BOGOTA: Colombian officials said that 17 civil campaigners have been murdered over the past two months in the country, amid tensions over its contested peace process.
President Juan Manuel Santos has warned that fresh violence could destabilize the demobilization of the leftist FARC rebels under a historic peace accord.
He signed the deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and pushed it through the legislature in December, defying criticism from conservative rivals.
In the weeks following, reports emerged of killings by local civil campaigners by unidentified groups in conflict areas.
On Monday the Victims’ Unit, a state conflict resolution body, said in a statement that “17 civil leaders have been murdered since December 1, after Congress ratified the peace accord.”
The last known victim was Porfirio Jaramillo, leader of a group demanding rural land restitution. He was killed on Saturday in Antioquia department, in the northwest, it said.
