Social leader Efrén Ramos was one of the victims of the last reported massacre in the country. | Photo: www.opinioncaribe.com

Bogota, February 5 (RHC)-- The spiral of violence and murders in Colombia does not stop.  On Friday night, the Institute for Development and Peace Studies (Indepaz) confirmed the murder of another two social leaders in the South American country.

Indepaz stated that social activist Víctor Manuel Pacheco, president of the Junta de Acción Comunal de la vereda Bruselas, municipality of Fortul, in the department of Arauca, was killed by hired gunmen who came to his farm.

The Colombian Ombudsman's Office issued an alert for the department of Arauca and the municipalities of Saravena, Arauquita and Fortul, in which it points out constant attacks against members of the security forces and their installations.  It also warned of police and Army operations that in most cases affect the civilian population in the framework of the fight against criminal gangs and armed groups, which generate serious human rights affectations.

Hours earlier Indepaz reported the murder of social leader Efrén Ramos, who was a prosecutor of the Community Action Board of the area known as El Basal in the municipality of Puerto Leguizamo, Putumayo.
Indepaz stated that Ramos was killed in the midst of a massacre in that area, in which two other young men died whose bodies showed signs of torture.

With the murder of Pacheco and Ramos, according to Indepaz figures, 19 social leaders have been killed in Colombia so far in 2022.  The institute highlighted that the departments of Arauca and Cauca have been the ones where more leaders have been murdered in just one month and three days.

With respect to last year, Indepaz counted 171 murders of social leaders, human rights defenders and former combatants who took part in the 2016 peace agreement.