The Institute for Development and Peace Studies (Indepaz) has denounced the murders in the last hours of social leaders Nicodemus Luna Mosquera and Efrain Sanchez Duran in the north of the country, and lamented that 171 community leaders have been killed since the beginning of 2022.
Sánchez Durán was killed by four armed men in the town of Barrancabermeja, in the department of Santander.
Indepaz describes Sánchez Durán as a «recognized leader» who was the «director of the Manos Amigas Foundation that helps the elderly» in this city.
Nicodemus, murdered in La Guajira, «was a recognized union and social leader», former leader of the Unión Sindical Obrera in Tibú, Norte de Santander. He was currently affiliated to the Asociación Nacional de Pensionados Petroleros de Colombia (National Association of Oil Pensioners of Colombia).
The institute brings to 1,398 the number of social leaders killed in the country since the signing in 2016 of the peace agreement between the Colombian government and the FARC-EP.
