Julio César Sucerquia was a founding member of the Association of Barequeros Committees of the North of Antioquia (artisanal miners). He was murdered on July 28, 2018 in Mote, in a rural area of ​​the municipality of Ituango, in Antioquia. In this sector dissident members of the FARC are active, as are criminal gangs belonging to the “Clan del Golfo” and an armed group commanded bya person known by the alias “Carnitas”.

The Network of Social and Peasant Organizations of the North of Antioquia said in a statement that Sucerquia was shot two kilometers from the Humanitarian Refugee Camp, of which he was a member,, There has been an ongoing humanitarian crisis in the area due to the damming of the Cauca River upstream in connection with the Hidroituango project.

The Hidroituango project has been involved in an ongoing crisis for more than two months due to a landslide that blocked the tunnel that diverts the waters of the Cauca River, the second largest in the country, which were dammed in an unfinished reservoir. The volume of water put it at risk of collapsing .

Given the situation, local communities have demanded that the Government take the necessary measures to “guarantee the constitutional rights to life, personal security, physical and psychological integrity, of the inhabitants of the area and members of social organisations.”

The community are calling for an investigation into the death of Sucerquia to find those responsible for the crime.