A Colombian trade unionist was murdered in Corinto, department of Cauca, on Sunday 9 December. 55-year-old Gilberto Antonio Zuluaga Ramírez, a member of the FENSUAGRO agricultural trade union and the Patriotic March human rights organisation, was shot dead as he waited for a bus. His attacker subsequently fled and remains unidentified.
The killing occurred just two days after two indigenous leaders were murdered in separate attacks in Caloto.
‘Gilberto Antonio Zuluaga Ramírez was in the Association of Peasant Workers of Corinto for a long time, contributed to the constitution of a rural reserve area in this part of Cauca and was also a member of the Patriotic March, and for that reason he was a standout leader, said FENSUAGRO member Deivin Hurtado, who visited Britain with Justice for Colombia in 2016.
North Cauca, where the recent attacks occurred, has been the most dangerous region in Colombia for social activists since the peace agreement was signed in November 2016. Around 400 social activists have been murdered since then, with more deaths in North Cauca than anywhere else.