Armed gunmen killed social leader Freiman Velázquez and five others in a coordinated attack on a National Protection Unit vehicle traveling the Ocaña-Ábrego road in Norte de Santander on May 19. Velázquez, a peasant union organizer with the Association for Peasant Unity of Catatumbo (ASUNCAT), was targeted despite state security; witnesses reported assailants used long-range weapons and fired multiple volleys at the van. The attack marks the fifth massacre in Norte de Santander this year and the 56th nationwide in 2026, occurring in a region where ELN, FARC dissidents, and criminal bands compete for territorial control.