A Historical Pact Leader is Assassinated in Colombia

On Sunday, the Institute of Studies for Development and Peace (INDEPAZ) confirmed the murder of a leader of the Historical Pact Juan Bautista Navarro in the department of Bolivar.

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On Saturday night, Navarro was assassinated by two hit men at his residence in the Magangue municipality, where he practiced law on behalf of low-income citizens.

Members of the Historical Pact in Magangue raised their voices in protest over the murder of Navarro, who was also the husband of Yaneidis Toscano, a leader of the Green Alliance party.

They also asked President Gustavo Petro's administration to increase the presence of security forces to combat organized crime against social organizations in Magangue.

This weekend, Monserrat Solano, deputy representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), confirmed that 89 social leaders have been assassinated in Colombia so far this year.

She also revealed that her organization is also investigating 31 additional murders of Colombian citizens to verify if their deaths were linked to their actions of social leadership.

The statistics of the tragedy, however, are more alarming. INDEPAZ has recorded 179 social leaders assassinated so far this year. This figure includes 37 former guerrillas who signed the peace agreement in 2016.