Colombia Has 128 Murders of Social Leaders So Far This Year

Colombia's Institute for Peace and Development Studies (INDEPAZ) reported the assassination of social leader Erley Osorio in the Morales municipality in the Bolivar department.

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An active member of the Bolivar's Southern Agro-Mines Federation (FAMS), Osorio was last seen alive last Sunday when he was on his way to Montecristo municipality.

His reported disappearance was recorded on Sep. 26, following information over Osorio's detention by illegal armed groups, which murdered him on Sep. 30.

The FAMS criticized Mayor's Office and Montecristo police officers' negligence, claiming that they unjustifiably delayed the activation of a search plan or humanitarian actions to face the armed group whose location was publicly known.

Expressing sorrow for Osorio's death, The FAM asked the Attorney General's Office to launch an investigation and undertake punitive actions on civilian and military authorities at the municipal and departmental levels.

Assassinations of social leaders, human rights defenders, and ex-combatants in Colombia do not cease. So far this year, 128 social leaders have been murdered since the signing of the Peace Agreement in 2016, while 73 massacres have taken place.

"We civilians are affected by the illegal groups' quarrels. We live in the San Luca mountain range because we built it. What is the problem that we cannot leave from there to Montecristo because it appears as if we were part of those armed groups," Osorio's father said.