Gracelito Micolta was a member in the community council of Alto Guapi. Local sources said he was traveling in canoe to join a city meeting when he was intercepted by alleged paramilitary groups in the Cerda locality. Micolta was then killed by the para-military forces.

His death is associated with the presence of members of the Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AGC) and an organized crime group dedicated to drug trafficking, along with other irregular military organizations operating in the area.

"What happens in Cauca responds to the logic of a department where territorial conflicts have historically occurred, with private legal and illegal sectors such as mining," Indepaz said in a report on the matter.

So far, the number of social leaders murdered in Colombia has increased by 53 percent, most of them amidst the COVID-19 outbreak, as reported by Ideas For The Peace Foundation (FIP).