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The massacres in the country continue. This Sunday Colombia woke up to the news that 13 people were murdered during the night of Saturday and early Sunday morning.
The events occurred in Betania, in southwestern Antioquia, and in Algeria, Cauca.
These two departments have been the hardest hit by the massacres. According to the records of the Institute of Studies for Development and Peace (Indepaz), Of the 76 registered in Colombia during 2020, 18 have occurred in Antioquia and 12 in Cauca. These are followed by Nariño, with 9, and Norte de Santander, with 6.
(Read also: They offer a 50 million reward for those responsible for a case in Bethany).
303 people have died in these events and they have been constant this year. In August, there was even a wave of violent acts, when 30 people died in just 11 days in Arauca, Cauca and Nariño.
The death of the coffee growers
Eight people, mostly coffee pickers, were murdered at dawn on Sunday at the La Gabriela farm, in the La Julia village, in the municipality of Betania, in southwest Antioquia.
More than 10 armed men arrived at the farm and shot at those who were in the accommodation. Seven died at the scene and another person died while being transferred to a hospital in Medellín.
(Further: Massacre in Antioquia: eight people were killed in Betania)
According to the local mayor, Mario Vilada, four were coffee pickers and three had arrived in the region on Saturday night “and they had nothing to do with picking coffee.”
After the massacre, the Defense Minister, Carlos Holmes Trujillo, traveled to this coffee region of Antioquia to lead a security council with the military leadership and departmental authorities.
In security council in #Bethany With high military and police commanders, the Governor of Antioquia and mayors of the region, we increased the reward of up to 200 million pesos for alias “Ruben” head of the “Clan del Golfo” southwest substructure and 30 million for his accomplices pic.twitter.com/8UFuZP6zIe
– Carlos Holmes Trujillo (@CarlosHolmesTru) November 22, 2020
Everything indicates that the ‘Gulf Clan’ would be behind the homicide, as it is the main person responsible for the crimes that occur in this region.
In fact, a reward was offered of up to 200 million pesos for those who provide information that allows the capture of alias Rubén, head of this criminal structure in the region.
And as for the massacre on Sunday, there is a reward of 50 million pesos for those who provide information that allows the capture of those responsible.
“These events hurt us, all Colombians reject them and force us to take action within the legitimacy of the authorities, the Public Force and the public,” said Trujillo. One of the measures taken after the security council is to identify and prosecute the Jíbaros who infiltrate the coffee farms.
(Read also: They offer 50 million reward for case managers in Bethany)
According to Camilo González, director of Indepaz, in southwestern Antioquia, which has been a relatively quiet region, “There is a gold rush” that, added to micro-trafficking and extortion, led the armed groups to dispute power. In addition to the ‘clan’, ‘the Caparros’ also commit crimes there. This has caused a significant increase in the number of murders, because while up to November 3, 2019 there were 156 homicides, this year, with the same cut-off date, there were 238.
A similar dispute, explains the expert, is taking place in Cauca between the dissidents of the Farc and the Eln, mainly, for the control of drug trafficking routes. In fact, in the town of El Mango, in Algeria, five people were killed and two more were injured on Saturday night. Among the victims is Libio Chilito, a social leader from the municipality.
(You may be interested in: They report a massacre of five people in a nightclub in Algeria, in Cauca)
The events took place in three places in the same sector. “Preliminary investigations indicate that a person approached a pool table and shot three people against humanity, one of whom died, then moved to a nearby nightclub and shot two people who later died and then went to a bar and he shoots at two other people, ”said Mayor Jhonnatan Patiño Cerón.
There is a gold rush, a whole dynamic of accumulation of wealth and disputes. In that territory it is gold and in Cauca it is coca and the routes
In the diagnosis made by the director of Indepaz, the measures that have been taken to stop the massacres are insufficient, as it is not only about increasing the presence of the Public Force: “The insufficiency of the measures has to do with the weaknesses in the diagnosis and, therefore, in the strategies. The strategies are generally the greater presence of the Public Force and the location of high-value objectives, but that repeated formula has not worked ”.
The measures have not worked ‘: Camilo Gonzalez, from Indepaz
Camilo González Posso, president of the Institute of Studies for Development and Peace (Indepaz).
Claudia Rubio / TIME
Camilo González, director of Indepaz, spoke with EL TIEMPO about these two new massacres in the country.
You have recorded all the massacres that have occurred in the year. This does not stop, although measures are taken.
The insufficiency of the measures has to do with the weaknesses in the diagnosis and, therefore, in the strategies. The strategies are generally the greater presence of the Public Force and the location of high-value objectives, but this repeated formula has not worked and what it indicates is that they have to be completed with other human security policies, in partnership with the population. That is, not only of persecution to those who identify as alleged perpetrators, but of protection, prevention and alliance with the population.
(We suggest you read: Identify victims of massacre in Algeria, Cauca)
That is what has been lacking in almost all critical regions, in Cauca, Antioquia, Nariño, Norte de Santander and Putumayo. Massacres coincide with leaders and murders of former FARC combatants who are in reincorporation.
Whenever there is a massacre they summon a security council, but they continue …
They act after the fact. There is no preventive policy. They say: let’s investigate. And the formulas are the same: increase in the Public Force and persecution of the alleged leaders.
The insufficiency of the measures has to do with the weaknesses in the diagnosis and, therefore, in the strategies
But there is no permanence in a policy of territory, a more structural policy, longer term. It is that this situation repeats itself. There are 100 municipalities where the most critical situation is, and it is already known, that is, it is known which are the most affected regions. It is known that there are combinations of economic interests around legal and illegal gold, coca, wood, land, and hydrocarbon businesses.
The southwest of Antioquia has been a quiet area. Whats going on there?
There are relatively quiet areas sometimes because there is institutional and social stability. In other areas because there are already established violent orders.
When these balances are upset because a third group enters or because there are internal disputes or because there is an announcement of a possibility of resources, then they are unleashed in those sectors and they seek to subdue the population.
(Further: The country that keeps killing its youth)
This is what is happening in that southwest, which is a coffee zone, now groups are entering because they are waiting for the gold business. There is a gold rush, a whole dynamic of accumulation of wealth and disputes. In that territory it is gold and in Cauca it is coca and routes.
MATEO GARCÍA *
NATION EDITOR
A Twtter: @teomagar
[email protected]
* With information from Cali and Medellín
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