Oscar Adolfo Quenan Toro

Oscar Aldolfo Toro, leader of  “Junta de Accion Comunal de la vereda Nueva Albania” in the Municipality of San Miguel, Putumayo department, was murdered on 12 October 2018.

Police spokesman,  Edilberto Garcia, issued a statement about the lack of inspection of Oscar’s body.  He claimed that this was due to the delay in transferring the body from the farm to the city, what makes the autopsy harder. Although, Edilberto claimed that a unit had been set up to carry out the investigation.

Furthermore, according to  “Somos Defensores” in 2018 there were 805 attacks against human rights defenders, and among these figures, 155 of them were killed. It was one of the worse year for protecting community leaders in Colombia. Compared to 2017 the violence had increased by 43,3% in 2018  and 66% in 2019.


If you would like to provide a personal recollection, please email us at: HRDMemorial@frontlinedefenders.org

Region:Americas

Country:Colombia

Department/Province/State:Putumayo

Sex1:Male

Date of Killing:12/10/2018

Type of Work:Lawyer

Organisation:Junta de Accion Comunal de la vereda Nueva Albania

Sector or Type of Rights the HRD Worked On:Civil and Political Rights, ESC Rights

Sector Detail:Peasant Communities

More information:Front Line Defenders

1This database records an individual's chosen gender identity. If they do not self-identify as male or female they can use the option of recording other/neither or use the term NBGI (non binary gender identity).