Uben Guerrero

Fifty-seven year old Uben Guerrero was a community leader and former president of the Junta de Acción Comunal (Community Action Board in) in vereda Curacas, Marcaderes in Cauca.

On 30 April, 2020, he was shot dead by two men who were travelling by motorcycle. He was at home when the killers burst in and shot him dead.

According to Guillermo Cardona Moreno of the Observatorio Comunal Nacional (National Community Observatory), “The arrogance, lack of response and indifference of the state to our proposals is leading to a very rapid and complex escalation of war and violence to which we cannot remain silent witnesses.”

Several armed criminal groups are struggling for control of the drug trade in the area.

In a statement condemning the killing, former governor of Cauca, Senator Temistocles Ortega said that, “it looks as if the killers are able to move around with impunity targeting anyone who opposes them and terrorising the whole community.”

“They are killing us, they are murdering us, Cauca has been taken over by crime, dissident groups, the ELN, drug traffickers, criminal gangs on the sidewalks, in the townships, in urban centers, Cauca is bleeding more from violence than from the coronavirus ”, he added.

 


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Region:Americas

Country:Colombia

Department/Province/State:Cauca

Sex1:Male

Age:57

Date of Killing:30/04/2020

Type of Work:Community leader

Organisation:Junta de Acción Comunal y líder comunitario de la vereda Curacas.

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

Sector Detail:Citizens' rights

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).