On November 7, 2026, Peace Brigades International-Canada visited the intersection of Calle 19 and Carrera 4 in central Bogotá where high school student Dilan Cruz was killed by the Mobile Anti-Riot Squad (ESMAD) police.
On the morning of November 26, 2019, the Peace Brigades International-Colombia Projected posted on social media: “We regret the death of the young Dilan Cruz who in the exercise of his right to social protest to claim his rights was the victim of a violent attack. Solidarity and love for his family.”
Photo: Tribute to Dilan Cruz, November 27, 2019.
At that time, Associated Press reported: “Dilan Cruz, an 18-year-old high school student, died two days after being hit in the head by a projectile reportedly fired by riot police during a protest.” And the BBC reported: “He joined a protest march in the capital on Saturday [November 23, 2019] to highlight the difficulties students like him had accessing higher education, according to his friends.”
One of Cruz’s friends told El Espectador: “We were marching and the ESMAD (riot police) threw stun grenades and tear gas canisters at us. Dilan went to the front to kick back a tear-gas canister, because it had landed next to old people.”
A subsequent investigation published in September 2023 by Plano Negativo, a Forensic Architecture research unit based in Colombia, commissioned by the Committee for Solidarity with Political Prisoners (CSPP), concluded: “Dilan was shot in the head with a bean bag round—a form of ammunition that has been labelled ‘non-lethal’ and is used against protests throughout the world. He sustained severe head trauma and succumbed to his injuries in the hospital two days later.”
Image by Forensic Architecture.
In July 2026, the Spanish daily newspaper El Pais reported: “Dilan Cruz was killed by a ammunition known as a bean bag fired by a policeman from the Mobile Anti-Riot Squad or ESMAD. The 18-year-old became, since November 23, 2019, a symbol of social protest and a clear example of police violence.”
That article continues: “Six years have passed since Captain Manuel Cubillos fired a weapon classified as ‘less lethal’ and took his life. …During this time, his family has not rested in their demand for justice.”
“This Friday [July 10, 2026] it was known that the Administrative Court of Cundinamarca ruled in their favor, increased the compensation to which they are entitled by considering the death a serious violation of rights and condemned the National Police. In the second instance ruling, the Court explains that the Police failed to classify the weapon that Cubillos was carrying in the category of ‘least lethal’ weapon, and that, despite its name, ‘this type of weapon should not be lethal.’”
The article concludes: “The chamber also denies that Dilan did anything that justified the use of the weapon, as argued by the defense of the ESMAD and Captain Cubillos, represented by the law firm of the president-elect, Abelardo de la Espriella.”
Captain Manuel Cubillos was previously fined by the Inspector General’s Office 14 million Colombian pesos (approximately USD $3,300) in November 2024. He continues to be a police officer. Abelardo de la Espriella was sworn in as President of Colombia on August 7, 2026. While the Petro government changed the name of the ESMAD to UNDMO in August 2022, the de la Espriella government has returned to using the name ESMAD through Resolution 02336 dated October 13, 2026.
We remember Dilan Cruz.
Further reading
–PBI-Colombia expresses sadness at the death of Dilan Cruz; national strike protests continue (PBI-Canada, November 26, 2019)
–The Mobile Anti-Riot Squads (ESMAD), the police unit implicated in multiple killings, returns in Colombia (PBI-Canada, October 18, 2026).
