Another Social Leader Killed in Colombia, 54 so Far in 2020

The tally of killed social leaders in Colombia continues to add up with impunity, as a local leader was murdered Saturday in the southern department of Cauca, according to authorities and media reports.

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Jorge Macana was a promoter of the substitution of the coca leaf crops program and the sacha inchi palm oil project. He was also one of the promoters of the construction of a rural road that would connect the population of Playa Rica with the main roads. 

According to preliminary reports, the former leader was shot several times in his house, succumbing to his wounds. The local community, out of respect for the memory of the victim and his family, decided to close down all public shops and establishments this weekend.

As the systematic killing of social leaders in Colombia continues, Macana’s death marks the 54th in 2020. 

According to a report from the Institute for Development and Peace Studies (Indepaz), around 630 social leaders have been killed in Colombia, after the signing of the peace agreement in November 2016.

“Colombia is the country with the highest rate of assassinations for human rights defenders,” United Nations Special Rapporteur Michel Forst warned in his report presented last week. 

The international organization's representative, who visited the South American nation in the late months of 2018 after a governmental invitation, highlighted the impunity on social leaders' assassinations and the lack of administrative preventive measures against the crimes.