Sixty-five year old Oswaldo Rojas was a farmer and community leader in Carmen del Darién, Chocó.
On 10 October, 2020, Oswaldo was working in his fields when armed men wearing civilian clothes came and took him away. They tied his hands and then shot him dead. There had been no reports of him having previously received threats.
In April 2020, Oswaldo had been dispossessed for the second time from his land. His plot of 60 hectares was taken over by a group of landowners who are trying to consolidate a large tract of land in the area.
None of the local authorities came to collect the body or carry out a preliminary investigation so the family had to take him to the hospital themselves.
The killing is believed to have been carried out by the Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia” (AGC). The local community had been summoned to a meeting by the AGC who said that they wouldn’t kill anybody but that if anyone had contact with the FARC they would “end up underground”.