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Colombia is a country deeply scarred by more than 50 years of armed conflict, leaving wounds that have yet to heal. Although many Colombians believed that the signing of the peace agreement in 2016 between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) would mark the end of the conflict, the reality is that the war has continued. Various events throughout 2024 and so far in 2025 have evidenced an alarming upsurge in violence.
Illegal armed groups, driven by illicit economies such as drug trafficking and illegal mining, have expanded their presence in various regions of the country. These groups include the National Liberation Army (ELN), FARC dissidents who emerged after the group’s demobilization in 2017, and the Gulf Clan, also known as the Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AGC), which originated from the demobilization of paramilitary groups in the 2000s.
In its annual World Report on the state of human rights 2025, Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned about the serious impact of these armed groups on the civilian population, noting that between January and July 2024, approximately 34,000 people were forcibly displaced, according to figures from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). HRW’s research revealed that by June 2024, the Clan del Golfo had a presence in 392 municipalities, the ELN in 232, and FARC dissidents in 299, representing an increase of 55%, 23%, and 30%, respectively, compared to 2022.
In this context of persistent violence, the artistic and cultural sector has not been immune to the ravages of the conflict, especially in departments historically affected by armed conflict, such as Cauca, where artists and cultural leaders have been caught in the crossfire between illegal groups seeking to impose their territorial control.
The persecution of those promoting art and culture in these territories has resulted in censorship, threats, attacks, and murders that have silenced fundamental voices for the identity and social fabric of this region of the country. One of the most alarming cases occurred on August 2, 2024, when Edgar Eduardo Victoria Segura, an artist and teacher in the Indigenous Resguardo of Vitoncó, was murdered while traveling with two other teachers on the road connecting Belalcázar, Cauca, with La Plata, Huila. Alleged FARC dissidents were responsible for the crime.
The murder of Victoria Segura was not an isolated incident. Just two months later, on October 5, violence again struck the cultural sector in the same department with the murder of Andrés Erazo, a renowned cultural manager and founder of the folkloric group Soles de Micay. Erazo, a promoter of dance and theater in the municipality of Argelia, was killed in the central square. Though the crime remains unresolved, it occurred in an area with a strong presence of illegal armed groups, such as the Carlos Patiño Front and the Diomer Cortés Front, both belonging to FARC dissidents, as well as the ELN—groups that have sown terror and anxiety in the region.
The situation became even more tense in November 2024 when FARC dissidents, led by alias Iván Mordisco, issued an intimidating communiqué against artists invited to the Cultural and Artistic Festival organized by the Ministry of Defense in the village of El Plateado, located in the municipality of Argelia, Cauca. In their message, they described the event as “the concert of the war” and issued direct threats against popular music artists such as Arelys Henao and Grupo Fuego Internacional, warning that if they performed at the festival, they would be considered military targets in future presentations in territories under the influence of these dissidents. The threats materialized on November 8 when an explosive device hidden in a motorcycle was detonated at the event site, leaving several soldiers wounded and forcing the Ministry of Defense to cancel the concert due to a lack of security guarantees.
This wave of violence did not cease with the arrival of the new year. So far this year, Cauca continues to be the epicenter of an intense confrontation between FARC dissidents and ELN guerrillas. In this scenario of conflict, on January 1, Dávinson Gaviria, a well-known popular music singer, was murdered after finishing a private concert at the Linda Pradera stadium, located in the La Esperanza hamlet in the El Estrecho district. The event had been organized by a group of merchants in the area, and according to witnesses, the attackers entered the establishment, and just as Gaviria was about to board his vehicle to go to another event, they shot him repeatedly. Although he was taken alive to a medical center, he died due to the severity of his wounds. Regarding the possible identity of the perpetrators, anonymous testimonies from artists in the region have denounced that FARC dissidents have repeatedly threatened musicians who try to perform in different rural areas of the department. According to these accounts, the artists find themselves in a situation of extreme vulnerability: if they perform in areas controlled by FARC dissidents, they are prohibited from performing in territories under ELN influence.
On January 28, violence struck again in Cauca when a car bomb exploded in El Plateado during the closing of the Festival de Negros y Blancos, one of the most important cultural celebrations in the township. According to the authorities, FARC dissidents were responsible for the attack, which once again highlighted how the imposition of fear and armed control directly affects the cultural life of the territory.
This chronology of events demonstrates not only the territorial control exercised by illegal armed groups, but also how their presence directly impacts the artistic and cultural life of communities in areas most vulnerable to the conflict, limiting the right to freedom of expression for both artists and audiences. The lack of security guarantees has turned violence into a mechanism of censorship and territorial control, reflecting the State’s inability to protect those living in these territories.
According to the Truth Commission, in Colombia art and culture have been tools of resistance, denunciation and testimony, allowing to make visible complex realities of the country. However, instead of being protected, artists and cultural leaders continue to be exposed to violence from armed groups that seek to silence them. In these territories, culture and art are synonymous with hope and become a refuge from a reality marked by fear and uncertainty left by war. As long as there are no real guarantees of protection, violence will continue to impose silence, affecting both those who create art and those who enjoy it and recognize it as a form of expression, identity and historical memory.
