Colombia’s LGBTQ+ community faces brutal violence from armed groups: ‘All will be military targets’

Armed groups in northern Colombia have openly targeted members of the LGBTQ+ community with violent threats for over a year.

Flyers circulated in Guajira in March 2024 declared: “All will be military targets. We will not respect ages. We have already made progress in intelligence work and many have been identified,” listing specific individuals and warning of attacks on “sexual depravities in the region: homosexuals, lesbians, rapists, trans.”

These threats have materialised with brutal consequences. In April, trans woman Sara Millerey was tortured and thrown into a river on the outskirts of Medellin. Footage showed her clinging to the riverbank with broken limbs, convulsing in pain. Witnesses say bystanders were warned not to intervene. Millerey died the following day.

Justice remains rare

Activist Juan Carlos ‘Tito’ Buelvas told CNN, “Nawar called me up immediately, she was crying… she told me she was very scared after that murder.” Nawar Jimenez, another activist, participated in protests despite fearing for her life. Buelvas recalled, “In that protest, she cried so much, she feared for her life.”

Despite Colombia’s progressive legal protections for LGBTQ+ people, justice remains rare. Last year, only three of 155 investigations into anti-LGBTQ+ killings resulted in convictions – approximately 2%, compared with the country’s overall homicide conviction rate of 9%.

Nearly 50 queer and trans people have been murdered so far this year. Millerey’s death was the 24th, with Jimenez becoming the 43rd victim in May.

“Their place must always be separate” – Medellin gang member on queer and trans people

Local gangs known as “the correctors” enforce a brutal social order in Medellin and surrounding areas. A gang member named Camilo explained, “Their place must always be separate… Here we give them two warnings, the third time is not a warning anymore.”

Two men have been charged in Millerey’s case, but no arrests have been made in Jimenez’s killing.

President Gustavo Petro condemned Millerey’s murder, and lawmakers have introduced a bill named in her honour to improve prosecution of anti-LGBTQ crimes.

“Millerey was kind of asking for it” – local resident on trans woman Sara Millerey’s murder

However, conservative social attitudes persist. A Medellin resident said, “Millerey was kind of asking for it… It’s a wrong and mistaken way of thinking in the eyes of God.”

At Bogotá Pride this summer, thousands marched with banners bearing the names of victims and the slogan, “Nuestra existencia es resistencia,” which translates to, “To exist is to resist.”