Gruesome images coming out of Colombia show a child in the rural area of San Jose de Apartado in the north of Colombia in the department of Antioquia lying dead, another in a long string of murders that continues to shake Colombia’s rural areas increasingly victimized by violent paramilitary groups.
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The child, Deimer Usuga, was found dead in the afternoon of Jan. 16, lying by a sidewalk in front of a military base in the community of San Jose de Aparatado. A picture was snapped and uploaded to Twitter by Comunidad de Paz, an organization that was formed to help stop the violence in taking place against Campesinos in the community.
Another victim of the systematic violence in Colombia: Deimer Usuga, a young Campesino killed in San Jose de Partado. We condemn and hold the state responsible for this new crime that necessitates the Contra-paramilitary Force.
Despite the so-called Peace Agreement in Colombia that supposedly ended years of violent conflict between paramilitary groups, violence has been ramping up.
This comes as a recent report has shown more and more murders of social leaders, especially those belonging to Communal Action Boards (JAC).
Colombian Attorney General Nestor Humberto Martinez had said that the greatest number of Colombians murdered over the past two years since the peace agreement was signed are social leaders who serve on Communal Action Boards (JAC).
According to Martinez, the assassinations of JAC leaders and their families is "passively systematic." The attorney general says that those responsible are paramilitary groups “such as the 'Gulf Clan' that works on behalf of narco traffickers and 'Los Caparrapos' " he added.
Nearly all of the killings took place in rural areas in departments along the coast, such as Cauca, Valle del Cauca and Nariño that are rich in mineral deposits for mining and have fertile soil that criminal rings seek for growing cocaine, which Campesino and Indigenous people use for growing vegetable and corn crops.
These were also the departments that voted against right-wing President Ivan Duque and for left-leaning Gustavo Petro in the country’s electoral run-off last June.