Colombia’s residents’ rights workplace says the violence might hinder the ‘train of political rights’ forward of the Could vote to interchange Gustavo Petro.
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Two presidential marketing campaign staffers have been killed in Colombia simply two weeks earlier than the South American nation heads to the polls.
The killings have been introduced by right-wing presidential candidate Abelardo de la Espriella, who mentioned gunmen on motorbikes shot the victims within the central division of Meta on Friday night time.
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In a publish on the social media platform X, de la Esperiella mentioned the 2 staffers “walked the streets defending democracy, freedom, and the hope of thousands and thousands of Colombians”.
“Their solely crime was believing within the Fatherland and never kneeling earlier than the violent,” the candidate added.
The residents’ rights ombudsman for Colombia recognized the slain males as Rogers Mauricio Devia Escoba, a former mayor for town of Cubarral, and his adviser Eder Fabian Cardona Lopez.
The workplace mentioned one other assault came about towards a former mayoral candidate within the space, with out offering additional particulars.
Whereas the assaults stay beneath investigation, the ombudsman warned that they may have an effect on the “train of political rights and democratic participation” within the upcoming election on Could 31.
“Violence, threats, and any type of intimidation undermine public debate, deepen dangers for political and social leaderships, and weaken democratic coexistence,” the workplace mentioned in an announcement.
Meta has lengthy been a stronghold for each insurgent fighters and cocaine trafficking within the nation. Violence and surging crime have featured prominently within the presidential race to interchange the nation’s first leftist chief, Gustavo Petro.
The frontrunner within the presidential race, left-wing Senator Ivan Cepeda, has promised to proceed the course charted by Petro, who has championed a negotiated answer to Colombia’s armed battle.
De la Espriella, against this, has moulded himself within the likeness of populist right-wing leaders like El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele and Argentina’s Javier Milei.
Polls present him polling in second with greater than 20 p.c of voter assist, adopted by centre-right Senator Paloma Valencia.
Cepeda, in the meantime, goes into the primary spherical of voting with between 37 and 40 p.c assist. A complete of 14 candidates have been registered for the presidential race as of March.
At the very least three candidates have reported receiving demise threats. The frontrunners all journey with heavy safety.
Final 12 months, Cepeda’s vice presidential operating mate, Indigenous activist and state senator Aida Quilcue, was briefly kidnapped by a insurgent group that broke away from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
It was among the many dissident factions that refused to signal a 2016 take care of the federal government, beneath which the FARC — the most important left-wing insurgent organisation on the time — agreed to disarm.
Miguel Uribe, a senator and presidential hopeful, was additionally shot throughout a June 2025 rally in Bogota. He died from his wound two months later, in August.
