Three amateur mountain bikers were shot dead on Thursday 30 July 2026 while riding an unpaved rural road connecting the municipalities of Silvia and Totoró in Colombia’s Cauca department, according to Colombian news outlets.
The victims have been identified as retired Colonel Libardo Osorio Sánchez and retired Majors Harold Sánchez Vergara and Rodrigo Amórtegui, all members of the Colombian Armed Forces Reserve. The three had set out on a group ride through the Miraflores sector and reportedly posed for the above photograph shortly before the attack.
Armed men intercepted the group and opened fire with rifles. All three riders died at the scene. Police and members of the local Indigenous Guard later recovered the group’s mountain bikes, including a full-suspension Scott model, from the dirt road where the attack took place.
Investigators have not officially attributed responsibility, but early findings point to the Dagoberto Ramos Front, part of the FARC dissident umbrella group Estado Mayor Central, which operates across northern and eastern Cauca.
The killings add to the region’s grim toll. According to the Institute for Development and Peace Studies (Indepaz), the attack was Colombia’s 77th recorded massacre of 2026 and Cauca’s 12th, as the department continues to record the country’s highest number of such incidents. The Colombian Army has stepped up offensive operations against dissident factions in the area in recent weeks.
Veterans’ associations condemned the attack and called on authorities to swiftly identify those responsible. No arrests have been announced.
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