Right-wing extremist group Agulias Negras sent out a death threat to congressmen, human rights advocates and journalists on Tuesday.
Ivan Cepeda, senator of the socialist Democratic Pole party, tweeted out a picture of the threat, which named him and a number of other opposition leaders and organizations.
“Organizations and leaders will disappear, because our country can not be the cradle of leftists, guerrillas, militiamen, anti-corruption storytellers, camouflages of supposed social leaders and defenders,” the note read.
Señor Presidente @IvanDuque llegó esta amenaza en contra de parlamentarios, defensores de derechos humanos, periodistas y a mi. En la amenaza esta el dirigente César Plata, de la UP y ya atentaron contra él. Presidente recibanos urgente. pic.twitter.com/5y3r8mTGlM
— Aída Avella Esquivel (@AidaAvellaE) September 4, 2018
The list, which came from the “Central Bloc” of the group, included Cepada, Claudia Lopez, the figurehead of Colombia’s anti-corruption movement, Green Party senator Antonio Sanguino, journalist Daniel Coronell, cartoonist Julio Cesar Gonzales, and many more.
The group said it was because of those activists that they “started this fight of extermination on the entire Colombian territory, and nothing and no one is going to stop us.”
Aida Avella, another opposition senator named by the group, responded Wednesday and called for a meeting with President Ivan Duque saying, “President, receive us urgently.”
Extremist group threatens to ‘exterminate’ opposition to Colombia’s new government
But this was just the most recent threat by the group, just weeks earlier the Aguilas Negras threatened to “exterminate” anyone opposing the newly-elected president.
After opposing the government former President Juan Manuel Santos and the campaign platforms of former presidential candidate Gustavo Petro, the group has said Duque’s election “legitimizes our position and urges us to continue.”
While mass murders of social leaders and activists have been a long-time problem in Colombia, the assassinations have escalated in recent years. Since 2016, at least 337 social leaders and human rights defenders have been assassinated in Colombia.
Duque vowed to curb those mass killings, but the administration has yet to take any major steps against the violence.
