"This cannot continue; the time has come to overcome the page of horror," INDEPAZ's director said, denouncing the high frequency of massacres that Colombia is facing.
"This year, there have been 49 massacres (...) today there are already 96 leaders murdered," the director of the Institute of Studies for Development and Peace (INDEPAZ), Camilo Gonzalez, said.
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In an interview with 'Caracol Radio,' Gonzalez said that "the JEP [Special Jurisdiction for Peace, court] has spoken of more than 4 000 massacres between the years 1985 and 2018; it is a practice of territorial control."
According to the director, the most recent massacre occurred on July 3 in the municipality of Tumaco, Nariño, where three members of the Awá indigenous community were killed.
The three indigenous people were at a meeting to analyze the human rights violations in this part of the country. On their return home, a group of armed paramilitaries reached the area and began shooting at those present, according to Awá reservation leaders.
ONU:Grupos ilegales se aprovechan zonas apartadas, hay ausencia del Estado en estos territorios. Según cifras de Indepaz, en lo corrido del 2022 se han registrado 49 masacres en el país, el semestre más violento en los últimos 4 años @jchavezcarora @raldahir @pedrojyajure pic.twitter.com/aZYXaJh3EA
— Juan Carlos Tanus (@JUANCARLOSTANU3) July 4, 2022
UN: Illegal groups take advantage of remote areas; the State is absent in these territories. According to figures from Indepaz, so far in 2022, there have been 49 massacres in the country, the most violent semester in the last four years.
Among those killed was indigenous governor Orlando Moreano. Other members of the Awá community were seriously wounded. The Attorney General's Office opened an investigation to capture those responsible for the act of violence.
INDEPAZ data show that at least 1 323 social leaders have been killed since the signing of the 2016 peace agreement between the then-government and the now-defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas.