On 1 September 2015, human rights defender and director of an education initiative for the Lumad indigenous people, Mr Emerito Samarca, was killed, allegedly by members of a paramilitary group. He was found dead in one of the classrooms in the school compound in Han-ayan, Lianga, Surigao del Sur.
On 21 January 2015, the body of human rights defender Mr Carlos Alberto Pedraza Salcedo was discovered by members of the judicial police in an uninhabited area of San Bartolomé, Gachancipá Municipality, in the department of Cudinamarca. Carlos Alberto Pedraza Salcedo had allegedly been shot in the head.
On 16 January 2016, unidentified gunmen killed human rights defender Ms Nelly Amaya in her home town of San Calixto, in the department of Norte Santander. Nelly Amaya's assassination follows the killing of another member of MOVICE, Mr Daniel Abril, on 13 November 2015, in his home town of Trinidad, in the department of Casanare. The attack also comes in the wake of a recent dissemination of threatening pamphlets against MOVICE, aimed at stopping their peaceful and legitimate human rights work in Colombia.
On 13 November 2015, human rights defender Mr Daniel Abril was killed while in a bakery in his home town of Trinidad, in the department of Casanare. He was one of the most prominent voices against reported human rights abuses committed by oil companies in the Casanare department. Daniel Abril and other members of MOVICE have been the subject of threats and other forms of harassment.
On 31 March 2016, during a hearing before the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry which is investigating the killings and violence against indigenous persons and the State's alleged omission in these cases, indigenous leader Paulino Terena was prevented from giving his testimony before the CPI as he asked for a translator for his indigenous mother tongue, Terena.
On 21 January 2014, Justo Sorto was found dead on a farming estate of the Yance community in the municipality of Jesús de Otoro, in the department of Intibucá, Western Honduras. Justo Sorto had been detained by police on various occasions for his participation in the taking of roads while campaigning for the expulsion of lumber dealers who were destroying the forests in which the Lenca community lives, in the departments of Lempira, Intibucá and Santa Barbara.
Gilberto Vásquez has received threats because of his work and on 20 December 2015 the body of his son, Mr Javier Vásquez Benítez, was found in a ravine in the municipality of Santa Elena, department of La Paz.
