The violence does not give truce in Colombia, and is that, at the end of the first month of 2022, in the South American country, there are 13 massacres with a balance of murders that includes 13 social leaders, a minor, in addition, three Colombians signatories of the Peace Agreement with whom 302 are counted since the historic conciliatory agreement.
The Peace Agreement in Colombia put an end to 5 decades of direct armed conflict between the former FARC guerrillas and the governments of the day during those years. It seemed like the end of dark times, but far from it, the numbers of massacres, homicides and the forced displacement of citizens have increased.
In an exclusive interview, conducted by our JP+ journalistic team, the Colombian social communicator and leader, Anllel Ramírez, said that the escalation of murders in her nation reveals that, «being a social leader in Colombia is not only a way to attempt against your own life, when you recognize yourself as such,» but also «you inevitably become for the current government and for the people who support this government, a target.»
What is known so far?
The most recent series of murders recorded by the Institute of Studies for Development and Peace, Indepaz, occurred on January 28, in the municipality of Timbiquí, department of Cauca, where a group of men with high-caliber weapons detonated their projectiles against four individuals who were killed, and whose identities are still unknown.
However, one of the last massacres recognized by Indepaz, in which social leaders were murdered, was executed on January 17, and recently on January 29, the violent death of the community leader, Deisy Sotelo Anacona, was known, placing them on the list of 1,299 killed since the signing of the Peace Agreement with the FARC in 2016.
Has anything been done about it?
Ramírez elaborated on the political problem that Colombia is going through, highlighting that they are facing a «Government that has been going on for many years, that comes from Álvaro Uribe Vélez, that has continued with Iván Duque, and that has been concerned solely and exclusively with staying in power, for instilling fear and for not letting any type of real democracy advance, advanced democracy, in Colombia.»
According to the Official Report 2021 issued by the United Nations in Colombia, of 202 complaints received for homicides, only a little more than 70 cases were «verified» and more than 85 could not be concluded. in Colombia, which positioned 2021 as one of the most violent, baptizing the South American country as the most dangerous place to be a social leader.
Independent human rights agencies say the increase in homicides and displacements in that nation this year is due to factors such as: a bad government security policy and the pandemic, which gave armed groups the opportunity to expand. Despite the context of political tension and social crisis, millions of Colombians do not lose hope, because this year they will have to elect their new representatives to Congress and the presidency of the Republic, a key point for a new turn in the history of that nation.
