Community journalist Julián Hincapié found dead in Anorí: Ombudsman demands investigation
The 23-year-old communicator disappeared on 10 September and was found in a rural area of Anorí. He is the third journalist killed in Colombia in 2026.
Third journalist killed in Colombia in 2026: body of Julián Hincapié found in Anorí
The body of Julián Hincapié, a 23-year-old community communicator, was found in the sector known as La Chinca, in a rural area of the municipality of Anorí, Antioquia. Hincapié had been missing since 10 September. According to noticiascarol.com, the journalist was found in "advanced state of decomposition".
The Ombudsman's Office reacted to the discovery with an urgent call to the authorities: "We request that the competent authorities conduct with haste an exhaustive investigation that allows the circumstances of his death to be clarified, identify those responsible and determine whether the crime was related to his work as a communicator or human rights defender".
The body also recalled that the Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP) and the Institute for Studies of Development and Peace (Indepaz) had previously warned about Hincapié's disappearance and the risks faced by journalists in the department.
Last outing with an unknown neighbour
According to the communicator's relatives, the last time he was seen he left his home with a neighbour he had met days earlier. Both were to have travelled to deliver mercury to a third party. The neighbour returned to the municipality and then left, but Hincapié never reappeared.
The communicator's partner told Noticias Caracol: "I asked him and what he told me was that, that Julián had turned back from where they had to take the mercury. They did see Julián get in with him, but never get out".
His brother highlighted Hincapié's connection with the region's mining communities: "He was always very active on the issue of small-scale miners and defending artisanal mining".
Area with presence of armed groups
Anorí is a municipality where, according to reported information, criminal groups such as the Gulf Clan and FARC dissidents under the command of the alias Calarcá operate. However, the Ombudsman's Office stressed that the investigation must determine whether the murder is directly related to the journalistic or human rights defence activity that Hincapié carried out.
The communicator had shown interest in documenting matters related to the armed conflict and artisanal mining in the area.
Similarities with another case in Antioquia
Hincapié's death is the third of a journalist in Colombia so far in 2026. It is added to that of Mateo Pérez, also killed in Antioquia during this year. Natalia López, legal director of FLIP, noted that both cases present similarities and expressed concern about the situation of communicators working in the territories.
"That is what strikes us most, especially bearing in mind the profile of the communicators, because it is precisely community or territorial communicators who are most exposed to these criminal groups with greater presence in the department", López said.
FLIP had also reported other assaults and threats against journalists in the country during 2026.
The Ombudsman calls for guarantees for community journalism
The Ombudsman's Office insisted on the need to identify those responsible and establish the circumstances of the crime. The body expressed its solidarity with Hincapié's family and with the social and community organisations with which he collaborated during his work.
The entity held that community communication and the defence of human rights must have guarantees for their exercise throughout Colombian territory.
Source: Google News CO — Crime