Segundo Victor Castillo

On May 25 2017, Victor Segundo Castillo was shot multiple times outside his house in Nariño, Colombia and died instantly.

Victor was involved in the process to demobilise over 300 men who were involved in the transportation and manufacture of cocaine. He had succeeded in persuading 120 young men to give up their involvement in drugs and take up normal jobs.

However, Victor disagreed with the agreement signed between the FARC and the government on the basis that they would simply continue their crimes in isolated rural areas like Tumaco where he lived. Tumaco is one of the areas with the highest levels of production of coca in Colombia, and is also one of the main departure points for cocaine destined for the United States market.

Segundo, and 6 other community leaders, had received death threats in the previous weeks from people who were opposed to the work that he was doing. As a result of these threats the Ombudsman’s Office had ordered that he be given protection and he was given a bullet proof vest for protection and money to relocate if he needed to. Subsequently Cristian Francisco Caicedo Sánchez was arrested for the murder and he was found to be involved in an organised armed group called ‘Gente del Orden (The People of Order).

 


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Region:Americas

Country:Colombia

Department/Province/State:Narino

Sex1:Male

Date of Killing:25/05/2017

Previous Threats:Yes

Type of Work:Community leader

Organisation:Movimiento Social de Tumaco

Sector or Type of Rights the HRD Worked On:ESC Rights

Sector Detail:Afro Descendant Rights, Peace Building

More information:Front Line Defenders

1This database records an individual's chosen gender identity. If they do not self-identify as male or female they can use the option of recording other/neither or use the term NBGI (non binary gender identity).