Six people were murdered in two massacres perpetrated in the Colombian departments of Cesar and Bolívar, in the north of the country, the NGO Institute of Development and Peace Studies (Indepaz) reported this Sunday.
The first massacre occurred in a house in the neighborhood of the town of El Copey (Cesar), where two men entered and attacked those who were there with firearms.
The victims were identified as Miguel Naizir Morales, Martín Lara Tovar and a third who has not yet been identified.
Indepaz recalled that the Ombudsman’s Office has issued alerts about the risks at the national level due to the presence of armed actors, in which it points out the risk to the population due to confrontations between illegal structures, economies such as micro-trafficking, threats and extortion.
Also striking is the increase in violence in urban areas due to the action of local gangs seeking territorial dominance.
The second massacre was recorded in the town of Morales (Bolívar), according to Indepaz, adding that the victims are two men and a woman.
According to figures from the NGO, six massacres have been committed so far this year. The first of them occurred the first week of this month in the town of La Hormiga, in the department of Putumayo (south), where there were three deaths.
A study published at the end of last December by Indepaz stated that in 2023, 94 massacres were perpetrated, the same number as in 2022. However, the victims of these crimes were 343 in 2022, while those in 2023 totaled 335.