Pompilio Narváez, was a musician, a traditional medical practitioner and an ancestral authority in the community of El Plateado in Argelia, Cauca. He used his medical skills to help anybody who was sick and he was much respected in the community for his knowledge and his kindness. He was blind.
On 29 October, 2020 gunmen, wearing bracelets which identified them as members of the dissident FARC unit the Frente Carlos Patino, arrived at the hotel Pompilio owned in El Plateado. They dragged him out and then shot him dead in front of the community.
The killing took place in the context of an ongoing power struggle between different paramilitary groups for control of the Cañón del Micay area. This has resulted in an escalation of violence against peasant, afrodescendant and indigenous communities in the area including repeated forced displacements.
A member of the Frente Carlos Patino, known as alias Jorge or El Indio, has been arrested and charged with the killing.
