Eyber Danilo Poto, son of the Vice Minister of Ethnic Peoples of Colombia, Nelson Lemus, was murdered this Friday in the Cauca Department (southwest), hit by an increase in violence, confirmed the indigenous organization Minga Association and several government institutions.
“We sadly denounce the murder of Nelson Lemus’ son: a comrade, historical leader of Cauca and today Vice Minister of Ethnic Peoples in the Ministry of Equality. This crime committed by the Central General Staff (EMC, main dissident of the FARC) shows his lack of commitment to peace. Our solidarity with the Nasa people,” the Minga Association reported in X.
Eyber Danilo Poto Pazu, was kidnapped last Saturday, June 22, in the rural area of Toribio, Cauca, apparently by members of the self-proclaimed Central General Staff of the FARC. Dagoberto Ramos Structure.
From that moment on, the ancestral communities reported his disappearance and, together with the indigenous guard, began a search effort.to find his whereabouts, however, the young community member was found dead last Thursday, June 27, in the Toéz sector, a rural area of the municipality of Caloto in the north of Cauca.
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The National Planning Department also expressed its regret over Poto’s murder: “Life is sacred and the path to peace cannot continue to be muddied with blood. We categorically reject all types of violence in Colombia. We accompany you in these moments difficult for the family,” he indicated in his X account.
Also the Minister of Information and Communications Technologies, Mauricio Lizcano, showed “outright rejection” of the murder and urged a prompt investigation to clarify the crime.
“For indigenous people, life is sacred. May the memory of “May Eyber Danilo Poto inspire the fight for a country of dignity, rights and harmony,” said the director of the Land Restitution Unit (URT), Giovani Yule.
Other political actors also joined this rejection, such as the Polo Democrático Alternativo party, which stated on its X account that “those who insist in war and do not show a real desire for peace, they should know that all of Colombia rejects them.”
Congressmen and indigenous leaders have joined in the repudiation of this murder in messages published on social networks.
The Association of Indigenous Councils of Northern Cauca, ACIN, rejected this fact and I affirm that “the communities continue to be victims of the strategy of aggression implemented by armed groups in the department”
Although the authorities have not yet confirmed who was responsible for the murder and no one has claimed responsibility for it, the wave of violence that has shaken southwestern Colombia has been carried out by the EMC, now split into two.
Until March, the EMC, led by ‘Iván Mordisco’, was negotiating peace, but now its division in two has led to a breakdown of dialogue by the guerrilla factions of the southwest, which maintain a bloody struggle with the Colombian Government.
For its part, Indepaz confirmed that with the murder of Eyber Danilo, the number of leaders murdered in the country rises to 87 so far in 2024.
