15 social leaders were killed in March: latest report from Indepaz

In recent hours, the Institute for Development and Peace Studies (Indepaz) reported that during the first quarter of 2022 different crimes directed at social leaders, ex-combatants and civilians in Colombia, mostly in the departments of Cauca, Antioquia, Valle del Cauca, Nariño and Putumayo.

The report reveals that during the month of March, 15 homicides against social leaders were recorded throughout Colombia. It also emphasizes that, since the signing of the peace agreement between the National Government and the extinct FARC guerrillas, 1334 murders of these representatives, between men and women, have been recorded.

These are the social leaders killed between March 5 and 29:

1. Jose Mauricio Sepulveda Lozano

2. Eduardo Emilio Vanegas Mendoza

3. Luciano Alvino Ortiz Pineda

4. Marco Morales

5. Gustavo Guerrero Ramirez

6. Federico Torres Perlaza

7. Miller Correa

8. Fabian Perez Hooker

9. Luis Carlos Bustamante

10. Richard Betancourt

11. Freddy Enrique Pallares Amaya

12. Alcibiades Moreno Moreno

13. Didier Hernandez Rojas

14. Pablo Panduro Coquinche

15. Sarcelino Lana

These murders occurred in the departments of Bolivar, Boyacá, Choco, Caqueta, Cauca, Putumayo, Norte de Santander, San Andrés Isla and Tolima.

According to Indepaz figures, during the third month of 2022 there were 9 massacres that left a figure of 36 fatalities, three more compared to the same month in 2021, in which 9 massacres were also recorded but in which 33 victims were killed.

“In the midst of the massacres there were minor victims such as what happened in Balboa (Cauca), where 32-year-old Rubenia Arada, 14-year-old Brandon Mesa and 11-year-old Maikol Cabrera, were murdered. These people died after armed men arrived shooting at a group of people who were transiting through the area of the Bolivar neighborhood,” Indepaz said on the balance sheet.

In this direction, Indepaz also explained that during the first quarter of 2022, the number of murders and massacres against social leaders increased, this being a trend of violence that amazes the country.

According to figures, 48 leaders and human rights defenders were killed in Colombia; 42 were registered in 2021. In addition, the first quarter of 2022 also exceeds the number of massacres recorded in the same period last year, from 23 massacres with 84 fatalities in 2021 to 27 massacres with 94 fatalities so far in 2022.

Finally, Indepaz reveals that during the month of March, 5 deaths of ex-combatants were recorded in the departments of Cauca, Guaviare, Huila and Nariño, three more than the figures for 2021. Also, the Institute states that since 2016, 310 murders have been evidenced, of which 11 occurred during 2022.

List of ex-combatants killed between 3 and 23 March:

1. Jose Alexis Baez Mesa

2. Guillermo Manuel Pepinosa

3. Jhon Kennedy Vargas Aros

4. Domingo Mancilla Cundumí

5. Jorge Canchi Ramos.

The first incident occurred on March 31 in the city of Cartagena, when armed men murdered three people in the Nuevo Paraíso neighborhood, the victims were two shepherds and one man reported to have belonged to the criminal group 'Los Robledos'. The deceased were identified as Harris Zúñiga Puello, Ruth Mina Ordóñez Miranda and Ernesto Archbold Torres, also known as 'Gordy Gordy'.

The other violent incident occurred in the municipality of Uribía, in the department of La Guajira. In the San José neighborhood of this jurisdiction, three men were killed by armed men who arrived at a house and shot them dead. The three fatalities were identified as Alvin Jonathan Gutiérrez, Juan González and Luis Carlos Barros, who would belong to the Wayúu community.

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