An indigenous guard and community activist, María Nelly Bernal Andrade, was murdered on the evening of 14 February in Samaniego in the department of Nariño, southern Colombia. She was shot at least five times while walking to her home. Her attackers remain unknown.
In reference to María’s murder, local governor Luis Eusebio Cadena said that ‘unfortunately, we know the situation currently being lived in the entire country. We are very sad at the loss of a member of our community’.
Nariño is one of the regions worst-affected by violence against social activists since the peace agreement was signed in November 2016. The United Nations said in December that it has received reports of 454 murders in that time.