At least 145 community leaders and rights activists were killed in 2021 in Colombia, the country’s human rights ombudsman has said. The 2021 death toll, which came amid a year defined by protests and government crackdowns, was lower than in 2020, when 182 killings were registered, the offices of ombud Carlos Camargo said in a statement on Monday. Those killed included members of Indigenous groups, advocates for rural communities, and trade unionists. “We repudiate these acts that are mainly due to the criminal actions of illegal armed groups,” said the statement, without naming the alleged perpetrators.
While Colombia is officially at peace since signing a pact with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia in 2016 to end more than a half-century of armed conflict, it has seen a flare-up of violence in recent months due to fighting over territory and resources by dissident FARC fighters, the National Liberation Army rebel group, paramilitary forces, and drug cartels. President Ivan Duque’s government accuses drug traffickers of being behind the majority of killings in the country, which is the world’s largest cocaine producer. However, in May of last year, anti-government protests were met with brutal crackdowns by police and soldiers, killing more than 60 people, and condemned by the United Nations, United States, European Union, and international rights groups.
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