Colombia: First Ex-Combatant Killed in 2021, Yolanda Zabala Mazo

The year begins in Colombia with the painful news of the killing of Peace Accords signer Yolanda Zabala Mazo and her sister Reina Zabala Mazo, in Briceño, Antioquia. Yolanda was carrying out her reincorporation process at the Territorial Spaces for Training and Reincorporation (ETCR) of Plancha, Anorí, Antioquia.

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Yolanda and Reina, 22 and 17 years old respectively, were murdered in the early morning Friday, January 1st, making Yolanda the 250th former guerrilla killed since the signing of the Accords between the Colombian state and the FARC.

Preliminary information suggests the two were leaving a New Year’s celebration in the village of Travesías. 

Yolanda formed part of the ranks of the demobilized and extinct FARC guerrilla, and was known during the war as Liliana Estrada and was pardoned in 2017 by Decree 1096.

Colombia’s El Espectador news outlet reports that more than a year ago, Yolanda had to be taken to a medical center after she was injured by shrapnel from an explosive device during an August 2019 armed confrontation between two irregular armed groups in Cauca.

Three murders of former FARC combatants and signatories have been recorded in les than a week. Rosa Amalia Mendoza Trujillo, 25 years old, was murdered in the municipality of Montecristo (Bolivar), a victim of a massacre in which four other people died. Manuel Alonso, known in the war as Romel or Carmelo, was found dead in Miranda, Cauca. Both were in the process of being reincorporated.

The FARC party, in a communiqué to the public on December 31, says it will continue to work towards peace despite the long list of murders of former combatants and their families.

Meanwhile, Indepaz reports that Gerardo Leon is the first leader and human rights defender assassinated in 2021.