In July of last year, Jesús Cometa narrowly survived an assassination attempt while driving through Colombia’s Cauca Valley. Armed men on motorbikes opened fire on his vehicle, injuring his bodyguard but leaving Mr. Cometa unharmed. Bullet holes still scar the windshield of his white Renault.
Mr. Cometa, a regional leader of Sintrainagro—Colombia’s largest agricultural trade union—says such threats are part of everyday life for trade unionists in the country. “You lose your social life,” he explains. “You can’t be in crowded public places. Even your family becomes a target.”
Colombia has long been regarded as the world’s most dangerous country for trade unionists. According to the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), 11 of the 22 trade unionists murdered globally in the year leading to March 2024 were killed in Colombia. Between 2020 and 2023, the ITUC documented 45 murders of union members in the country, with 29 occurring in 2022 alone.
“These are not random acts of violence,” says Luc Triangle, General Secretary of the ITUC. “They are deliberate, targeted killings, often aimed at local activists rather than national union leaders.”
The violence is rooted in Colombia’s decades-long civil conflict involving left-wing guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries, drug cartels, and the state. Fabio Arias, head of the Central Union of Workers (CUT), Colombia’s largest union federation, says unionists are often stigmatized as guerrillas or terrorists due to their leftist affiliations. “That narrative has made it easier to justify violence against them,” he notes.
Many of the attacks occur in regions like Cauca, Nariño, Putumayo, Arauca, Norte de Santander, and Caquetá—areas heavily affected by illegal coca cultivation and mining operations.
Despite the dangers, Colombia’s unionists continue to organize and protest, pushing for labor rights in the face of violence and intimidation.