Colombia: Indigenous Leader, 2 Demobilized FARCs Killed

By teleSUR

25 August 18

"The assassination of ex-combatants is undoubtedly one of the greatest dangers for the consolidation of peace in a country with the gloomy history of Colombia," FARC party said.

olombian Indigenous authorities in northern Cauca have confirmed the death of 24-year-old Indigenous community member, Fredy Julian Conda Dagua, who was injured during clashes with the Colombian National Police.

Mauricio Capaz, the coordinator of the Life and Human Rights Defense Network, said that Fredy Conda died in a clinic in Cali, where he was being attended to following a clash with the police. The altercation happened when the Mobile Riot Squad (Esmad) was conducting operations to evict Indigenous community members who were reportedly occupying private buildings which the group claim as their ancestral lands.

The Indigenous authorities say that the communities were attacked with "firearms," a claim which is being investigated. The Cauca Police Department Commander Fabio Rojas has stated that statements from the Indigenous group are inaccurate and that further investigation will clarify what happened.

Also in the Cauca Department, two demobilized FARCs were reported killed. The Revolutionary Alternative Forces of the Commons (FARC) party members denounced the killings in Congress Tuesday. The two bodies were found, by inhabitants of the zone, with bullet wounds and signs of torture.

"The assassination of ex-combatants is undoubtedly one of the greatest dangers for the consolidation of peace in a country with the gloomy history of Colombia. We demand from the Colombian state, headed by President Ivan Duque Marquez, the guarantees of life for all former combatants and, likewise, the commitment to the full implementation of the peace agreements," the FARC party's statement said.