Protests are growing in Colombia over the torture and murder of young Donovan Balanta at the hands of the police

Published at: 25/09/2026 03:13 PM

Social organizations, human rights groups and political leaders expressed their categorical rejection of the brutal murder and torture inflicted against the young Afro-Colombian Donovan Balanta Paz by members of the National Police during an operation deployed in the Caracolí neighborhood, town of Ciudad Bolívar, south of Bogotá.

Balanta Paz, 34, father of two children and a criminal student, was rounded up and intercepted last September 20 by between 15 and 20 uniformed personnel while in a total state of defenselessness. According to audiovisual records and community testimonies, the young man was brutally beaten on the ground, dragged and systematically subjected to multiple electric shocks with a taser device on his chest and back while in handcuffs.

Residents of the sector reported that the procedure was marked by physical aggression, the theft of their personal belongings and insults with a racist and discriminatory bias.

The incident sparked massive indignation on social networks and reopened the national debate on racial profiling, impunity and the urgency of eradicating institutional racism in the security forces in Colombia. The NGO Temblores, together with various social movements, warned of the extreme cruelty exercised against the victim and demanded the suspension and immediate criminal investigation of the agents involved in Soacha and Bogotá.

Faced with the seriousness of the case, former President Gustavo Petro went to the scene of the events in Ciudad Bolívar to accompany the relatives and verify the records of the security cameras that documented the aggression, while requesting the urgent intervention of the Attorney General's Office of the Nation.

In addition, legislators such as Senator Alejandro Ocampo described the event as an unacceptable crime and demanded direct and immediate accountability from the supreme command of the security forces to prevent abuse of authority from going unpunished.

MAZO DRAFTING