A new act of violence shakes the city of Cúcuta (Norte de Santander). The followingnoon of this Saturday, August 27, was recorded a massacre in the Pueblo Nuevo neighborhood, four men were shot.
The event occurred in the 9th avenue with 0th street, very close to the transport terminal. According to preliminary versions, the victims were intercepted and attacked by men on motorcycles.
“Four people were hit with firearms, one died at the scene and another three were taken to a care center, but unfortunately they die there. With all the judicial police and intelligence personnel, we are investigating this fact that today mourns the community,” said Colonel Hilbar Alfonso Reyes, deputy commander of the Metropolitan Police of Cúcuta (Mecuc).
The victims were in front of a mechanic shop when the gunmen arrived at the scene and indiscriminately opened fire. The bullets apparently hit two other people who were in the area.
The first investigations indicate that this violent event would presumably be a consequence of the dispute between criminal gangs for control of the sale of narcotics in the sector. Apparently, alias ‘Cúcuta’, who is deprived of liberty in a prison, and alias ‘Saúl’, two feared criminals, according to the city authorities, would be involved in this event.
“It is an alleged retaliation between two criminal gangs that are disputing this land, we can say that alias ‘Cúcuta’ and alias ‘Saúl’ are the main determinants of these events that are taking place”, Colonel Reyes added.
According to the Institute of Studies for Development and Peace (Indepaz), This would be the 70th massacre that occurs in Colombia, in what happened in this 2022. However, the identity of the victims is not yet known.
“The Ombudsman’s Office has issued AT 035/20 and a follow-up report in 2021, which indicates the imminence of serious violations of human rights, both selective and as massive, including the evident and concrete framework of dispute between armed actors”, says Indepaz.
This is the third act of blood that occurs in the northern capital of Santander in less than 24 hours, that is to say that six men have lost their lives amid gunshot attacks, presumably all related to the same mobile: drug micro-trafficking.
One of these events occurred on 2nd Street between 4th and 5th Avenues, in the Motilones neighborhood, in the Juan Atalaya citadel. there a man who was in front of his house was surprised by gunmen who shot him repeatedly, until it is lifeless.
“A situation of hired assassins arose that leaves us with a man without life, who was hit with two shots to the head and in the reaction of the Police we managed to get these subjects to leave a motorcycle abandoned in the place that will help us to clarify this fact” , said the deputy commander.
The other assassination attack occurred in the Rosales sector, where “another man was shot and lost his life due to his injuries. The patrols were investigating what happened in another sector when this fact was presented to us.”
In the city patrolling and operational control tasks will be reinforced in order to locate those responsible for these crimes and, mainly, prevent them from happening.
Seven dead in two massacres in Nariño
On the other hand, at least seven people would have been killed in two massacres that occurred in the department of Nariño also this Saturday, in events that are being investigated by the authorities and that were denounced by indigenous and human rights organizations.
The first case occurred between the Chiles and Mayasquer reservations in the rural area of the municipality of Cumbal, south of Nariño, where according to the Movement of Indigenous Authorities of Colombia, AICO, were killed Adriana del Rocío Guerrero Tarapuez, ex-corregidora of the Panán reserve, her sentimental partner Stalin Emilson Calpa Tupue, and the commoner Diego Armando España.
According to that organization, the three community members were approached by armed subjects, who shot them several times, killing them instantly.
“The loss of these valuable human beings leaves a great void in their families, friends and community, from which they fought for the defense of the territory, life and autonomy of the Pastos and Quillasingas peoples” noted AICO in a statement.
He added that “We publicly reject and condemn these barbaric acts of fear and anxiety for the murder of our fellow community members of the Panán and Chiles Indigenous Reservations, presumably perpetrated along the road that leads from Chiles to Mayasquer “La Puerta sector”.
“This crime is added to the systematic murders and violations of human rights perpetrated once morest our indigenous peoples and communities in the country and perpetrated by violent acts and the danger to the physical and cultural survival of indigenous peoples,” he said.
The organization He asked the authorities to carry out investigations to determine the perpetrators of this act.
“From the Indigenous Authorities of Colombia “for the Pacha Mama AICO” we demand that the competent authorities speed up the investigation that will allow us to identify the motives and those responsible for this crime and apply the full weight of the law,” he said.
Likewise, it requested the Attorney General’s Office, the Ombudsman’s Office, the Personería, the departmental authorities and international organizations “the support and your immediate presence in this place, and adopt the corresponding measures that allow to solve the delicate situation of public order in the territory of the great Cumbal and ensure the protection of life.
According to Fundepaz, this is the fourth massacre recorded this year in Nariño, claiming the lives of thirteen people so far.
According to different sectors, the ELN’s José Luis Cabrera front operates in the area.
Another massacre in Nariño
Meanwhile, human rights defenders of the murder of four people in the municipality of Olaya Herrera, on the Pacific coast of Nariño, in events that are still under investigation.
“A massacre in Olaya Herrera where four males died, we are waiting for the authorities to verify the facts and give us answers regarding these two events ” warned the promoter of DD. H H. Nelly Salas.
Likewise, he rejected these violent acts and requested that the call for multilateral disarmament proposed by President Gustavo Petro in the unified command post “for life” be heeded.
