11 town councillors have been murdered in Colombia so far this year and over 2,000 remain at a direct risk from guerrillas and emerging gangs, claimed authorities on Monday.
A spokesman for the Federation of Councillors, Fabio Estrada, stated that currently there are “two abducted councillors, there have been attacks against 32 councillors and today there are Government security measures in place to protect some 2,000 others.”
This past weekend councillor Baquero Alejandro Cepeda was killed by common criminals in the city Villavicencio, in the department of Meta and on October 17, suspected FARC guerrillas kidnapped four councillors in a town south of the Colombian capital Bogota and later killed two of them, reported news site EFE on Tuesday.
Town councillors across the country continue to request that their government devise adequate security strategies to ensure their safety.
Some 400 councillors have been murdered throughout Colombia at the hands of guerrillas, emerging gangs and paramilitaries over the last ten years.