Embera Chami Communities Continue to Seek Justice on 10th Anniversary of Fernando Salazar Calvo's Killing

“If the riches of the land and what is under the ground are collective, they must be used to help all members of the community! We must defend the collective right to our territory […].”
- late human rights defender Fernando Salazar Calvo

On the tenth anniversary of the assassination of indigenous human rights defender Fernando Salazar Calvo, Forest Peoples Programme (FPP) joins the Embera-Chami communities in honouring his memory and renewing calls for justice.

Fernando Salazar Calvo, an Indigenous leader from the community of Tumbabarreto in the Cañamomo Lomaprieta Indigenous Reserve of Colonial Origin (Colombia), was murdered on April 7, 2015, due to his work as a defender of indigenous rights and ancestral territory, and as a monitor of gold mining compliance with internal environmental and cultural laws of the Indigenous Reserve. A decade later, despite repeated national and international appeals, including from UN bodies and different embassies, there has been no meaningful justice as the intellectual authors of this killing remain unpunished.

On April 7, 2025 residents and leaders of the Cañamomo Lomaprieta Indigenous Reserve of Colonial Origin gathered to remember their late leader and to once again call on the Colombian State to ensure justice is done in this case. On the same day, FPP sent a formal letter to Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro, Vice President Francia Márquez, and the Attorney General of Colombia marking ten years since Fernando Salazar Calvo’s assassination. This official FPP communication (copied to national authorities and international human rights bodies) calls for updated information on the status of the investigation and legal proceedings.

The letter FPP sent to the Colombian authorities is available to read in Spanish.

Lighting candles in honour of Fernando’s spirit. Photo by Viviane Weitzner