Bogota, May 27 (RHC)-- Social leader Manuel Guillermo Marriaga Martinez was murdered on May 23rd amid COVID-19 pandemic quarantine curfew, Colombia's Social Independent Alliance (ASI) denounced.

According to ASI, hitmen approached and killed the 50-year-old political militant while he was riding his motorcycle in Villa Matoso in the northern department of Cordoba.  "We request competent authorities to clarify soon the death of our ex-candidate and militant Manuel Guillermo Marriaga Martinez,"  ASI posted on Twitter.

Ideas for Peace Foundation points out that social leaders' homicides increased by 53 percent in Colombia.
Sixty-seven percent of those attacks were committed by anonymous killers.  In addition, 21 former guerrilla soldiers were murdered.

"The lack of security guarantees for some ex-combatants has forced them to leave the places where they were carrying out their reincorporation process, as has happened in Cauca and Antioquia," FIP informed. Also, it noted that, despite the ceasefire requested by the U.N., the armed confrontation in Colombia remains active.

"Government just denies this terrible reality, it stands undaunted in front of this painful and dangerous bleeding," Senator Ivan Cepeda posted on Twitter.

So far, the number of social leaders murdered in Colombia has increased by 53 percent, most of them amidst the COVID-19 outbreak, as reported by Ideas For The Peace Foundation (FIP).