There are 5 social leaders murdered in March: an indigenous person and an official from the Office of the Ombudsman, recent victims

He the extermination of social leaders in Colombia does not stop, and in the first three weeks of this month the victims amount to five, after the murders of Wilson Bomba, the native authority of Caldono (Cauca), and of Nestor Yesid Martinez, who worked with the Office of the Mediator in Riohacha (Guajira).

In the first case, the chief of the ancestral community was killed in the afternoon of Wednesday March 15 by armed men who attacked the commission of the native guard with which he was in the Cauca population mentioned, they reported to the Institute of Studies for Development and Peace (Indepaz).

“Wilson Bomba was a recognized leader, current adviser and traditional authority in the position of chief commissioner of the San Lorenzo reserve in the municipality of Caldono, Cauca (sic)”, ithey indicated in the NGO.

They added that He asked the national government to protect him against the threats of which he was the victim, however, his case was under review when his crime occurred.

“I had requested a protection regime before the UNP (National Protection Unit) which was now in the analysis and reassessment phase since it had measures (sic)”, underline.

The crime, they pointed out in the Indigenous Regional Council of Cauca (CRIC), which arose during the clashes that took place between the ELN and the Dagoberto Ramos column, one of the missing FARC dissidents.

“In the midst of the fighting, a direct attack was made against the Native Guard and the authority of the San Lorenzo de Caldono reserve, where The council commissioner Wilson Bomba Piamba was assassinated with gunfire, who arrived without vital signs at the hospital in the urban area of ​​the municipality. Indigenous guard Julio Cesar Peña (sic) also has a gunshot wound to the leg,” they said.

The other assassinated social leader was Néstor Yesid Martínez, 49, who worked for more than 20 years in the Office of the Ombudsman in his section of the department of La Guajira, reported in this state agency through a statement.

Indepaz explained that The crime happened on Wednesday morning, while Martínez was riding his motorbike on one of the main roads in the capital of the department, where he was approached by hitmen who shot him. until the end of his life.

“He was the current community defender of Riohacha (…) Recognized for working to protect the human rights of Afro and indigenous communities”, They stood out in the NGO.

After learning of the crime, the Ombudsman, Carlos Camargo rejected what happened and sent his condolences to those close to the social leader.

“Killing an official of the Office of the Ombudsman strikes at the community, threatens the well-being of the most vulnerable and does not respect the fundamental rules of human rights and international humanitarian law (IHL). I want to express all my solidarity with the wife and family of Néstor Enrique, as well as with his friends and the communities that knew him,” he added.

Camargue too asked the authorities to act quickly to find those responsible for the crime and recalled that this entity performs humanitarian functions.

“We ask the Attorney General’s office to expedite the investigation and that those responsible for this crime be prosecuted quickly. The Office of the Ombudsman is a national human rights institution, its function is to promote and disseminate the rights and each of the officials who are part of it They have a mission that translates into the well-being of millions of Colombians,” he concluded.

With these two new homicides, in March Five social leaders were assassinated, the other victims being Jeison Jácome in Pailitas (Cesar), Andrés Felipe Herrera Mosquera in Buga (Valle del Cauca) and Marlon Hernando García Pascal in Tumaco (Nariño).