Colombia suffers 64th massacre so far this year

Bogota, August 7 (RHC)-- Colombia's Institute for Development and Peace Studies (Indepaz) reported on Friday the 64th massacre registered in the South American country so far in 2021, which occurred in the municipality of Soacha in the department of Cundinamarca.

The new act of violence occurred inside a house in the San Antonio neighborhood of this Colombian town, leaving four dead: three men and one woman.   According to police authorities, the incident occurred at 11:00 a.m. on Friday morning when residents of the sector reported gunshots inside the house.

Authorities are handling the hypothesis of a settling of scores, since according to the police the house was used for the sale of narcotics.  The Police of Cundinamarca, together with the Judicial Police and with the accompaniment of the CTI of the Attorney General's Office, carried out the relevant inspections to obtain sufficient clues to identify the material and intellectual authors of this massacre.

The Colombian Ombudsman's Office had issued three alerts on the risk of expansion, control and dispute between armed groups that establish borders for micro-trafficking activities.

The Indepaz report records more than 200 people killed during 2021 in the reported massacres, so social rights organizations have reiterated the call to the Government of Iván Duque to take immediate action to prevent further violence.