Opposition Leader Assassinated in Colombia
News from Colombia |
on: Friday, 29 October 2010
Juan Carlos Arredondo
A founding member of the Democratic Pole, Colombia’s principle opposition party, has been gunned down in the town of Manaure in the northern Colombian province of La Guajira. Juan Carlos Arredondo, a father of two, was killed by two gunmen outside his home on the evening of October 25th. In July this year Luis Alfredo Socarras, a close colleague of Mr Arrendodo, was also killed. The two men were the co-founders of the Democratic Pole in Manaure and both deaths are thought to be linked to their political work.
Mr Arrendodo worked closely with the Wayuu indigenous tribe on human rights and development projects in the region and was twice a candidate for the Democratic Pole in regional elections. His murder, according to a statement released by the Wayuu, is a great loss to the indigenous movement for whom he was “an adviser, a comrade and an ally”.
The statement called on the Colombian authorities to take urgent action to safeguard the lives of social and community leaders in the region as well as the indigenous population more generally. Indigenous leaders Armando Valbuena, Custodio Valbuena, Elmer Altamar Gomez, Jhon Molina, Kenneth Rivadeneira and Jose Galvez Cruz are all at risk of being killed, say the Wayuu, after receiving paramilitary death threats in 2008. Since that time they and their families have been displaced and unable to return to their homes due to a lack of security in the zone.
The body of Juan Carlos Arredondo outside his home where he was murdered
