The Observatory of Human Rights and Conflicts of the Institute of Studies for Development and Peace (Indepaz), confirmed that The number of social leaders assassinated in Colombia this year rises to 95.
The report indicates that the latest crime occurred this Saturday, July 2, on the Tame – Fortul road in the department of Arauca, where Renowned social leader Wilson Nixon Melón Robles was assassinated.
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The victim was founding member of the Fortul Fishermen’s Association and he also worked for a time as a technician for the Municipal Agricultural Technical Assistance Unit.
Indepaz revealed that He was the brother of the former mayor of Fortul, Jesús Melón Robles, and of the former candidate for the House of Representatives for the special transitory district of peace, Lady Melón Robles.
“This leader was assassinated in the morning hours by armed men on the Tame Fortoul road in the Caranal sector,” explained the Human Rights and Conflict Observatory of the Institute for Development and Peace Studies.
The Ombudsman’s Office issued early warning 029 of 2019, through which it warned that as of 2018in the municipalities of Arauquita, Saravena, Fortul and Tame in the department of Arauca, Records on the serious effects of armed violence became known.
Precisely, it was determined that homicides increased in Arauquita with 275%, followed by Fortul with 115% and finally Tame with 57%.
In this department located in eastern Colombia, there are the dissidents of the FARC and the ELN.
Indepaz also revealed that since the signing of the Peace Agreement they have been assassinated 1,322 social leaders in Colombia.
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For its part, the Foundation for Human Rights, International Humanitarian and Gender Law, Elizabeth Gallego, rejected the murder of social leader Wilson Nixon Melón Robles and also expressed concern about the wave of armed violence in which children, older adults and men and women have lost their lives.
They also noted that During the first semester of this year there have been around 220 violent deaths in the department of Arauca.
Finally, they asked the authorities to advance in the clarification of each of the murders and to the illegal armed groups, to stop the acts of violence in that department.
