Event Summary
On 15 August 2025, Álvaro Roncancio Aguirre, president of the Community Action Board of the Tenjo district in Palmira (Valle del Cauca), was murdered at the age of 64. The attack took place on Bulevar de la Carbonera, in the Zamorano neighbourhood, when Roncancio was travelling in his vehicle and was approached by hitmen who shot him multiple times. He was taken to a medical centre, where he died from his injuries.
Roncancio had already received death threats and was displaced along with his family from the rural area from early 2025 as a result of pressure from illegal armed groups. The Ombudsman’s Office had issued early warnings (AT 019 of 2023 and AT 010 of 2024) about the serious risk faced by social leaders in Palmira. Palmira and the Tenjo district have been identified as high-risk areas due to the presence of illegal armed groups—such as FARC dissidents (“Adán Izquierdo”) and the 57th Front “Yair Bermúdez”—and deficiencies in effective state protection schemes.
The crime occurs in a context of increasing violence against social leaders in Colombia where more than 100 have been killed in 2025 thus far and unfortunately, is expected to continue. Roncancio is the 101st murder of a social leader in 2025.