In Spanish: http://blog-redlad.blogspot.com.co/2017/07/alerta-asesinatos-y-amenazas-lideres-y.html

From Latin American and Caribbean Network for Democracy (REDLAD),  we denounce the systematic assassinations of leaders that have been committed since last year in Colombia. Likewise, we condemn and express our rejection of the threats that members of Mesa Nacional de Víctimas Pertenecientes a Organizaciones Sociales and Corporación Viva la Ciudadanía, as well as several social leaders in the colombian rural regions, have received because of their defense of the peace process and the search for the construction of a democratic State.

On July 13, according to its investigations, the Colombian Ombudsman’s Office (Defensoría del Pueblo) informed the country that 52 leaders were killed in 2017. The UN also denounced that during 2016 and the first half of 2017 were almost 180. Especially in areas where the FARC guerrillas operated, which most of the are part of indigenous peoples and Afro-descendant communities’ territories. Today those areas are currently under constant threat from other illegal groups, like criminal gangs and drug traffickers.

On the other hand, “on June 22, 2017, through an email, Mesa Nacional de Víctimas Pertenecientes a Organizaciones Sociales, several of its leading organizations and leaders and Coporación Viva la Ciudadanía, we received a threat from the group calling itself the Capital of the Black Eagles Bloc (Bloque Capital de las Águilas Negras), as in past occasions; and on Sunday, July 23, again some of us received text messages with precise personal references”, reads the statement published by Corporación Viva la Ciudadanía on July 26.

With regard to the above, the Paz y Reconciliación Foundation has enabled a tool (check it here) that allows establishing the number of cases of selective violence that have been presented in different territories of Colombia, from 2013 to the present.

REDLAD, as a platform of civil society organizations, activists, social and political leaders, academics and journalists of the region that defends the democratic principles and human rights of all people, calls for alert and urgency and therefore:

• We demand the Government of Colombia take all necessary measures to protect the integrity and life of the people who have been threated, which both the Viva la Ciudadanía Corporation and other social organizations have denounced.
• We request the competent authorities of Colombia to undertake the pertinent investigations to find the responsible for these threats and the murders, and to prosecute them.
• We urge the international organizations and the Inter-American Human Rights System to pay special attention to this grave humanitarian situation.
• We demand the Government of Colombia and other competent authorities protect and respect the territories of indigenous peoples, afro-descendants and other rural communities that are affected by the aforementioned situation, in coordination with their traditional authorities and organizations.
• We invite the civil society organizations, activists and political and social leaders of the continent to stand in solidarity with the people and organizations threatened.
• It’s everyone’s duty to protect the integrity of these people and defend the peace process in Colombia that has saved thousands of lives.