In the midst of the violence that has mourned Colombia for more than 60 years; accentuated during the government of former President Iván Duque after his far-right policies, it was revealed that there was a new massacre in Boyacá with at least three deaths, while in Arauca the body of a kidnapped social leader appeared on February 11.
Authorities from the Colombian department of Boyacá reported that the three people were killed by unknown persons in a rural area of the municipality of Gachantivá, and in the vicinity of the town of Botalón, Tame, in Arauca, the bullet-ridden body of Abelardo Duarte Moncada, leader Colombian social situation, reported the Institute of Studies for Development and Peace (Indepaz) of the New Granada nation.
The massacre number 21 of 2023
Police sources, referred to by Indepaz, indicated that upon arrival at the place where the massacre took place; In the Minas village, La Laguna sector, in the department of Boyacá (center of the country), the uniformed men were attacked by two men, who are presumed to be the perpetrators of the multiple crime. After the exchange of shots, one of the attackers was arrested and the other fled.
The victims of the attack; a mother, her son and a neighbor were found in the house where they were killed by the two armed men who arrived in a van.
“The Boyacá government secretary, Anderson Mendivelso, confirmed that a security council will be held in the next few hours after the murders that occurred in the area. For its part, the Ombudsman’s Office has not yet issued an Early Warning for the municipality of Gachantivá,” Indepaz said in his report.
Colonel María Margarita Mantilla, commander of the Boyacá Police, explained that the detainee was carrying a firearm, and that the man who fled is actively wanted by the police forces in the aforementioned department.
He also reported that when inspecting a residence near the attack, three lifeless bodies were found: mother and son and a neighbor from the sector, who had impacts with a firearm and a knife and whose identities have not yet been established, he reported. Telesur.
Mantilla pointed out that the detainee is a former soldier identified as Carlos Alberto Rosero Quinto and who will be made available to the Colombian Prosecutor’s Office.
According to the Institute for Development and Peace Studies (Indepaz), so far this year 21 massacres have been committed in Colombia.
There are 18 leaders assassinated so far this year
In another Indepaz report, it was revealed that the body of Abelardo Duarte Moncada, a Colombian social leader, was found shot several times near the town of Botalón, in the municipality of Tame in the department of Arauca, bordering Venezuela; the 18th case of murder of those who lead social movements, and the 1,427 case since records were kept after the signing of agreements that demobilized the former Farc-EP guerrilla.
“Duarte Moncada was a recognized leader and former president of the Community Action Board -JAC- of the Vereda El Rosario in the municipality of Arauca,” says the Indepaz report.
The institute also pointed out that the leader “was kidnapped on February 11 at his place of residence located in the rural area of Arauca” and that his body was found on Monday, February 27 in the vicinity of the Botalón Populated Center.
The Ombudsman’s Office issued Early Alert number 006/21 in which it stated that “the panorama of threats, kidnappings and extortions that affected the civilian population of the municipality of Arauca during the year 2021, seems to mark a tendency to increase and configure a serious security and protection crisis for the population in the capital of the department of Arauca”.
