Two alleged murderers of social leader José Pascual Quevedo sent to prison in Guaviare

At the request of a prosecutor of the Immediate Reaction Unit (URI) of the Guaviare Sectional, a guarantee control judge from that department imposed an insurance measure in prison against Jairo Andrés Ávila Fandiño and Luis Ángel Ospina Bonilla.

These two people would be responsible for the murder of community leader José Pascual Quevedo Velásquez, who died after an attack he was the victim of in Puerto Concordia (Meta) on April 3.

Colonel Ángel Galvis, commander of the Guaviare Police, confirmed the capture of the alleged murderers of the communal leader, at a checkpoint located on the El Retiro sidewalk, following a community alert that was attended by the authorities.

The detainees were presented to the Second Promiscuous Municipal Court for the concentrated hearings. The Public Prosecutor's Office charged the alleged offences of aggravated homicide in competition with the manufacture, trafficking and carrying or possession of firearms, accessories, parts or ammunition.

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José Pascual Quevedo belonged to Ascatragua, an association dedicated to agri-environmental development and to Cooagroguaviare, a cooperative with projects in the agricultural sector. According to the complaint, Quevedo was in a public place in Puerto Concordia, when two men allegedly approached him and took his life with a firearm.

The National Police stated that the defendants were identified thanks to security cameras in the place where the murder took place, “the detainee Ávila Fandiño would have offered five million pesos to one of the uniformed men to release them,” the investigating body points out in its Bulletin 43381.

Against this background, the social organizations and human rights defenders in the Meta demand that the authorities guarantee the rights of people working for communities in this department.

The armed groups that have an impact on the Meta are some dissidents of the FARC and criminal gangs. According to the Institute for Development and Peace Studies (Indepaz), with the assassination of Quevedo there are already 50 social leaders killed so far in 2022.

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For its part, the Office of the Ombudsman issued Early Warning 065/18 for the municipalities of Mapiripán and Puerto Concordia, in which it states that the presidents of the Community Action Boards (JAC) and members of indigenous reservations are at high risk, given their role in resolving inter-ethnic and intra-community conflicts, together with to the implementation of the Peace Agreement.

According to the Indepaz record, the department where the most indigenous, communal and peasant leaders have killed during this year is Cauca, where nine leaders were killed in the first three months of 2022. The other departments with the highest records are Putumayo with six, Nariño and Arauca with five and Chocó with four.

It is important to note that the leader Carmenza Torres of the municipality of El Castillo, has been the target of several threats from unknown persons, the last one occurred last weekend, when a poisoned and abandoned cat and dog were left at the door of her house, as one more of the threats she received against her life after the elections of 13 March.

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