Colombia’s human rights defenders and community leader continue to suffer widespread aggression despite government promises to curb the violence, according to a human rights organization.

In it’s annual report, NGO Somos Defensores said it had registered 840 acts of aggression against social leaders in 2022 and another 258 in the first three months of this year.

The majority of this violence consisted of death threats.

Deadly violence against social leaders increased sharply from 139 assassinations in 2021 to 197 in 2022. Another five social leaders were assassinated in January, February and March.

Armed conflict in southwest spills over to civil society

In 2022, The violence was most prominent in the southwestern Cauca, Nariño and Norte del Valle provinces where social leaders suffered 359 attacks.

These provinces have seen major violence caused by armed conflict between rival illegal armed groups.

Also particularly violent were the Antioquia and Santander provinces where violence was largely associated with drug trafficking and mining.

Violence per province

Questions about perpetrators

In 335 of the 840 registered acts of aggression, social leaders weren’t able to pinpoint the exact perpetrator of the violence.

In cases where authorities were informed of an alleged perpetrator, paramilitary groups were the main alleged perpetrator.

Reports of violence persisted despite the election of President Gustavo Petro, who rolled out an ambitious “Total Peace” policy, which seeks to reduce violence.