LGBTI Leader Killed in Colombia, 2nd in a Week

Carlos Augusto Paneso, a leader of the Colombian Rainbow Coalition LGBTI, was shot several times and killed as he left his home in the city of Tumaco Friday.

RELATED:
Cuba Holds First Ever Mass with Transgender Pastors

A victim of forced internal displacement, Paneso was the second gay man killed in a week, according to El Espectador. On May 18, Alex Aguino was found dead in Piñal Salado, also in Tumaco, which is in the Colombian department of Nariño.

According to the CRC-LGBTI, 12 members of the community have been killed in Tumaco since 2011. None of the official investigations have found the assailants.

LGBTIs have been victims of threats by paramilitary groups operating within and in the vicinity of Tumaco, forcing them to live in a state of constant fear. Activists in the LGBTI community have called upon the government and authorities to guarantee the rights and safety of the local population but to little avail.

In an official release, the CRC-LGBTI reiterated, “In the midst of the implementation of the Peace Agreement and the building of a stable and lasting peace, the government can not allow cases such as those in Tumaco to continue. They stated that the populace living in the peripheral regions throughout the country are frequently victimized.

In February, three civil organizations, Colombia Diversa, Caribbean Affirmative, and the Santamaria Foundation, released a report titled, "Excluded Bodies, Faces of Impunity." The document collected data concerning violence committed against the LGBTI community and compiled a death toll of 110 people in 2015 alone.

The report stated that in the regions where threats and violence were carried out — including the dissemination of anti-LGBTI pamphlets — paramilitary and criminal groups were most active.