Nelson Montaños, former FARC combatant who signed the Peace Agreement as a minor, murdered in Cauca

A new signatory of the Peace Agreement was assassinated in Cauca on April 24. The victim was identified as Nelson David Montaños Márquez, known as the 23-year-old Negro Luis, who would have taken the reinstatement process while he was still a minor. In recent years, the young man played an active role in peacebuilding, so for dissidents and other subversive groups he was seen as a threat, which is why he was apparently killed.

According to official information, Montaños was killed at midnight this Sunday when he was in a public establishment in the urban area of the municipality of Miranda. Armed men arrived there and intercepted him and fired several shots at him.

Montaños was in the sights of subversives operating in the area because he was carrying out a successful reintegration process. The young man was an escort of the collective scheme of the Territorial Space for Training and Reincorporation (ETCR) of Monterredondo and was a member of the national union Memoria Viva.

So far, no one responsible has been identified, but it is not ruled out that he was one of the armed groups operating in Cauca. According to the Institute for Studies for Development and Peace (Indepaz), the dissidents of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the National Liberation Army (ELN), the Gaitanist Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AGC), also known as the Gulf Clan, the People's Liberation Army (EPL) and the group drug paramilitary Eagles Negras.

Indepaz agrees with Timochenko's statement and assures that the Government is responsible for this escalation of violence and the increase in the number of murdered signatories of the Agreement. The research center argues that the Ombudsman's Office has issued several alerts exposing the violent situation in Cauca and yet no measures have been taken to protect the exFARC.

The entity maintains that the lack of guarantees produces mistrust among the reinstatees and this, in turn, generates a sense of insecurity throughout the territorial space, which results in the signatories taking the decision to leave the place and request the transfer. Indepaz maintains that this is being repeated and the Government has so far failed to deliver a solution.

Indepaz points out that it is necessary for the Government to act in the face of violence suffered by the signatories of the agreement. Figures from the institute show that, so far this year, 17 former FARC combatants have been killed and since the Peace Agreement was signed in 2016, 316 have been killed.

Against this backdrop, the Constitutional Court will hold a public hearing from 8 a.m. on Thursday, April 28 to study measures that protect the country's former combatants and social leaders. This call came as a response to nine guardianships brought by 18 citizens who claim that the State is allowing their rights to be violated.

According to the complainants, the Government and State institutions have not complied with previous judgments that sought to protect the lives of human rights defenders. Among the irregularities is that the National Protection Unit (UNP) has not provided all activists with the protection scheme, and others, although the State has provided them with the scheme, said that this has not been enough.

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