Yoiner Gómez was a recognized social leader and representative of the Youth Committee of the municipality of Patía.
The social leader Yoiner Gómez was murdered in the department of Cauca, Indepaz reported. The victim was a recognized social leader and representative of the Youth Committee of the municipality of Patía and according to Indepaz “He carried out important social work for his community.”
The information added that the social leader was attacked by gunfire and although he was helped and taken to the region’s healthcare center, he died due to the severity of his injuries.
The Ombudsman’s Office issued an early warning and a report published in 2023 in which it warns of the risk situation in which the members of the Community Action Boards, leaders and defenders and human rights that make up ethnic organizations, public servants, municipal councilors are due to “the persistence in the social control actions of armed groups” in this part of the country.
You may be interested in: A social leader and journalist is murdered in the city of Cúcuta
In the region where the murder occurred there is a presence of the Eln guerrilla, FARC dissidents and other drug trafficking groups that seek to control the area for drug trafficking activities.
The United Nations Office in Colombia for Human Rights reported that in the first quarter of this year it received 43 complaints of murders of social leaders in the country.
“From January 1 to March 31, 2024, the UN Office for Human Rights learned of 43 allegations of homicides of defenders. Of these, there is 1 verified case, 39 cases are in the verification process and 3 cases are inconclusive,” the organization detailed in a report.
According to the complaints, the largest number of murders that are in the process of verification occurred in Cauca, where there were nine.
According to the Ombudsman’s Office, in 2023, 181 leaders and human rights defenders were murdered.
EFE
#Colombia
