Colombia: ‘Here, the Leash Changes but Not the Dog’: A Conversation with Colombian Human Rights Leader Elizabeth Moreno

Mar 20, 2025 | Alfie Pannell
The Bogota Post
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Elizabeth “Chava” Moreno is a human rights leader from the embattled Litoral San Juan municipality in Colombia’s Chocó Department. 

After being forced to flee her rural home by armed groups in 2013, Moreno dedicated herself to advocating for the black and indigenous natives of Chocó.

Today, she is the Coordinator of the Interethnic Forum in Chocó, representing communities who have been victims of decades of conflict and state neglect. 

Moreno has received multiple prestigious recognitions, including the United Nations Nansen Refugee Prize in 2023 and the Colombian government’s National Human Rights Prize.

In the empty dining room of a gloomy Quibdó hotel, Moreno loosens the string binding a parcel of banana leaves, releasing a cloud of savoury steam from a hot pastel de arroz. She picked up the Pacific delicacy in the street from schoolgirls raising money for their church.

A waiter offers to plate it up for Moreno, but she declines. “No need to make a mess,” she tells him, waving her hand.

Before our meeting, Moreno had been taking part in a conference upstairs with black community members from the predominantly Afro-descendent region. During our interview, men and women periodically stop in to pay their respects.