A land restitution NGO in northern Colombia reported on Friday that they are receiving threats, and that one young displaced man was assassinated.
According to the NGO Inter Commission for Justice and Peace, Narciso Teheran, a young man who was part of a group of 130 displaced families living on nearly 300 acres of land known as El Tamarindo in the northern Atlantico department, was murdered on Friday by a group of armed men.
The NGO reported that they have been receiving threats since April 7 from a group calling themselves, “Cartel de Tierras” (Land Cartel). According to the press release, one of the gunmen who killed Teheran is reported to be Lesman Parra, coordinator of a group of vigilantes in the area.
In addition to the displaced peoples, the NGO says that government officials and security forces have also been victims of death threats.
This is the third such incident in as many weeks. Two land restitution activists were killed in the northern Cordoba department on March 27 and April 9. President Juan Manuel Santos has offered a reward of $110,000 for information leading to the capture of those who “threaten and murder leaders of victims and re-claimants of land.”
MORE: Reward for information on land activists murders: Santos
Source
Comunidad reclamante de tierras amenazada, uno de sus integrantes asesinado ayer (Comision Intereclesial de Justicia y Paz)