With the murder of Diomara Cifuentes, there are already 61 social leaders murdered in 2024.
Photo: Ernesto Guzmán Jr. / Agencia EFE
In the Bellavista sector, in the rural area of Suárez, in Cauca, Diomara Cifuentes, a peasant leader of the municipality, founder of the Association of Peasant Workers of the Cordillera and member of the board of communal action of the Vereda El Naranjal.
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According to witnesses, Cifuentes left her home with the intention of going to a store, when armed individuals prevented her from passing and shot her repeatedly, causing wounds to her chest and abdomen, so the residents of the area tried to help her. but he died at the scene.
In addition to this, municipal organizations have indicated that at the time of the attack, the 55-year-old woman was with her grandchildren, and it is known that the criminals fled the scene in a black vehicle.
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After what happened, the Popular Unity Process of the Colombian Southwest (Pupsoc) warned that “the fear caused by the murder of our companion, as well as the way in which the events occurred, have generated displacements of companions, whom the entities of the Colombian State and the national, departmental and municipal Government must accompany and provide guarantees; Likewise, we demand guarantees for the life and integrity of social leaders.”
For its part, Indepaz highlighted that Cifuentes is the 61st leader murdered this year, as well as indicating that the early warning of the Ombudsman’s Office 36 of 2023, warns about the risk suffered by leaders and human rights defenders in this region due to part of armed groups that are present in the area, and among which are the Jaime Martínez front of the FARC dissidents and local criminal gangs.
