Amnesty: Killing of Colombia activists result of failed policies

[Judi Lynn]

Rights group warns situation for rights defenders has worsened since 2016 peace deal between the government and FARC.



By
Steven Grattan
8 Oct 2020

Bogota, Colombia – For years, Danelly Estupinan has received threats for her work as a human rights defender in the Pacific coastal city of Buenaventura.

In November 2015, she received a text message that read, “Danelly, you’re going to meet your end.” The same evening, while she was on a phone call with a United Nations official, a second voice intercepted with “now we know where you are.”

This year, Estupinan has reported three cases of being followed by a group of suspicious men. After a break-in at her home, she relocated to another city but the same men reappeared there. She said she has reported the incidents to various authorities to no avail.

Estupinan, a prominent member of the Proceso de Comunidades Negras (PCN), a collective of grassroots organisations dedicated to raising Black consciousness around Colombia, told Al Jazeera that “the risks get worse every day.”

. . .

“For years, Colombia has been one of the world’s most dangerous countries for people who are defending human rights, territory, and natural resources,” Amnesty’s Americas Director Erika Guevara-Rosas said in a statement.

More:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/8/killing-of-colombias-human-rights-defenders-due-to-failed-polici