Temistocles Machado adds to the long list of human rights defenders murdered in Colombia

Social Activist Temistocles Machado supervises some works at the Comuna 6 neighbourhood in Buenaventura, Colombia, just weeks before being murdered. Image: Elisabeth Otálvaro, vía Pasifista!. all rights reserved.

Before he
was killed last Saturday January 27, the Colombian activist and community
leader Temistocles Machado knew his life could be in danger. Machado was one of
the most prominent leaders working to defend collective rights, including the
right to land, in the city port of Buenaventura in the Colombian Pacific
Coast—the country’s poorest region.

Last year,
the people of Buenaventura and Quibdo held a strike to protest the government’s
failure to provide funding for infrastructure, health, education, and other
essential public services. An expert on these broken promises, Machado was
among the leaders of the strike and was also known as a resource for
information about land titles and public services.

His
personal records were so vast, so important, that the Historical Memory
Center—a state institution that preserves records and documents about
Colombia’s armed conflict—chose to digitize and protect it.

105 human rights defenders and social activists were killed in Colombia in 2017, the first year with a peace agreement in place. This number is in stark contrast to the national murder rate, which in 2017 was the lowest since 1975.

But Machado
himself was not protected. Instead, his name has been added to a growing list
of social leaders murdered in Colombia. Explanations, interpretations and
excuses for this vary. But the hard data is clear: According to the latest
report from Front Line Defenders, 105 human rights defenders and social
activists were killed in Colombia in 2017, the first year with a peace
agreement in place.

This number
is in stark contrast to the national murder rate, which in 2017 was the lowest
since 1975. One out of every three activists killed around the world last year
were killed in Colombia.

For
Colombians, this brings a deep and unsettling sense of deja vú. People remember
and fear the return of even darker times, such as the systematic killing of leftist
activists of the Patriotic Union, a political party that was ultimately
eliminated by an alliance of drug cartels, paramilitaries, and security forces
in the 1980s and 90s. Even closer are memories of the massive killings
perpetrated by the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia beginning in the late 1990s
and continuing until its surrender in 2005.

Even former FARC members are exposed
to serious violence: By the end of 2017, 34 had been killed, according to the
latest report from the UN Verification Mission.

In certain
areas—like the Pacific Coast region, which has a significant indigenous and
Afro-descendant population—violence is still a clear and present problem. And
it is more difficult to assign responsibility for recent attacks. The
dissidents of FARC still operate actively in the South West, among other
places.

Peace talks with the National Liberation Army (ELN), another guerrilla
group, have broken down, creating the possibility of more violence. Criminal
gangs and paramilitaries seek to suppress social movements and instil fear in
whole communities. Impunity only makes these problems worse.

Though the
general attorney’s office has appointed special prosecutors and President
Santos has personally pushed for more protection for threatened leaders, very
few cases of violence against social leaders reach the judicial stage. A state
agency—the National Protection Unit—provides physical protection to more than
6,000 people in the third quarter of 2017.

But in rural areas, protection is
hard to provide and maintain. And some social leaders reject state protection
because they feel it is at odds with their role in the communities they
represent and defend.Even amid such challenges, Colombia has made significant progress.
State institutions have become more effective in confronting violent crime, and
prosecutors and judges have more meaningful protections than before.

Despite complications, the peace agreement with the FARC promises to be a turning point in Colombia’s history, opening a window of opportunity.

Civil
society is not only more resilient, but has become more engaged and influential
in policy-making. Despite complications, the peace agreement with the FARC
promises to be a turning point in Colombia’s history, opening a window of
opportunity—especially for the territories most affected by the internal
war—and offering a promise of protection to social leaders and organizations,
many of whom had been violently silenced.

Some local
analysts say that the new wave of violence against activists might be a result
of the vacuum left by the demobilization of FARC, and the fierce competition
for control of drugs, illegal mining, and other criminal activity that
followed. Others point to the complicity of local authorities.

One thing is
clear: Protecting human rights defenders and social leaders remains an uphill
battle in Colombia. Beyond the protection provided by the state, a number of
civil society organizations are working to prevent violence, with the support
of international groups including Protection International and Front Line
Defenders.

Their
efforts reinforce the importance of staying optimistic about the possibilities
created by the peace process, and being active in efforts to advance it. As we
do, it is equally important to stay vigilant about the lives of heroes like
Temistocles Machado.

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This
article was previously published at the Equals Change Blog. Read the original here