These are the victims of the massacre in Algeria, Cauca

On the night of Saturday, November 21, a new massacre was registered in Cauca, the 12th in that department so far in 2020, according to the Institute of Studies for the Development of Peace (Indepaz). It happened in the El Mango district, municipality of Algeria, and left five fatalities, according to the information provided by Mayor Jhonnatan Patiño.

Contrary to the initial version about what happened, the local administration clarified that the crime was not perpetrated only in one commercial establishment, but in three: a disco, a billiards and a bar. This was announced by the authorities, after a security council held a day after the events.

Of the deceased, from that same night there was information about one, the social leader and member of the Community Action Board (JAC) of El Mango, Libio Chilito, who had organized an activity in the village with the aim of raising money and giving gifts to children at Christmas. The Caucasian sociologist Juan Erazo was among the first to confirm the death of the leader through Twitter.

The other victims were Faber Joaquín Hoyos, Arlex Daniel Salamanca, Dannover Santiago López and Eraldo Ruiz Salazar, of which three worked in the construction of a school in the area.

In the indiscriminate attack with firearms, Yanio Fabián Muñoz Samboní and Elkin Fernando Rengifo Zambrano were also injured, who today are at the San José de Popayán university hospital, in the capital of Cauca.

According to preliminary inquiries, Mayor Jhonnatan Patiño said in a statement, “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. He then approaches a bar and shoots two other people who die ”.

The Prosecutor’s Office, which is working on a hypothesis of what happened, captured a citizen near the scene of the events, but it remains to be seen if it is the same man that the local president spoke of in his statement.

In November, it is the third act of violence recorded in Algeria

In this same municipality, on November 9, another attempted massacre was recorded, near the Algerian Police Station, in which two people died and three were injured.

The most recent act of violence, however, took place on November 18: in El Plateado, a 14-year-old adolescent was found dead as a result of a gunshot to the head and one to the chest, and with signs of torture.

In this municipality, which together with Tambo, also in Cauca, has some 17,000 hectares of coca crops, according to the Integrated System of Illicit Crops, armed structures such as the National Liberation Army (ELN), the FARC dissidents and paramilitary groups they dispute power.

During 2020, according to Indepaz, 76 massacres have been perpetrated. The departments most affected by this phenomenon of violence that worsened this year have been Antioquia (17), Cauca (11), Nariño (9), Norte de Santander (6) and Putumayo (4).