Sixty-nine year old Joaquín Antonio Ramírez was a community leader and member of the Consejo Comunitario Pacífico Cimarrones (Afrodescendant Community of the Pacific) in vereda El Cedro, Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca.

On 6 December, 2020, Joaquín Antonio was sitting in front of his house with his family when two gunmen on a motorbike pulled up and opened fire killing him instantly.

Local communities have called on the government to invest in a massive programme of crop substitution which could eliminate the production of coca and help the farmers to get of the clutches of the criminal gangs which control the trade.

Ten community leaders were assassinated in one week in December in 6 departments of Colombia.

Cauca and Antioquia are the two departments most affected by the wave of killings because of the strong presence of paramilitary groups in those areas.