Luz Marina Arteaga Henao

Luz Marina Arteaga Henao was a doctor, social leader, woman human rights defender and land claimant in the peasant and indigenous process of El Porvenir and Vereda Matarratón in Puerto Gaitán, Meta. Her life choice was the protection of nature, the defence of the rights of peasant and indigenous communities in different regions and the struggle against injustice.

In 1996, she was kidnapped and displaced by paramilitary groups in Urabá, Antioquia, and since then lived in Orocué, Casanare, where she led various initiatives to guarantee access to fundamental rights. Because of her leadership in the land claims process, she received death threats which were brought to the attention of the competent authorities without any protection measures being provided in accordance with her level of risk and her socio-economic situation. She was reported missing on 12 January 2022 and her lifeless body was found on the banks of the Meta River on 17 January of the same year.