At 4PM, on the afternoon of 22 April, 2020, members of human rights group Afro-Renacer and the indigenous Guardia Cimarrona were taking part in a community assembly in San Juan del Micay in the municipality of El Tambor, Cauca, to discuss the critical security situation following the killing of 4 community leaders in the previous 5 days.
Another 8 community leaders had had to be evacuated by the army because of fears for their safety after they received direct threats.
In the middle of the meeting armed men burst in and forced all those present to kneel down. They then picked out Jesús Albeiro Riascos Riascos and Sabino Angulo Advincula and shot them dead in front of the community. The community had begged the paramilitaries not to kill the young men who were both members of the Executive Committee of Afro Renacer.
It is believed that the killings were carried out by dissident members of the FARC, the Frente Carlos Patiño. The gunmen stayed in the village for some time, intimidating the community and preventing any action to remove the bodies.
The paramilitary groups are disputing a vast coca growing area between Argelia and El Tambo known as the Cañón del Micay, which gives direct access to the pacific coast.
As a result local people are caught between the violence of the paramilitaries, the violent response of the state and the pandemic.