Colombia mourns the 21st social leader killed since 1 January

Since the beginning of the year, 21 social leaders have been killed in Colombia.

The Cordobexia Social Foundation confirmed at the weekend that social leader Luis Dario Rodriguez had been murdered. Rodriguez is the second activist killed in the northwestern department of Cordoba this week and the 21st in Colombia since the beginning of 2020.

According to the statement released by the foundation, the social leader was murdered on Friday afternoon as he was returning home from a fishing trip in the municipality of Tierralta.

"He was shot by men on a motorcycle," said the foundation and called on the national government to protect and guarantee the exercise of human rights in Colombia. 

Rodriguez was a member of the Association of Displaced and Vulnerable Families of Tierralta and of the human rights network of southern Cordoba. He was a father of three children and dedicated himself to fishing and agriculture.

His activism consisted of speeding up land claim processes after the flooding of the Alto Sinúu lands by the URRA 1 hydroelectric plant.

Less than a week ago, social leaders, Jorge Luis Betancourt and Tulio Sandoval were also murdered in their respective municipalities.

Betancourt also from Cordoba was killed in the municipality of Montelibanom and was a farmer's rights activist.

While, Sandoval,  who was participating in the crop substitution program, was killed by armed individuals who broke into his house, dragged him out and shot him repeatedly in front of his family.

Since the peace agreement signing, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Peace in Colombia has counted more than 300 murders of human rights leaders.