Indepaz has recorded 117 killings of social leaders in Colombia in 2026. One of those deaths was community leader Gloria Buitrago, shot in Cauca. Buitrago served as an oversight officer on an elected neighbourhood board that runs local projects and represents villages to the state. She also led the local committee of bar owners.
El Diario reported that armed men in two vehicles stopped Buitrago and shot her in El Plateado, in the municipality of Argelia. No group claimed responsibility, and authorities hadn't identified who carried out the killing. The case adds to the toll of people who represent communities and pursue land and environmental issues.
Who the killings target
Colombia’s ombudsman for human rights, the Defensoría del Pueblo, counted 112 social leaders killed from 1 January to 31 August. The total included 91 men and 21 women, El Diario reported on 27 September. August was the deadliest month in that count, with 22 cases. Indepaz’s figure of 117 covers a later point in the year; El Diario reported it on 30 September.
Cauca had the highest number of cases in both counts. El Diario put the department’s total at 26 for 2026, including six killings in September. Indepaz recorded the killings of James Flor and María Ovidia Palechor, an Indigenous leader, in Cajibío on 1 September; Jacob Guacheta Zambrano, another Indigenous leader, in Morales on 10 September; and Manuel España, a community board member, in Argelia on 29 August.
Many victims worked on land claims, environmental issues or community boards. Most killings happen in rural areas far from Bogotá, Medellín and the tourist coast. Some victims worked through elected boards, which run local projects and represent villages to the state.
Armed groups and contested routes
Cauca sits on routes used for cocaine, weapons and illegal gold. Armed groups fight over those routes and pressure community groups. Leonardo González, director of Indepaz, identified three armed forces operating around El Plateado: the Carlos Patiño structure, a faction of former FARC guerrillas who rejected the 2016 peace deal; the Diomer Cortés front of the Segunda Marquetalia, another group of former FARC fighters; and the ELN, described as Colombia’s largest remaining left-wing guerrilla.
González told El Diario that the groups “maintain disputes for territorial control and exert pressure on community organisations”. The report links that pressure with the killings of leaders involved in community organisations. Authorities still hadn't identified who killed Buitrago.
Counts, warnings and the peace deal
Indepaz recorded 187 social leader killings in 2025, with more than 150 recorded by the end of September that year, compared with 173 in 2024. At the pace described in the report, a social leader was killed roughly every two to three days. Since Colombia signed its peace deal with the FARC guerrilla in January 2016, the Defensoría del Pueblo has recorded 1,777 such killings. It also counted 10 former FARC fighters who signed the deal and were killed by August.
The ombudsman counted 86 massacres with 326 victims in the first eight months of 2026. Colombia defines a massacre as three or more people killed together. The ombudsman issues early warnings for specific risk areas, including parts of Cauca, while Indepaz updates its list as cases are confirmed. These figures document warnings and confirmed deaths; the report also describes armed groups’ pressure on community organisations, which continue to represent villages and run local projects.