During his speech on May 1, within the framework of the call for marches to support the popular consultation prior to his filing in Congress, President Gustavo Petro requested a minute of silence for the murder of the social leader Luis Alberto Peña, which occurred in Miranda, Cauca. Then, he held the congressmen responsible for the seventh commission of the Senate – in particular to the liberal Miguel Ángel Pinto – to point out that the homicide occurred “while the militant of the pact periphered in a call to mobilization.”
“He is the first dead thanks to the decisions of that Congress. Alberto is killed by (Miguel Ángel) Pinto, for having denied the transit of the labor Reform Law, and although he did not order Mrs. (Nadia) Blel, Alberto’s blood today dirty it to you,” said the head of state.
At 10:05 am, the authorities reported on the homicide. According to the police report, the units were alerted to a firearm attack in the San Antonio neighborhood, in which Luis Alberto Peña, who mobilized on a motorcycle, was shot in the head. He was uploaded to a patrol and transferred to the hospital, where he died. “This person is known for performing peripheals in the town,” says the report.
Although the authorities do not confirm that Peña was a leader or militant of the historical pact, several peasant and popular organizations in the region link the crime with the periphery activity he carried out to invite the marches of worker’s day, convened by the President as a prelude to his popular consultation proposal.
Witnesses say that the leader carried flags alluding to peace and social mobilization messages at the time of being intercepted by unidentified armed men, who shot him without pronouncing a word.
-“Damn the violent who murdered Alberto Peña, a companion of the historical pact. On his motorcycle he had peace flags, he peripheral inviting the march of worker’s day in his municipality Miranda, Cauca,” said Gabriel Felipe Rosero, youth leader of the historical pact, through social networks.
The authorities have initiated investigations to clarify the facts and determine the mobiles and responsible for homicide. They will analyze the security cameras in the area to rebuild the escape route of criminals.
The groups that operate in the region
Although the president pointed to the congressmen of the Seventh Commission for his refusal to approve the labor reform, Miranda, in the north of Cauca, is being disputed by the dissidents of ‘bite’, specifically the 57th front Yair Bermúdez, and the ELN guerrillas.
These groups, mainly the dissidents, are behind the murders of social leaders, which this year have registered a rebound in the figures. So far from 2025, according to the Indepaz Human Rights Observatory, 55 people have been killed, the epicenter of this scourge being Cauca, with 13 cases.
Justice and Nation Writing
