Mayoral candidate Zonia Rosero was murdered in the town of Puerto Asis in Putumayo, southern Colombia, yesterday. Armed men entered the clinic where she worked as a doctor and shot her several times. Zonia was 45 years old.
Zonia was well-known in Puerto Asis not only for her political aspirations but for her activism in defence of women’s rights and peace. She had helped coordinate a regional campaign against gender-based violence.
She had always worked in healthcare, first as a nurse, then as a doctor, and had focused her efforts in communities most affected by poor social conditions and state abandonment. Her mayoral campaign promoted education and health as fundamental rights for all communities.
Zonia is at least the 20th social activist murdered in 2019.