On 11 March, 2018, Jesús Leaón, and another campesino (peasant, Guillerme Toledo) were kidnapped and killed by colombian paramilitares, according to the news agency “Resume Latino Americano”.

Both of the community leaders were part of the “Consejo Comunal Robert Serra”, which consists of , at least, 56 families who have been violently expelled from cultivable lands (called “Palo Quemao”), on 23 November, 2017.

Sources affirm that a truck burst into the encampment where the leaders lived, forced Guillerme to get into it and them captured Jesús hours later. Furthermore, on the day following the capture, the lifeless bodies of both leaders were found by local people.

The prime suspect, is Carlos Eduardo Pardi Moncada, who claims ownership to the lands located in Arismendi, Barinas.

In addition, the leaders reported to the authorities the  threats that they had received, however nothing was ever done about it.

There have been violent attacks against the campesinos, as a result, even the President of Venezuela, Nícolas Maduro issued a statement in favour of the local peasants, who struggle for land:“This is not a landowners revolution! This is a peasants’ revolution,  a justice revolution“.