Photo: Organization of American States (OAS) observation team prepare for the June 21 presidential vote in Colombia.
On June 3, the Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project posted on social media:
“Threats directed against social and political leaders constitute a serious violation of human rights and the exercise of democratic participation. In this context, PBI reaffirms the importance of guaranteeing security, protection, and the necessary conditions so that social and political leaderships, as well as human rights defenders in the Magdalena Medio, can carry out their work and exercise their rights without threats, intimidation, or acts of violence.”
This follows the Regional Corporation for the Defense of Human Rights (CREDHOS) posting on social media:
“Less than 24 hours after the presidential elections, a pamphlet attributed to the ACSN circulated, declaring several people in the municipality as military targets, including social and political leaders linked to the Municipal Human Rights Committee, CREDHOS, and the Historic Pact.
These events are occurring in a context of high political tension and disputes over economic interests associated with extractive projects in the territory, including the possibility of enabling hydrocarbon exploitation through fracking.
We demand that the National Government and the departmental and municipal authorities immediately adopt effective measures to guarantee life, integrity, and permanence in the territory, as well as to advance investigations that allow these events to be clarified.
The defense of human rights and political participation must have full guarantees.”
The ACSN
CREDHOS has stated the Association of Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (ACSN) “represents a reconfiguration of the territorial dispute with the Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AGC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN), in the context of the internal armed conflict.”
“Economic powers that promote the deepening of extractive economies”
Justice for Colombia has noted: “Far-right presidential candidate Abelardo de la Espriella broadly outperformed progressive senator Iván Cepeda in Santander. However, Cepeda won in two municipalities, Puerto Wilches and the city of Barrancabermeja. Activists fear the threats could be reprisals for results that saw Cepeda gain 55.6 per cent of the vote in Puerto Wilches, 20 per cent more than De la Espriella.”
CREDHOS further comments: “This threat, carried out within the framework of the presidential elections, represents coercion against members of the Historical Pact Political Party and an attack against the democratic exercise of political participation, intensifying the persecution of the left-wing social and political movement in the municipality of Puerto Wilches. where tensions currently exist between popular sectors and economic powers that promote the deepening of extractive economies, including the possibility of enabling hydrocarbon exploitation through fracking.”
Second-round vote, June 21
The first round of the presidential election took place in Colombia on Sunday May 31, 2026, with a second round about to take place on Sunday June 21, 2026.
WOLA has reported: “Far-right outsider candidate Albelardo de la Espriella secured 43.74% of the vote in Colombia’s first-round presidential election, setting up a June 21 runoff against leftist candidate Ivan Cepeda, who received 40.9% of the vote, following a collapse in center-right support. De la Espriella finished three percentage points ahead of Cepeda, a margin of approximately 670,000 votes.”
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), an autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), has called on the State “to take all measures necessary to ensure that the presidential election process can be completed, in particular by preserving the safety of all presidential candidates.” It has also reminded the State “of its obligation to ensure that citizens may fully exercise their political rights safely and on an equal footing.”
We continue to follow this.
Further reading
–PBI-Canada attentive to the situation for human rights defenders in the context of the presidential election on June 21 in Colombia (PBI-Canada, June 2, 2026)
–The international community monitors the election in Colombia for risks to human rights defenders, organizations and communities (PBI-Canada, March 21, 2026).
