In what has been confirmed as Colombia’s deadliest massacre of 2025, authorities have uncovered a mass grave in the rural municipality of Calamar, Guaviare, containing the bodies of eight members of a local Christian church.
The victims, identified by their families as Jesús Valero, Carlos Valero, Marivel Silva, Isaid Gómez, Maryuri Hernández, Óscar Hernández, James Caicedo, and Nixon Peñaloza Chacón, had been missing since April 4. All were social or religious leaders associated with an evangelical church from the conflict-ridden department of Arauca.
According to Colombia’s Attorney General’s Office, the group was forcibly taken by armed members of a dissident faction of the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), now operating under the command of Néstor Gregorio Vera Fernández, alias Iván Mordisco. The victims were allegedly summoned to a meeting in mid-April and never returned. Their remains were exhumed this week from a shallow grave in the surrounding countryside.
Initial findings suggest the massacre was carried out simply because the victims were from Arauca, a region under territorial dispute by illegal armed groups vying for control over coca cultivation routes and illegal mining operations. Prosecutors say the victims were executed extrajudicially after being interrogated by the dissidents.
The discovery has sent shockwaves across Colombia, particularly in Guaviare—a department already scarred by decades of violence. It marks the 33rd massacre recorded in the country this year, according to the Institute for Development and Peace Studies (INDEPAZ), and underscores a disturbing escalation in violence amid the fragmented control of armed actors.
Since President Gustavo Petro took office in August 2022, 202 massacres have occurred, leaving at least 706 victims, including 504 men, 80 women, 35 minors, and 87 individuals whose identities remain unknown.
“We Feel Abandoned”
Local officials in Guaviare have condemned the killings and expressed frustration over what they describe as the central government’s failure to provide adequate security in regions besieged by criminal groups.
Farid Camilo Castaño, the mayor of Calamar, criticized President Petro directly for promoting community festivities in Guaviare at a time when local authorities were warning of rising violence and kidnappings.
“There is mourning in Calamar, but also deep pain and indignation,” Castaño told Caracol Radio. “One of the greatest frustrations we have as local leaders is the complete abandonment we feel—from the governor to all the mayors in the department. We feel alone.”
“It is not normal for eight people to be massacred. It is not normal for an entire department to be confined for a week. What we’re living in Guaviare is no different from what’s happening in Cauca or other parts of Colombia,” he added.
Three days of official mourning have been declared in Calamar following the exhumation of the bodies. The local population – mostly rural and deeply religious – has reacted with sorrow and fear.
The Ombudsman’s Office had issued an early warning earlier this year, cautioning that violence in Guaviare was likely to escalate due to fighting between rival dissident factions – those loyal to Iván Mordisco and others aligned with alias Calarcá.
Despite these alerts, the state security presence remains limited in many parts of the department, and humanitarian organizations have repeatedly warned of increasing threats against social leaders and faith-based communities.
The breakthrough in the case came after a humanitarian mission by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) last weekend facilitated the release of two kidnapping victims. During that operation, armed men reportedly provided information leading to the mass grave.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has condemned the killings in a statement, calling on the Colombian government to take urgent steps to prevent further violence.
“We urge the government and all authorities to take every possible measure to prevent human rights violations and protect the population, especially leaders and human rights defenders,” the statement reads.
The massacre delivers yet another blow to President Petro’s “Total Peace” agenda, which seeks negotiated settlements with all armed groups operating in Colombia. Talks with various FARC dissident factions have repeatedly stalled due to ceasefire violations, lack of coordination, and continued attacks on vulnerable populations. “The people of Guaviare need protection, not promises,” Mayor Castaño said.
While the department of Guaviare is increasingly becoming associated with the armed conflict and state abandonment, the “gateway to the Orinoco” is also home to one of the most extraordinary cultural and archaeological treasures in the Americas. In the Serranía de La Lindosa, near the banks of the Guayabero River, lie vast rock walls covered in over 12,000-year-old pictograms – an ancient visual record of a lost Amazonian culture.
La Lindosa, often called the “Sistine Chapel of the Jungle,” holds thousands of prehistoric drawings of animals, humans, and spiritual figures, offering a glimpse into a region that once thrived in peace and connection with nature. The events surrounding the massacre in Calamar are yet another tragic reminder of how so many territories throughout Colombia remain unable to promote their tourism attractions, constrained by the enduring scourge of violence.
