Colombia: Dealth Toll of Murdered Social Leaders Reaches 158

On Thursday, the Institute of Studies for Development and Peace (INDEPAZ) reported Camilo Osuna, a member of the Cali Agroecological Gardens Network, was murdered.

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With the death of this 26-year-old environmental activist, the number of social leaders murdered in Colombia rises to 158 so far this year.

Osuna also belonged to "I Stuck to the Change", an organization whose members environmentally rehabilitated an abandoned area with waste and debris in the Siloe neighborhood, in Comuna 20, in the city of Cali.

INDEPAZ also reported that the Ombudsman's Office issued an alert for the protection of environmental and human rights activists.

“The imposition of norms and other forms of social control carried out by irregular armed groups means a permanent risk of violation of the rights of the population,” it added.

In this municipality there are gangs dedicated to drug trafficking and irregular armed groups such as the Sholas, the Spartans, the National Liberation Army (ELN), Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AGC), Adan Izquierdo Company, and the Central General Staff (EMC), which is a dissidence of the extinct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

The Cali Agroecological Gardens Network condemned the murder of Osuna, highlighted his contribution to the defense of life, and reaffirmed its will to continue in the fight for the preservation of Colombian natural ecosystems.