He tried to save a rare parrot. It cost him his life.

“God willing, I will be coming back to you soon,” the 55-year-old instructed his daughter.

Three days later, a search celebration discovered his physique in a shallow grave with two bullets in his chest. His slaying was the most recent in a lethal wave of killings of environmentalists in Colombia, a nation the place they’re quick changing into virtually as endangered because the species they attempt to shield.

Authorities are treating it as one other in a lengthy record of killings of group activists by resurgent armed teams and different actors as a second of shaky peace slips away. In this war-weary nation of fifty million, the 2016 peace accords between the federal government and leftist guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, generally known as the FARC, is collapsing, sparking renewed violence as dissident fighters, right-wing paramilitaries and felony gangs battle over trafficking routes, illicit mining and unlawful logging.

“Environmentalists like Gonzalo operate in areas where there is a fight for territory,” mentioned Alex Cortés, founding father of ProAves, who labored with Cardona for twenty years. “The environmentalists become a hindrance.”

It’s not simply environmentalists. An estimated 310 activists — Indigenous leaders, group mobilizers and others who acquired in the best way of the armed teams — had been killed final 12 months in Colombia, the very best loss of life toll for the reason that signing of the peace deal, in accordance to the Bogota-based human rights group Indepaz.

“We’ve seen a marked increase of violence, and this is reflected not just in the killings of human rights defenders, but also in the number of threats and attacks,” mentioned Juliette de Rivero, consultant for the U.N. Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights in Colombia.

In one of the vital biologically numerous nations on the earth, environmentalists are being focused for his or her efforts to protect delicate habitats utilized by drug traffickers and armed gangs, and their activism in opposition to authorized and unlawful mining, agriculture, fossil gasoline extraction, and hydroelectric vegetation and dams. Sometimes, they’re merely undesirable eyes and ears in distant areas the place the Colombian authorities is essentially absent and illicit exercise thrives.

“The cause of Gonzalo’s death and of many other leaders is not because they were even calling out the presence of armed groups or denouncing them, it’s because of their very presence,” mentioned a Colombian authorities official conversant in the case who spoke on the situation of anonymity for worry of retribution by armed teams.

“They’re people safeguarding nature, they’re also out there constantly observing. That’s uncomfortable for the armed groups.”

Statistics on their killings range. London-based Global Witness referred to as Colombia the world’s deadliest nation for environmentalists in 2019 with 64 killings, whereas 2020 seems to have been at the very least as lethal, the group mentioned.

Such violence is a decades-old scourge. But as activists more and more come into battle with authorized and unlawful pursuits in rural areas — and as safety forces take a step again through the coronavirus pandemic — observers see a deadly surge.

In January, 11-year-old Francisco Vera, who drew consideration talking to lawmakers concerning the risks of fracking, single-use plastic and animal abuse — a kind of Greta Thunberg of Colombia — acquired nameless threats.

“I want to hear him scream while I cut off his fingers, to see if he keeps talking about environmentalism,” learn a risk from an nameless Twitter account.

Colombian Environmental Minister Carlos Eduardo Correa says the federal government has made strides in opposition to unlawful deforestation and is shifting to shield activists.

Attacks on environmentalists “should not happen in Colombia or anywhere in the world, less against leaders like Gonzalo, who gave everything for nature,” he instructed The Washington Post. “Gonzalo worked hard for the conservation of birds. He leaves an important legacy.”

While Colombia’s authorities blames the violence largely on armed teams, others join it to authorized corporations and extractive initiatives. The Business and Human Rights Resource Center reported final 12 months that 44 % of assaults on human rights defenders had been in opposition to activists who raised issues about simply 5 corporations.

Cardona, who managed the Andean Parrot Reserve of Roncesvalles within the heart of the Tres Cordilleras mountain vary in western Colombia, labored for 20 years to save the endangered yellow-eared parrot. The mustachioed environmentalist, recognized for his perpetual smile, traveled from city to city, talking to colleges and communities concerning the significance of defending the birds and the wax palms through which they nest and flourish.

“He loved the birds more than his own life,’ said Kelly Rojas, his 36-year-old daughter.

The yellow-eared parrot was believed to have perished until 1999, when a small cluster was discovered near Cardona’s town. Cortés, of ProAves, and a small team traveled to Roncesvalles in search of the bird. There they met Cardona, the son of a local farmer. He was eager to join their efforts.

Cardona had a fifth-grade education. But he became a self-taught naturalist, learning to spot different species of birds. He devoured texts on preservation.

“He would sit down and read and read and read,” Rojas mentioned.

He managed the parrot reserve for 15 years, defending 12,300 acres of habitat and wetlands. He rode his motorbike throughout 1000’s of miles of unpaved again roads, monitoring chicken populations, and replanting seedlings of the wax palms within the surrounding mountains. The yellow-eared parrot grew from 100 birds to 2,900 within the Tres Cordilleras area alone. Researchers on the University of Newcastle final 12 months credited Cardona and ProAves with saving the species.

The area has lengthy been a hotbed for trafficking medicine, weapons and folks. When Cardona started his conservation work, he and the opposite researchers had been incessantly caught between the perimeters in Colombia’s brutal civil battle. Cortés mentioned they typically had to ask permission from armed teams to work within the space.

The peace accords introduced a short-term lull, however the violence has come roaring again.

Members of the FARC dissident group generally known as Compañía Adán Izquierdo have established a stronghold within the area, in accordance to native and nationwide authorities. Paramilitary gangs have additionally been traversing the roadways, sparking clashes over territory.

Colombia’s Prosecutor’s Office confirmed Cardona’s loss of life is being investigated because the killing of a social chief by armed teams. The workplace declined to present additional particulars, citing an ongoing investigation.

Shortly after Cardona went lacking, household and pals organized a search celebration. Leader Salomón Muñoz mentioned his queries to locals drew appears of terror.

“They wouldn’t say anything; everyone had their mouths shut,” he mentioned. “There was this fear.”

One searcher noticed contemporary filth and gravel beneath a patch of timber. Muñoz mentioned he felt his abdomen drop as he knelt down and sunk his palms into the earth.

“The first thing that appeared was his face,” he mentioned.

When Muñoz and a funeral director drove the physique again to be buried, he mentioned, they had been met by what appeared a complete city in mourning. At the funeral, Muñoz sang a track he wrote to have fun the parrots.

“I sang with all of my love in the church, as they put him in the ground, as they were burying him,” Muñoz mentioned. “Fly fly, my little bird. Fly to the sky in peace.”

Faiola reported from Miami.