Photo credit: Lawyer and political activist Yamile Guerra via Justice for Colombia.
Colombian lawyer and political activist Yamile Guerra, 42, was murdered in Floridablanca in the country’s Santander region on 20 July.
At the time of her death, she was working on land disputes on behalf of local communities. She had formerly worked for the Santander government.
More than 700 social activists, community leaders and former guerrillas have been murdered since the peace agreement between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the government was signed in November 2016, the British-Irish human and labor rights organization Justice for Colombia said in a statement.
She was killed by two men with whom she had met to discuss a land dispute, according to Justice for Colombia. She was said to be opposed to selling lands that had been appropriated illegally by developers, the rights group stated.
Her father, also a social activist, was murdered several years previously.
At least 24 environmental defenders were killed in Colombia in 2018, the second highest number recorded last year, according to a new report from human rights group Global Witness. In the Philippines, 30 defenders were killed in 2018.
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Lawyer and political activist Yamile Guerra murdered in northeast Colombia
Human rights group reports 164 environmental defenders were killed in 2018
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