Jorge Luis Solano Vega was a spokesperson for victims of violence. He was president of the Organización de Víctimas de Desaparición Forzada (Organisation of Victims of Forced Disappearance), Asvida, and a member of Redepaz. He was also a board member of Tierra y Vida and a member of the Mesa Territorial de Víctimas de Ocaña, (Regional Committee for Victims of Violence in Ocana).
Jorge Luis was a very well respected community leader, well known for his vigorous opposition to corruption. He had called publicly for an investigation into the awarding of corrupt contracts in the hospital and other public utilities.
On 3 November, 2020, Jorge Luis was at home in Ocaña, when armed men burst into the house and shot him dead. Friends and family rushed to take him to the local hospital but he was declared dead on arrival.
A few days before the killing, Jorge Luis recorded a video in which he claimed that his life was in danger. He also identified an employee of the Emiro Quintero Cañizares Hospital as being responsible for any attack which might happen. He had been threatened on multiple occasions previously and had been provided with protection by the Unidad Nacional de Protección, UNP.
A known criminal, Jhon Freddy Espinosa Álvarez, alias el Burro, has been convicted of the killing. Two other men, Carlos Daniel Pinzón Ramírez (alias Ñingui) and Luis López Delgado (alias Luis) have been arrested for their role in the killing. The investigation has revealed that the killers were paid a fee of forty million pesos.
It appears that one of the gang was monitoring Jorge Luis’s movements to identify a moment when he would be unprotected.
