Colombia, the world’s largest producer of cocaine, knows a soaring of violence despite the signing of the 2016 peace agreement with FARC.
Le Monde with AFP
The number should not be misleading. In 2021, “145 homicides of social leaders or human rights defenders” were identified, said Monday 17 January, In a communiqué , the Office of the People’s Defender, a public entity that ensures respect for human rights in the country.
If the balance sheet is down compared to the year 2020 during which 182 assassinations had been recorded, it nevertheless confirms the renewal of violence that agitated Colombia since the signing of the peace agreement with the guerrillas of the armed forces Revolutionaries of Colombia (FARC) in 2016. Since this agreement, murders against social leaders are recurrent.
The drug most often at the heart of the conflicts
Social organizations accuse the dissidents of FARC, the National Liberation Army Fighters (ELN) – last active guerrilla in Colombia – drug traffickers and paramilitary groups to be behind these murders. Three departments – Antioquia, Cauca and Valle del Cauca – Corridors of drug trafficking, are particularly affected.
“We reject these facts that are mainly due to the criminal actions of illegal armed groups,” said People’s advocate, Carlos Camargo, without giving details on the alleged authors of these attacks. According to him, 32 indigenous representatives, 16 peasant leaders and seven trade unionists are among the victims in 2021.
Colombia is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for activists, according to several NGOs. Global Witness has identified it as the murderous for environmental advocates (65 dead in 2020). The Government of President Conservative Ivan Duque accuses the gangs related to drug trafficking from being at the origin of these murders.