Colombian Massacre Cases and Victims by Municipality

Records track incidents of massacres, defined as the intentional and simultaneous killing of 3 or more defenseless people under the same circumstances. Data includes cases and victim counts, with a new counting methodology applied from 2022 onward. The dataset is provided by the Colombian government's open data portal.

Use Cases

• Analyze temporal trends in massacre CASOS using the FECHA HECHO column.
• Map the geographic distribution of VICTIMAS across DEPARTAMENTO and MUNICIPIO.
• Identify high-risk ZONA (urban/rural) classifications associated with reported incidents.
• Correlate regional codes (COD_DEPTO, COD_MUNI) with victim counts for spatial risk modeling.

Strengths

• Includes 8 distinct columns for granular location and incident analysis.
• Data is actively maintained, with a last update recorded in March 2026.

Limitations

• Historical data prior to 2022 uses a different counting concept and is not directly comparable.
• Sample size, row count, and total time range are unknown, limiting statistical assessment.
• Excludes cases resulting from confrontations between criminal groups, which may undercount violence.

Provenance

Source

www.datos.gov.co (Colombian Government Open Data Portal).

Collection Method

Administrative records tracking a specific category of homicide.

Time Range

Data available from at least 2022 onward, with non-comparable historical records.

Freshness

Updated as of March 2026.

Geography

Colombia, broken down by department and municipality.