Bogota, Colombia - August 20, 2024

1. Streets of Bogota;
2. La Tatacoa, Huila.

79 are the cases documented in Colombia during 2023 by Global Witness (GW), an international organization that, since 2012, records the murders of land and environmental defenders around the world. The country has always exchanged the first place on this list with Mexico and Brazil. But this year it has not only broken the historical record for a country in a year, but has also become the nation with the most defenders killed since GW began this list in 2012 (461 deaths in total).

“Latin America continues to be the deadliest region,” explains Laura Furones, senior advisor at GW. “Of the 196 cases documented during 2023 around the world, 85% occurred in the region.” Of the five countries where the most murders were recorded that year, four are in Latin America. Colombia is followed by Brazil (25), Honduras (18), Mexico (18), Philippines (17) and Nicaragua (10).