The stories are just as painful. Changed names and venue. Carlitos Uragama Canoe He was killed by a group of gunmen who broke into his parents’ home and killed him in front of his wife and children. He was 23 years old and was a member of the organization. Association of Indigenous Victims of Chocó, about 565 kilometers from Bogotá. same fate running Pedro Alirio GuerreroA community leader from the south of Colombia. they are a part 186 social leaders who lost their lives, almost entirely in hand extreme right groups or linked drug trafficking, In the Latin American country in 2022. The data itself is scary. But NGO Frontline Defenders provided an even more shocking figure: 46% of such murders worldwide during the year occurred in Colombia. Last year they killed 42 ex-guerrilla who then surrendered his arms Peace treaty between Situation and FARC.
“What is failing in the country?”, wonders about the magazine ‘To change’. The situation does not appear to have improved 2023: processed so far 35 people died. Linder Steven SepulvedaThe 24-year-old artist, who works as a cultural manager in the remote Pacific town of Tumaco, 1,103 kilometers southwest of the capital, is on that fear list.
Mauricio ValenciaA researcher from the Peace and Reconciliation Foundation (Pares) told ‘Cambio’ that the leaders most exposed to death are those in the countryside fighting for their own interests. land restitution wave substitution of illegal cropsbut also those who defend it natural resources. Ariel Danilo Majin Jiménez was at one time the coordinator of the Indigenous Guard. native refuge in the municipality sorata, in the center of the Cauca department. He was involved in the work of Río Blanco, a region in danger of environmental destruction. Environmentalists and a major construction company from Manizales have been battling for several years for a housing project near a forest reserve, an area of great water importance to the region, located about 300 kilometers from Bogota, which took the sad news with startling habit. .
A rising drama
The Institute for Development and Peace Studies (Indepaz) recalled that socio-environmental conflicts were apparently escalating in that country. Currently, there are more than 160 problematic situations. Deforestation, mining-energy megaprojects in the Amazon and Bahía Solano forestsagro-industry and infrastructure “largely contrary to the interests of communities”.
Front Defenders In this sense, he noted that the risks surrounding Colombian environmental leaders remain great despite the impeachment of the president. Gustavo Petro He signed the Escazú agreement in an almost opposite effort to achieve “complete peace”. This tool guarantees access to Environmental Justice in Latin America and the Caribbean. Any Colombian citizen can access information about public or private projects that may affect biodiversity. In November, the deal Petro recalls was “some protection criteria for activists, to defenders of the environment.
The distance between written word and reality can be vast in Colombia. The Front Defenders report did not go unnoticed by the left government. El Tiempo newspaper said, “The objective conditions that feed the scourge of assassination of social leaders continue to exist in Colombia. Despite the measures taken by the three governments that had to face the serious problem, this phenomenon does not subside.” in the editorial this Tuesday. “It should be understood by now that this challenge transcends ideologies and touches the pillars of coexistence in democracy,” he adds.
government response
report Front Defenders It did not go unnoticed by the left-wing government. Franky Castaneda The Human Rights Director of the Ministry of Interior told ‘Radio Caracol’ that 49 measures are in place to provide better conditions for community leaders in preventing risks. “Unfortunately a Institutionalism was broken, so we found ourselves promoting a series of police reforms on the issue.”
The Ministry of Interior will increase its budget fivefold. Beyond these stated efforts, Colombia accustomed to living with such damage coefficients. In this sense, the editorial in ‘Tiempo’ highlighted the bitter paradox represented by these statements: naturalization between violence. “As if the threats they have suffered in life were not enough, the memory of each slain leader must now face a new one: the tragedy that ended their existence must become a sight. And it is not the seed and light it should be. For his people. And in precaution and denial so that it will not happen again,” he said.