A Christian persecution watchdog has called on the Colombian government to restore specific protections for religious leaders because of the risks they face in regions where armed and criminal groups are rife.
CSW has launched a campaign urging people around the world to sign a petition that will be presented to the winner of the country’s presidential election, scheduled for 31st May. The petition calls on the next president to deliver on promises of “total peace” by restoring access to government security and protection for religious leaders.
In 2023, the Colombian government removed religious leaders from an official list of particularly vulnerable groups, preventing them from accessing official security mechanisms and protection programmes designated for at-risk populations.
The campaign highlights the cases of eleven religious leaders who have been assassinated, extrajudicially executed, forcibly disappeared or kidnapped in Colombia since December 2024, including Protestant Pastor José Otoniel Ortega. He was shot dead by armed individuals on 31st December 2025 while celebrating New Year’s Eve with his family.
Among the other cases is Pastor Marlon Lora, who was killed alongside his wife and two adult children while eating lunch at a restaurant following Sunday church services in the Cesar Department in December 2024. Pastor Dario Iván García was shot dead by two masked hitmen as he walked home with members of his church and three stepchildren following a prayer service in the Magdalena Department in January 2025.
The campaign also references seven Protestant church leaders whose bodies were discovered in a mass grave in the Guaviare Department in July 2025 — three months after they disappeared following summonses from a guerrilla group.
CSW’s director of advocacy and Americas team leader, Anna Lee Stangl, said the past two years have seen Colombia return to “levels of violence reminiscent of the darkest days of the country’s decades-long internal conflict”.
She added: “As voices of peace, justice and freedom in their communities, religious leaders are obvious targets for illegal armed and criminal groups that continue to spread fear throughout the country. Whoever wins the upcoming presidential election in Colombia must make the promises of ‘total peace’ on which the current government was elected an utmost priority, including by recognising the specific vulnerability of religious leaders and restoring their access to government protection programmes and security mechanisms.”