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<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element"> <font
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href="https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/18th-Social-Leader-Murdered-in-2019-in-Colombia-20190211-0007.html">https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/18th-Social-Leader-Murdered-in-2019-in-Colombia-20190211-0007.html</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">18th Social Leader Murdered in 2019 in
Colombia</h1>
February 11, 2019</div>
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<p>Jose Arquimedes Moreno, 34, a social leader of Colombia
was shot dead in the rural area of the town of Tibu.</p>
<p>According to local media, he was shot by two men on a
bike while he was going back to his house.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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."</p>
<p>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 <a
href="https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Colombia-Witnesses-Murder-of-17th-Social-Leader-in-2019-20190130-0011.html"
target="_blank">Dilio Corpus Guetio.</a></p>
<p>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).</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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. </p>
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