Colombian indigenous leader josé albino cañas ramírez murdered at home while defending ancestral territory

José Albino Cañas Ramírez, a 44-year-old Indigenous leader and environmental defender, was gunned down at his home in Portachuelo, Colombia on February 16. Two armed men entered the shop he operated from his house in Caldas department, opened fire, and escaped through the mountainous pathways of the Indigenous reserve. His assassination represents far more than a personal tragedy—it strikes at the heart of Indigenous self-governance in one of Colombia’s most contested regions.

Cañas Ramírez served as a cabildante, or governing council member, of the Resguardo Cañamomo Lomaprieta, an Emberá Chamí territory home to over 23,000 people across dozens of communities. The Emberá Chamí, whose name translates to “people of the mountains,” have inhabited the biodiverse central and western Andes for generations. However, their ancestral lands have become a battleground where multiple forces converge: guerrilla groups, paramilitaries, criminal networks, illegal miners, and government development projects all compete for control of these resource-rich territories.

This deadly intersection creates what activists describe as “double victimization”—Indigenous communities face threats from illegal armed groups on one side and extractive industries on the other. Community leaders like Cañas Ramírez, who work to protect their people’s territorial rights and environmental resources, bear extraordinary risks. His death near the sacred hill of Carbunco underscores the dangerous reality facing Indigenous environmental defenders throughout Colombia, where protecting ancestral lands and biodiversity can be a fatal calling.