[News] 18th Social Leader Murdered in 2019 in Colombia

[Anti-Imperialist News]

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/18th-Social-Leader-Murdered-in-2019-in-Colombia-20190211-0007.html 



  18th Social Leader Murdered in 2019 in Colombia

February 11, 2019
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Jose Arquimedes Moreno, 34, a social leader of Colombia was shot dead in 
the rural area of the town of Tibu.

According to local media, he was shot by two men on a bike while he was 
going back to his house.

George Quintero, commander of the Police Department of Norte de 
Santander assured that special attention was being given to the case and 
for the vulnerable people and communities.

Commenting on the assassination of social leaders in Colombia, Interior 
Minister Nancy Patricia Gutierrez said a few days ago, "The State is 
acting and doing everything to prevent and for there to be a timely 
clarification of who is behind this situation."

Studies for Development and Peace, Indepaz, said that within the 29 days 
of 2019, 16 social leaders had been killed in Colombia, excluding the 
last two leaders i.e., Jose Arquimedes Moreno and Dilio Corpus Guetio. 
<https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Colombia-Witnesses-Murder-of-17th-Social-Leader-in-2019-20190130-0011.html>

Colombian Attorney General Nestor Humberto Martinez said in early 
January that the greatest number of Colombians murdered over the past 
two years since the signing of the peace agreement have been social 
leaders who serve on Communal Action Boards (JAC).

JACs began in the 1950s and are local-level councils where citizens 
decide upon, plan and develop community projects based on their own 
needs. The majority of JACs are in rural areas and members include 
mainly low-income Campesino, Indigenous, and Afro-Colombian members of 
society.

According to Martinez, the assassinations of JAC leaders is "passively 
systematic." The attorney general said that those responsible are 
paramilitary groups “such as the “Gulf Clan” that works on behalf of 
narco-traffickers and “Los Caparrapos" he added.

Indigenous people made up 13 percent of those killed and farmers 10 
percent. Union leaders and social leaders, Afro-Colombians and LGBTI 
population were the other main murder victims.

Alberto Brunori, the representative of the United Nations in Colombia 
warned earlier this month that the municipalities of Hacari, San 
Calixto, El Tarra, and Teorama, located in Norte de Santander, are 
especially dangerous for social leaders.

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