Colombia: Displaced Minor Killed During Eviction by Riot Police

In the municipality of Soacha, department of Cundinamarca, Colombia’s Mobile Riot Squad (ESMAD) murdered a minor while trying to evict unarmed displaced persons and migrants who had settled in private vacant lots.

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"ESMAD murders a child in Soacha. It is the war against the poor,” former presidential candidate Gustavo Petro said, adding that meanwhile President Ivan Duque “delivers public money to the owners of banks, big companies, and large estates.”

Witnesses reported that 15-years-old Duvan Aldana was shot in the neck while participating in protests against the eviction procedures on June 25.

"With shots! They are thus intimidating displaced and migrant people in Soacha. Apparently one of the shots hit a child."

Human rights defenders, social leaders, and lawyers uploaded videos to social networks in which the community is observed trying to help the injured student.

Although it is not seen who fired the shots, the allegations point to "police brutality", the Colombian Federation of Education Workers (FECODE) president Nelson Alarcon said.

"The public force completes a terrible week after the bombing in Caqueta where 4 children were killed, the rape of a 12-year-old girl in Risaralda by seven soldiers, and now the death of Duvan," local outlet Las 2 Orillas commented.