Hundreds march in Colombia to demand justice for murdered social leaders
Bogota, Feb 20 (EFE).- Hundreds of people demonstrated on Tuesday in several cities across Colombia to demand justice for the social leaders and signatories of the 2016 peace agreement who have been killed in recent years in the country.
“Every death deserves to be mourned and every life deserves to be lived, we cannot remain silent,” Gloria Arias, spokesperson for the Defendamos la Paz movement, which organized the protests, said at the beginning of the event in Bogota.
In Bogota’s Plaza de Bolívar, hundreds of people carrying carnations searched for the name of their husband, father, son or brother in the boxes scattered on the floor with the names of the victims.
The participants walked down the aisles with a bouquet of flowers and placed one in each drawer they saw empty.
“We want to draw the attention of Colombian society as a collective protest and mourning for the murdered social leaders and peace signatories,” Arias said.
Since the signing of the peace agreement between the government and the FARC rebel group on Nov. 24, 2016, at least 1,608 social leaders and 420 signatories of the pact have been killed in Colombia.
According to the Ombudsman’s Office, 181 social leaders and human rights defenders were murdered in the country in 2023 alone, a figure that is, nonetheless, 16 percent lower than in 2022.
“The numbers are not decreasing, they remain almost the same as during the government of Iván Duque (2018-2022),” former FARC leader Rodrigo Granda told EFE.
“The president (Gustavo Petro) has tried to put a stop to it, but (the situation) has got out of control, we need much more forceful actions from the security forces and the communities,” Granda said.
The former FARC members, who are now a part of the Comunes political party, hope that the government will move towards the “total peace” as promised by Petro, although Granda stressed that more was needed.
“In these negotiations, we are targeted and killed,” he said.
Rallies and demonstrations also took place in other parts of Colombia including Medellín, where some 200 peace signatories marched to the Plazoleta de la Alpujarra.
“We are complying with the agreement and they are killing us. In this sit-in we also mourn and call for the lives of social leaders,” Marcos Urbano said at the Medellín march. EFE
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