Bodies of eight forcibly disappeared religious and social leaders discovered in Calamar Municipality

The bodies of eight religious and social leaders who disappeared in Calamar Municipality, Guaviare Department, Colombia, on 4 and 5 April, have been discovered in a mass grave in a rural part of the municipality.

The individuals, all of whom are from the hamlet of Agua Bonita in Pueblo Seco, Calamar, obeyed personal summonses issued by an illegal armed group to meetings from which they did not return. Isaíd Gómez, Maribel Silva and Carlos Valero obeyed the summonses on 4 April; the following day, James Caicedo, Jesús Valero, Maryuri Hernández, Nixon Peñalosa and Oscar García did the same.

When the individuals failed to return home, family members sought out representatives of the illegal armed group, which initially denied that any summonses had been issued, and later indirectly warned them that they should stop looking and ‘consider the case to be closed.’

The discovery of their bodies was confirmed in a statement issued by Colombia’s Attorney General’s Office on 1 July, who claimed to have found them ‘with the accompaniment of the Rapid Deployment Force #1 of the National Army.’

The President of Colombia Gustavo Petro condemned the killings in a post on X, writing: ‘These acts are a grave affront to the right to life, religious freedom, and the spiritual and community work that so many people carry out in regions historically ravaged by violence. As President of the Republic, I stand in solidarity with their families, their faith communities, and all those who feel this pain today. I urgently call on state institutions to redouble their efforts to protect those who lead through faith, care for others, and peace. It is the state’s duty to ensure their safety and to guarantee that these crimes are neither repeated nor go unpunished.’

Over the course of Colombia’s decades-long conflict, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a Marxist-Leninist guerrilla group, have maintained a strong presence in Guaviare, often imposing severe restrictions on freedom of religion or belief (FoRB). Many religious leaders who have defied these restrictions and continued to carry out their work, either openly or clandestinely, have been forcibly displaced or targeted for assassination. At least two dissident factions which rejected the 2016 peace agreement between the FARC and the Colombian government, the Central General Staff (EMC) and the Central Staff of Blocks and Fronts (EMBF), and which are in conflict with each other and other illegal armed or criminal groups in an effort to control the region, maintain an active presence in Calamar Municipality.

CSW’s Director of Advocacy Anna Lee Stangl said: ‘CSW extends our deepest condolences to the families, community and loved ones of these eight men and women. We remain concerned about the slow initial response from the Colombian government, but are appreciative that an investigation into what happened to them finally took place. We urge the government to pursue similar efforts to provide answers as to the whereabouts of countless others who have been forcibly disappeared by illegal armed or criminal groups over the course of the country’s decades-long internal conflict. We reiterate our alarm that conflict-related violence in many parts of Colombia has reached levels last seen decades ago. We call on the government to implement effective security measures for communities, and in particular those in leadership positions, including religious leaders, in areas where illegal armed and criminal groups are active. We also demand that the leaders of illegal armed and criminal groups cease their targeting of civilians and engage with the government to establish a just and lasting peace.’