Another Ex-Guerrilla Fighter Killed in Colombia

Leandro Chavarria ex-guerrilla of The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia People's Army (FARC–EP) was murdered on Tuesday, according to the Common Alternative Revolutionary Force, a leftist political party in Colombia, established in 2017 as the political successor of the FARC.

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“On Tuesday, former combatant Leandro Chavarria, 23 years old, was murdered in the municipality of Ituango (north),” the party wrote Wednesday on its Twitter account before addressing the President of Colombia, Ivan Duque, urging him to guarantee the safety of “peace signers.”

The victim was in a nightclub when he was shot and died on the scene, according to local radio and based on the statements of the department’s police commander. His brother who was accompanying him was wounded.

The murder occurred in the municipality of Ituango in the department of Antioquia which is part of the northwestern region of Cauca, one of the regions with the highest number of ex-guerrillas killings.

Carlos Antonio Lozada, a senator from the FARC party told local media that the government has failed in protecting the lives of the ex-guerrilla since the peace agreement was signed in 2016, this murder increasing the number of victims to 140. 

He added that the whole situation was indicating a clear will to eliminate all the ex-members of FARC including members of the leadership of the party.

Former FARC members have been facing persecution by right-wing elements and hitmen all over Colombia, being killed at alarming rates despite having lay down their arms in search of peace.

Last month, the FARC met in Bogota to devise a legal strategy to combat the mounting number of ex-FARC murder victims before the peace accord is destroyed.

They had said in a statement that “these systematic killings are a clear violation of the Final Agreement for the Termination of the Conflict and the Construction of a Stable and Lasting Peace.”