Colombia Ends the Year 2020 with 91st Massacre

Seven people were killed and one person was injured in the Colombian city of Buenaventura, the Valle del Cauca department, on the night of the 30th/morning of the 31st of December, in the 91st massacre of the year 2020. 

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According to authorities, this was a case of settling of accounts by criminal gangs that are disputing the territory. The mayor of Buenaventura, Mauricio Aguirre Obando, stated that the crime took place in different neighborhoods of the city. Video circulating on social media purports to show men riding on motorcycles armed with rifles while intimidating the community. 

Authorities assure that investigations will be carried out to locate those responsible for the murders. 

According to the Institute of Studies for Development and Peace (Indepaz), in 2020 there were 91 massacres in Colombia with 383 victims, in addition to 310 social leaders and 64 ex-combatants murdered. 

Indepaz, which has been the main reference since the signing of the Peace Accords in 2016, now begins new counts for 2021, as at least one former FARC combatant and one social leader have already been killed on New Years Day. 

Peace Accords signatory Yolanda Zabala Mazo was recorded as the first ex-guerrilla to be killed in 2021 while Gerardo Leon is the first social leader and human rights defender to be assassinated in the new year.

With the closing of 2020, Indepaz reports 1,107 social leaders and human rights defenders killed since the Peace Accords and 250 former combatants. The Institute also records killings by Colombian security forces, for which it reports a total of 78 victims in 2020.