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Natanael Díaz spoke out over the presence of illegal groups and acts of corruption in the south of Bolívar before he was shot dead in October 2022.
Article written by Catalina Barraza, Angie Galofre & Sara Garcia
The growing number of cases of deaths of social leaders in Colombia represents one of the greatest concerns for the country. According to Santacruz (2020), social leaders are characterized by their defense and promotion of human rights and have in recent years been subjected to countless acts of barbarism by the different armed actors of the internal conflict in Colombia. The UN Human Rights Office defines a social leader as “a person who acts on behalf of a human right (or rights) of an individual or a group and that every social leader is a human right defender”. The Ombudsman's Office in Colombia registered the deaths of 216 social leaders in 2022 alone. Among the places affected by this problematic situation is the Caribbean region. This is an area which comprises seven departments: Atlántico, Bolívar, Magdalena, La Guajira, Cesar, Córdoba and Sucre and the San Andrés and Providencia archipelago. While the Caribbean region may be less affected by this worrying dynamic than other regions such as the south-west of Colombia, the statistics remain hugely alarming; there have been 27 social leaders murdered in the Caribbean region between August 2022 and April 2023 (Indepaz). Undoubtedly, the department of Bolivar is one of the most eye-catching places for the development of illegal activities given its strategic position that allows armed groups to smuggle contraband, extract minerals and cultivate coca crops. This complex situation in Bolivar means it is a potentially dangerous area for those who represent and defend the interests of communities. One such leader is Natanael Diaz Iriarte. Natanael was described as a well-known social leader in the department who had fought for the correct use of resources in Bolivar. He was a candidate for the Council of Mangangué and a participant in the communal action board in Tacasaluma. In addition, he was the 1361st social leader killed since The Final Agreement and the 132nd in 2022 (Indepaz, 2022). In this article, we will be discussing the details of the murder of Natanael Díaz Iriarte, the armed groups allegedly involved, the broad situation in Bolivar and how the communities there deal with the violence, and finally, the perspective of international organizations, before presenting some final considerations.
The story of Natanael’s murder is not very well detailed by the media or the authorities. What is known is that he was allegedly murdered by paramilitaries on October 1st, 2022, while he was going from Magangué to Tacasaluma, Bolivar. His death was immediate after he was shot six times by armed men who intercepted him. His body was found on the road to Barranco de Yuca. As a social and political leader, Natanael was running for the local council of Magangué for the ADA political party and led different communal actions in Tacasaluma. He had alerted the control entities about the theft and waste of resources assigned by the national government for works in the municipality. He had also addressed the presence of various armed groups in the small rural communities of Magangué and in the south of Bolivar. As stated by Indepaz (2022), institutions such as the Ombudsman’s office had addressed that the presence of armed groups such as ELN (left-wing guerrillas), Frente 37 (dissidents of the FARC guerrilla organization) and the AGC (also known as the Clan del Golfo; neo-paramilitaries now considered as the largest illegal group in Colombia), which according to the International Committee of the Red Cross, are the armed wing of a non-state party to a non-international armed conflict. These groups in the territory had led to an alarming increase of murders, tortures, displacements, and many other violations of human rights. Due to this, the citizens, and especially the members of the JAC (community action boards) have been highly affected and indeed have suffered from violent situations in the territory. As stated by the journalistic portal Rutas del conflicto, the communities affected by the conflict in the south of Bolivar and other departments have resisted through community organization, demanding compliance with the Final Agreement (the 2016 peace agreement signed by the Colombian government and the FARC guerrillas) and their constitutional rights. Despite this, the struggles and resistance of the communities and their social leaders have been overshadowed by consistent stigmatization, as they are constantly accused of being accomplices of the armed groups. However, the leaders emphasize that their ideals and motivations go against the violence and violations that these groups have exercised against the communities, a situation that has not been adequately addressed either by the state or the armed groups. Thanks to a strong sense of commitment and these strong ideals, many social leaders keep on addressing their community's situation and continue to stick up for their rights. Unfortunately, as occurred with Natanael, many of them end up as victims of murders and threats. In order to demonstrate the scale of the problem, in the next paragraph we will be focusing on some other cases that bear similarities with that of Natanael.
In addition to Natanael’s murder, the number of social and political leaders murdered keeps growing at an alarming rate. Some of these are even so close in terms of time and location that entities and the community should be even more concerned. Two of these are the cases of Luis Peña and Juan Navarro, who were both political leaders of the Pacto Histórico political coalition. Luis Peña Salcedo was murdered on December 7, 2022; he had been running for the local council of Magangué, Bolivar. Three days later, on December 10, 2022, Juan Bautista Navarro, a lawyer and associate of Luis Peña, and also the husband of Partido Verde and Pacto Histórico leader Yaneidis Toscano, was shot dead by two men riding on a motorcycle on a street in the Montecarlos neighborhood of Magangué. It appears that these men had been denouncing acts of corruption in the area and therefore found themselves in a vulnerable situation, similar to what Natanael’s situation was like. These cases indicate the increasing threat to social leaders in Bolivar, but the trend is a nationwide issue. According to the Ombudsman's Office, 199 murders of social leaders were reported from January to November 30 of 2022, which is "the highest figure" since 2016, when this state institution began keeping records: exceeding both 2021 with 145 cases and 2020 with 182. Experts state that the restrictions on movement caused by the Covid-19 pandemic allowed illegal groups to strengthen their control over areas such as the south of Bolivar, where the presence of the state in terms of institutions and opportunities has historically been weak. As Ramón Abril from the Corporación Regional para la Defensa de Derechos Humanos for the Portal Rutas del Conflicto said, the clashes for control between illegal groups increased and this struggle for domination increases the dangers for the local communities. The humanitarian crisis increased way faster than expected and got to such an extent that it was almost impossible for organizations (governmental and non-governmental) to enter these communities' territories, especially villages with difficult road access and far from municipal capitals. Hence, some of the challenges faced by the territories affected by the conflict, specifically the area of southern Bolivar, will be discussed below.
Bolivar, and particularly the south of the department, faces many challenges which contribute to the marginalization of its communities and inhabitants. Colombia has one of the largest numbers of coca crops in the world and resource theft. Throughout its history, the Colombian government has attempted to eradicate the proliferation of crops. The Final Agreement is an example of the government's efforts, but it seems to have remained on paper alone. The power vacuum in departments such as Bolívar has contributed to the proliferation of illegal groups and illegal acts which has increased poverty, marginalization and the systematic death of social leaders. As Flórez (2018) said, in this sub-region of the Medio-Magdalena, communities are still waiting for the implementation of the agreement signed with the former FARC guerrillas. Furthermore, Trejos (2019) stated that “the south of Bolivar is one of the most inaccessible territories of the Caribbean, and it does not even have adequate access roads from the north of the region” which evidences the theft of resources, whereby resources allocated for infrastructure development and other needs of region are not used as they should (cited in La Libertad Sublime, 2020). Natanael had been asking questions regarding those stolen resources in the area. For context, from the national government, the department of Bolivar receives money for public works and to supply the needs of the territory, but said money was not being invested. Natanael had shown his concern due to the fact the community needed the money to repair roads. Defending rights costs the lives of social leaders such as Natanael, who was silenced by the shadowy forces which exercise control in territories such as these. In a broader view, in recent reports given by the UN in 2022, even though the Office of the Attorney General and the Ministry of Defense have improved in terms of tackling criminal organizations, The National Comprehensive Program for the Substitution of Illicit Crops is not complete. The UN has recommended the protection of civilians and social leaders in vulnerable areas such as Bolívar. As well as the correct investigation of cases of social leader killed by illegal groups. In addition, Human Rights Watch (2023) has suggested the creation of an “anti-violence policy,” re-starting peace negotiations with the ELN, and reforming security and drug policies. Regarding the peace process with the ELN, it has been characterized by failed processes and governments that have tried to negotiate, unsuccessfully, throughout the country’s recent history. (CNN, 2023). They also pointed out that the “government often lacks sufficient funding to assist displaced people, and national government assistance has often been slow and insufficient” (Hassan, 2023). Clearly, it is an alarming situation that needs to be addressed. That’s why in the next paragraph we will be focusing on how the entities in Bolivar have managed the situation and the measures taken.
Various entities have commented on this worrying situation. State institutions such as the Ombudsman’s Office have addressed the murder of Natanael Díaz, expressing their solidarity with the family of the victim. This institution has also asked the authorities to clarify the crime and has called on the illegal groups to respect the life of social leaders. According to the reports of this institution, some of the observations made by the Ombudsman’s Office regarding the presence of armed groups in Bolivar that Nathanael had previously addressed were for example, that in some areas of the department of Bolivar there would be an openly supported candidacy for the Special Transitional Peace Districts (CTEP/CITREP for their initials in Spanish). This led to the actions and position in front of the electoral contest for each of the illegal armed groups to establish situations of risk which affected the electoral elections that took place between March and June 2022. In addition to the vast evidence of the presence of armed groups in electoral spaces in Bolívar, these groups have been identified as being involved in the forced recruitment of minors (mainly from indigenous populations), the installation of landmines, murders of social leaders and human rights defenders (Indepaz, 2022). Another institution that has denounced the critical situation in Bolívar has been the Truth Commission, which was established following the 2016 peace agreement in order to clarify and document the causes and impact of the armed conflict. According to this entity, in the context of deep social contradictions and state repression, the different actors of the war appeared and developed. After the peace of the nineties, the FARC-EP and the ELN took possession of strategic territories in the Caribbean such as the Montes de María, located in Bolivar. There, drug trafficking organizations, public forces, landowners and politicians converged in the paramilitary network, raising the old system of private security groups to its maximum lethality. The result was a war where the great loser was the rural population. Bolivar has always been agitated by violence, which is why the Commission insists on "Strengthening territorial processes of dialogue and peacebuilding in the territory to promote a model of territorial management that recognizes the great inequalities that have historically characterized the territorial configuration of the Caribbean and its relationship with the persistence of armed conflict". This is just a brief reflection of how the department of Bolivar has suffered from a huge wave of violence throughout the years of conflict, and this is due to its strategic location, which is used for illegal drug crops and smuggling routes. Sadly, despite the 2016 peace agreement signed with the FARC, the situation has stayed the same if not deteriorated. Leaders such as Natanael and vulnerable communities in the region are left to pay the price.
By way of conclusion, violence remains ever present in the most remote corners of our country. This has wrought intergenerational havoc that in addition to causing insecurity in the population, displacement of communities, and the theft of needed resources, also threatens the welfare of those social leaders who from their territories advocate for the rights of their communities, or as in the case of Natanael, denounced the presence of armed groups and corruption as an informal institution of the state. Cases such as those of Natanael, Luis Peña or Juan Navarro; social leaders who were characterized by the defense and promotion of human rights and who were brutally murdered, will sadly not stop. The innocent victims of the conflict have no guarantees to exercise their rights and only through the reports of organizations such as the UN, Indepaz and the Ombudsman’s Office are we able to measure the vulnerability of these territories, in our specific case Bolivar and its respective leaders. It is of course pertinent to state that like the south of Bolivar, various regions which have traditionally been most afflicted by the effects of the armed conflict continue to suffer disproportionately. For this reason and considering what has been stated by the Truth Commission, we propose a series of routes to be followed for the armed conflict to stop in the south of Bolivar. First, it is essential that there be a true connection between the state and the territories. In this regard, the territorial office of the Victims Unit believes that there is a need for greater social investment, mining regulation and legalization of properties for the inhabitants in the region. As we know, the ELN has a significant presence in Bolivar, so we present a series of recommendations of the Truth Commission on how to proceed in the peace process; The National Government should recognize the «Protocol established in the event of a breakdown in the negotiation of peace talks Colombian Government-ELN» presented by the Commission and promote regional initiatives and spaces for dialogues focused on mitigating the humanitarian impacts of confrontation and addressing the structural factors that persist in the armed conflict. To the ELN, to respect and guarantee the work of humanitarian agencies in the territories in which they are present and to take unilateral measures and gestures that contribute to the guarantee of the rights of the civilian population and communities and to the creation of conditions conducive to dialogue. The importance of compliance with the Agreement and guarantees of a lasting peace that includes negotiation with other insurgent groups such as the ELN should be paramount. These recommendations must be followed and be implemented in the context of Bolivar, which unfortunately has had the presence of armed groups for many years that have put at risk the lives of thousands of inhabitants and social leaders such as Natanael Diaz.
Information sourced from: https://repositorio.unbosque.edu.co/bitstream/handle/20.500.12495/3690/Santacruz_Garcia_Diana_Marcela_2020.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
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