sources:
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