Death
squads in Colombia are taking advantage of coronavirus lockdowns to murder
rural activists, local NGOs have warned.
When
cities across the country introduced local quarantine measures last week, three
social leaders were killed, and as the country prepares to impose a national
lockdown on Wednesday, activists have warned that more murders will follow.
Marco
Rivadeneira, a high-profile activist, was murdered in the southern Putumayo
province, Ángel Ovidio Quintero was shot dead in the western Antioquia region,
and Ivo Humberto Bracamonte was killed on the eastern border with Venezuela.
Colombia
is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for activists and community
leaders, who often fall foul of armed groups fighting for territory.
Since
a historic peace deal was implemented in early 2017 with the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), a leftist rebel group, 271 activists have been
killed. Now, with the government focused on the pandemic, activists say they
are even more at risk.
“I’ve
been getting more death threats since everyone started talking about
coronavirus,” said Carlos Paez, a land rights activist in a cattle-ranching
region near the northern border with Panama. “One message said that they know
who I am – and that now is the time to take me out.”
Some
of the armed groups are dissident Farc fighters who refused to hand in their
guns; others belong to smaller rebel armies and rightwing paramilitary
militias.
Whatever
their purported ideology, all make their money in drug trafficking, illegal
mining and extortion rackets, and all view social social leaders as an obstacle
to those lucrative economies.
And
as the government focuses its resources on stemming the coronavirus outbreak –
which has now claimed three lives in Colombia amid 277 confirmed cases – normal
security protocols have been thrown into disarray.
“They
are playing with our lives because they know that our bodyguards, the police
and the justice system are going to be even less effective they usually are,”
said Paez. “It’s horrible. I’m scared for my life.”
Colombia’s
war with Farc and other armed groups has claimed at least 260,000 lives and
forced 7 million people from their homes. Now, with much of the country
confined indoors ahead of a 19-day nationwide quarantine that begins on
Wednesday, non-state actors are operating more brazenly.
Activists
fear that a nationwide quarantine – to be imposed on Wednesday – has put them
in a deadly bind. Moving around puts them at risk of infection, but staying in
one place makes them sitting targets.
“We
are being killed, like always,” said Héctor Marino Carabali, a rights activist
in Cauca, who usually travels in an armoured car with a security detail
provided by the government. “The government has taken drastic measures to fight
the virus, but done nothing to protect us now or to tell us about how we can do
our work. Curfews and lockdowns always affect the most vulnerable.”
The
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights last week
reported that armed groups were continuing to commit brutal human rights abuses
in Chocó, the province where Paez leads a community. Three people were
beheaded, with one executed in front of their village, and a pregnant woman was
murdered.
A
coalition of local NGOs and over 100 rural communities called for a ceasefire
among armed groups during the outbreak. “The emergency situation deserves our
focus as a country and as a society to take on this challenge,” the communique
read.
Many
leaders and watchdogs have accused president Iván Duque of not doing enough to
quell the bloodshed. They are not optimistic that will change as the virus
spreads.
“Unfortunately,
all critical issues in Colombia are being surpassed by the coronavirus health
crisis,” said Gimena Sánchez, Andes director at the Washington Office on Latin
America, a thinktank. “Coronavirus gives the Duque government more elements to
excuse themselves from properly protecting social leaders and investigating
cases of killings.”
ReplyDeletelook at your gmail account i threw something about mencho
i never look at it...can you send to hushmail? chivis.martinez@hushmail.com
DeleteIvan Duque is protecting Alvaro Uribe Velez, and his quest for impunity as he and his paracos and milicos ride their own drug trafficking guerrillas to finish the "Perseguidores de Uribe" who have led him to resign from the colombian senate from where he fought for his freedom, as his brother Santiago's 12 Apostoles Death Squad still waits for punishment and La Macarena mass grave carcasses wait for justice.
ReplyDeleteI think all criminal organizations will be exploiting opportunities when one arises. This is a given. Eager for the opportunity has what transformed many criminal organizations into noteworthy.
ReplyDeleteLook at criminal history
10:08 no pus guau! Ta bien pues,
ReplyDeleteAhi que les sigan dando por detrás a todos los demás.
but too many get away with murder and impunity.