The Arauca Campesino Association described this as a direct attack against its leadership. | Photo: Colprensa

Bogota, May 28 (RHC)-- The Arauca Campesino Association (ACA) denounced Thursday that there have been massive and illegal detentions against social leaders, in the framework of the 30th day of the National Strike against the neoliberal policies of the government of Ivan Duque.

Through a statement, the association indicated that in the early hours of May 27, members of the Colombian Army and the National Police "carried out a departmental operation in which the homes of peasant leaders, social leaders, municipal councilors and departmental officials were searched."

In the text, the ACA affirms that several people were illegally captured, among them, the president of the association, Anderson Rodriguez; as well as its vice-president and secretary for human rights (HR), John Alexander Romero, among others.

The ACA details that the aforementioned comrades were detained and taken from their homes in the early hours of the morning, at approximately 04H00 (local time), in an operation led by members of the Attorney General's Office.

"We have information that at the time of writing this communiqué there are about 11 people captured and the existence of other arrest warrants in development, in the framework of the persecution operation against the Araucanian social leadership," the document refers.

The association described this as a "direct attack against the leadership of the Arauca Campesino Association, (which) is part of the long list of systematic and repressive attacks that the State has always unleashed against the Araucanian peasantry."

According to figures from the non-governmental organization (NGO) Temblores, through its platform Grita, since the beginning of the National Strike, on April 28, until May 24, 3,155 acts of police violence have been registered.

In addition, 43 homicides allegedly committed by the Colombian public forces, 955 victims of physical violence, 1,388 arbitrary detentions against demonstrators, 595 violent interventions, 46 people with eye injuries, 165 cases of firearm shots and 22 victims of sexual violence are registered.