The leader of a poor community on the outskirts of the Colombian city of Buenaventura has been assassinated by suspected paramilitaries after speaking out against violence at an event held to prevent young people from becoming caught up in the Colombian conflict. Martha Cecilia Obando, 45, was killed in front of the church in the main street of the San Francisco neighbourhood at 7.45pm on Sunday 29th June as she walked home. She was shot three times.

Ms Obando, who was also the President of the Association of Displaced Women (ASODESFRAN), had just finished speaking to a community event attended by some 300 children where women from San Francisco neighbourhood had been teaching the youngsters traditional games from their communities. Virtually all of the people in the neighbourhood are originally from the Charco River basin but have been forced from their homes by paramilitaries with links to the Colombian Army.

Mothers in the area, including Ms Obando, were worried that their children were playing games that included simulated gunfights and other violence rather than traditional children’s games. As a result workshops for kids were established with the help of the Church and Ms Obando. Following her murder the future of the project is uncertain.

The US human rights organisation Human Rights First has set up a web page from which people can protest direct to the Colombian authorities about this most recent killing.

source: Justice for Colombia
via la chola