A religious social organization has condemned the multiple killings of members of a leftist political movement, local media reported on Thursday.
The Center for Research and Popular Education (CINEP), a religious organisation focused on social change, has spoken out about the “genocide” of members of the Patriotic March (Marcha Patriotica), with 48 people killed in the past two years.
MORE: Leftist political party contemplates dissolving with almost 30 members assassinated in 2013
The Patriotic March is a leftist political movement created in 2012 which claims to be searching for the “second and definitive independence.”
In a report in their magazine, Noche y Niebla, CINEP spoke out about the killings which are reportedly due to the ideological proximity of the political movement to Colombia’s oldest guerrilla group, the FARC.
MORE: FARC sees assassination of 29 left-wing political party members as threat to peace process
The CINEP report also documents ten new ‘false positives’ cases and 232 extrajudicial killings in 2013.
MORE: Ten ‘false positives’ cases, 232 extrajudicial killings in 2013: human rights organization
| Many people are saying that such links of the Patriotic March are repetition of the political violence against the Patriotic Union, especially at a time when there are peace talks and that the March has been outlined as one of possible political moves that could come after a peace agreement.“ |
Problems caused by apparent FARC affiliation mirrors events that occurred during the late 1980s and early 1990s, the last time the FARC attempted to incorporate itself into civilian politics. The FARC created the Patriotic Union (Union Patriotica – UP), but drug traffickers and right-wing paramilitaries, often working with government authorities, engaged in the systematic assassination of up to 4,000 members of the leftist Patriotic Union. Some survivors are now members of the Marcha Patriotica.
According to CINEP member, priest Javier Giraldo, “Many people are saying that such links of the Patriotic March are repetition of the political violence against the Patriotic Union, especially at a time when there are peace talks and that the March has been outlined as one of possible political moves that could come after a peace agreement.”
The priest argued that such attacks just because of “belonging to a political movement can be described as genocidal as it shows that we want to exterminate a specific group.”
Spokesperson for the Patriotic March, David Florez, stated that such a “pattern of persecution aiming at eventually ending social and political involvement of the Patriotic March” has been “well documented” by the political movement.
“Most murders happened in areas where there is a strong military presence. We want the murders to be brought to justice and their links to government agents be shown to the world,” added Florez.
Sources
- Edition 48 (Noche y Niebla)
- En dos años han sido asesinados 48 líderes políticos de Marcha Patriótica (El Espectador)
- ONG advierte que ya hay un “genocidio” contra Marcha Patriótica (W Radio)
