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Carlota Salinas: The murdered leader defended the rights of women and her community in San Pablo, Bolívar
According to the Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (CIDH) or the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) (2019), a social leader is anyone who promotes the accomplishment of Human Rights and fundamental liberties and is recognized at the national or the international level for this work. This broad definition includes professional activities as well as personal and social activities promoting human rights (even if it is occasional). Any person, no matter his or her age, social group, gender, beliefs, or ethnicity can be a social leader, and the international consensus to determine this relies only on whether the person defends human rights or not in his or her activity.
According to the same source, social leaders are essential for maintaining democracy and the rule of law in Colombia, so we could say their insight and activism are necessary. In spite of this, as the Commission points out, they are going through a worrying situation, increasingly being targeted and killed after the peace accord with the FARC (Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces) was signed. Social leaders and the promotion of their communities’ rights is triggering all kinds of violent responses towards them, namely: murders, threats, attacks, harassment, stigmatization, criminalization, and a lack of proper investigation of their cases.
An especially vulnerable group within the social leaders in Colombia are women. Their gender exacerbates an already violent situation, and they are more vulnerable to being killed because of the causes they choose to fight for (especially if they have to do with women’s rights, or working with women who have been displaced or have suffered violations of their rights). The number of murders, torture, sexual violence, and threats against these women has increased. Between January of 2017 and February of 2018, 23 female social leaders were killed, and 142 were threatened. These threats (as opposed to the threats male social leaders receive) contain sexist and obscene language. This dangerous situation has sadly forced several of these women away from their families, out of their communities, and out of their political activism (IACHR, 2019).
To illustrate this preoccupying situation, this article will analyze the case of Carlota Isabel Salinas, who was murdered on March 24th, 2020. She was a social leader in San Pablo, in the department of Bolívar, who defended women’s rights and worked at the Organización Popular Femenina (OPF). This organization is the oldest one in Colombia that represents women’s rights. It was founded in 1960 following the creation of clubs for housewives by Ecclesiastes, with the purpose of helping them to address social violence by learning to sew. The OPF has faced issues and threats that have ranged from Pablo Escobar to paramilitaries and current guerrillas. They have documented around 150 aggressions against their organisation in the prosecutor general´s office and the murders of many members such as Esperanza Amaris, Yamile Agudelo, and Diofanol Sierra Vargas (Lozano, 2017).
Carlota Isabel had been part of the Organización Popular Femenina for ten years in a territory that is characterized by the confrontation between the ELN and the Clan del Golfo (also known as the Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia or AGC). Therefore, violence has always been present in San Pablo and even in the midst of Covid-19 times, the deaths of social leaders such as Carlota have not stopped. According to Agencia FEE (2020), Carlota was forced by armed men to step outside of her house, where she was murdered. This social leader was the mother of three children, and before being killed, she had been helping to collect money for those affected in San Pablo by the Coronavirus. As we can see, social leaders have a vocational commitment with their communities, and what they receive in return is violence without justice. Having looked at Carlota’s case, it is necessary to take a look at the context in the region where she lived and carried out her work.
During 2020, Colombia’s rate of social leader assassinations has risen to more than 100 cases (Indepaz as published in Semana), and since 2016, after the peace agreement was signed between the government and the FARC, 971 social leaders and ex FARC militants have been murdered (Semana, 2020). The region that surrounds the department of Bolivar has suffered from a huge wave of violence throughout the years of conflict, and this is due to its strategic location which is used for illegal drug crops and smuggling routes. There are several risk factors like narco-trafficking, illicit exploitation of mining deposits and natural resources, and also forced displacement which affect the region. This fact causes violence and murder rates to rise due to internal disputes for control and access of illegal drugs. The threats in this region come mainly from organized criminal structures that violate the human rights of the population living there. They act against community leaders, syndicates, politicians, farmers, indigenous people, land rights defenders, and Afro-Colombian communities (El Tiempo, 2020).
The case of Carlotta Salinas is not the only one that needs to be highlighted in the region. There are more cases like those of Fernando de Jesús Gaviria, who was the leader of the local community action board, and Omaira Alcatraz (La FM, 2020). Both were also from San Pablo, Bolivar. They were peace leaders, killed supposedly by illegal armed groups because they were defending farmers’ rights to live and make use of their lands. Social leaders and peacekeepers are being murdered for keeping up with their duties and their social work which is to bring peace to their communities and solve a long generational conflict that has taken thousands of lives and destroyed families. This conflict has negatively affected the region’s economy in terms of tourism, land use, and also by putting off international and private investment. It is clear that the region is balancing a difficult situation regarding illegal groups. There is a lot of tension and violence going on, which can cause confusion or even obstruction of justice. What is the government doing about this?
It was difficult to find information regarding Carlota’s case. Some sources considered it femicide, suggesting that the motive that led those who took her life had to do with a marital row, rather than her activism in Organización Popular Femenina (OPF), or her political views. But why so fast? What happened to the due investigation? The dismissive attitude that the Colombian government has shown toward this constant issue could be a first possible explanation. Without measuring the consequences his words could have, the former Minister of Defense Luis Carlos Villegas said in 2017 that the majority of the social leader’s assassinations had to do with illicit rent, property, and “líos de faldas” (or the fuss caused by romantic relationships or affairs). This dismissed the importance of these cases, and also denied the fact that they happen because of systematic violence and organized criminal groups. The current Minister of Defense made an affirmation that went even further than that. He accused protesters and activists of being financed by narcotrafficking. He cataloged these movements as the “real mafia”, and as a “supranational mafia” (Caracol Radio, 2018).
The easy acceptance of the femicide theory for Carlota’s case can also have a possible explanation in the fact that these cases are not unusual in Colombia and the pandemic that forced everyone to stay home only made violence towards women increase. Between January 1st and June 18th of this year (2020), there had been 99 femicide cases. The majority of these were committed by partners, ex-partners, neighbors, or fathers, many of them simply labelled as “crimes of passion.” The investigation processes have not yet been completed (El Tiempo, 2020). It is depressing that prevalent cases of femicides like these ones are offered as a more likely alternative to Carlota’s case, given that in Colombia it is a real possibility that a female social leader such as Carlota could be killed simply because of the valuable work she was doing.
It is important to pay more attention to cases like Carlota’s, because the killing of social leaders, particularly women, is a situation that we witness repeatedly in this country. For example, last year (2019) Maria del Pilar Hurtado was murdered in Tierra Alta (Córdoba), and a year after the crime was committed there is still no justice for her, or her young son who witnessed the terrible crime. Days after the murder, authorities were investigating whether the motive was the fact that she had been a social leader, but different hypotheses emerged, and to date, the crime remains unsolved and the perpetrators remain unpunished (El Espectador, 2020).
Karina García is another case (a more high-profile one) that showcases the dangers that female social leaders go through in Colombia. She was a candidate to the Suarez municipality in Cauca for the Liberal party (Partido Liberal). She was ambushed, shot at several times, and murdered on September 1st, 2019. Her body and those of her companions were incinerated afterward by the perpetrators (Noticias Caracol, 2019). This happened even when Karina had received direct threats against her integrity and her life. The government fell short and was not able to protect her life. She had been provided with security staff (only one of them survived after the ambush), but there were irregularities in the protocol that the murderers profited from to commit their crime. This shows us that social leaders are so vulnerable and are such targets for violence, that not even with government protection are they safe in some regions of Colombia. What is there to expect for other not so high-profile leaders?
In conclusion, being a social leader in Colombia transforms people into targets in the middle of the confusing violence surrounding the country. All the valuable contributions that these people bring to their communities and to the country regarding democracy, rule of law, and human rights should be more recognized and, especially, given gthe protection their work merits. Carlota Isabel Salinas is an example of an individual that had a lot to offer with her work and activism, and it is horrible to witness that this is precisely the most likely motive for her murder. It is sad to think that someone who is constantly worried about her community and the most vulnerable people in San Pablo (like women who suffered from abuse, and people affected by Covid-19) was killed. Violence against female social leaders like Carlota is a systemic problem in Colombia, and it should be addressed as such by the government. She is just one of the many cases that remain unsolved, so this repetitive situation has to change. Colombia’s government has to stop acting like these are isolated cases, or “crimes of passion”. The government and the news media have to urgently address the lack of information and the bias regarding the investigation process when a social leader is murdered. And as Colombian citizens, we cannot become used to this circle of violence where social leader’s lives are seen as mere numbers. Since the criminals who do this benefit from silence and fear, we have to keep investigating, signing petitions, creating awareness, and holding the government accountable for a change to happen.
*Article researched and written by Gabriela Alvarez, Maria Jose Nardey & Enrique Perez
References
Agencia Fee. (March 25th, 2017). Asesinan a la lideresa Carlota Salinas Pérez en Bolívar antes de la cuarentena. El Heraldo. Recovered from: https://www.elheraldo.co/judicial/asesinan-la-lideresa-carlota-salinas-perez-en-bolivar-antes-de-la-cuarentena-712263
Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos. (2019). Informe sobre la situación de personas defensoras de derechos humanos y líderes sociales en Colombia. Retrieved from http://www.oas.org/es/cidh/informes/pdfs/DefensoresColombia.pdf.
Caracol Radio. MinDefensa: Los grupos armados organizados financian la protesta social. Retrieved from https://caracol.com.co/radio/2018/09/14/nacional/1536884994_828575.html.
El Espectador. (2020). Después de un año del asesinato de María del Pilar Hurtado, poco o nada se conoce de su caso. Retrieved from https://www.elespectador.com/noticias/judicial/despues-de-un-ano-de-la-muerte-de-maria-del-pilar-hurtado-poco-o-nada-se-conoce-de-su-caso/
El Tiempo. (2020). En 2020 han sido asesinados 37 líderes sociales: Gobierno. Retrieved from https://www.eltiempo.com/politica/gobierno/cuantos-lideres-sociales-han-sido-asesinados-en-colombia-516050
La FM. (2020). Asesinan a dos nuevos líderes sociales de Bolívar. Retrieved from https://www.lafm.com.co/colombia/asesinan-dos-nuevos-lideres-sociales-de-bolivar
Lozano, W. L. (June 1st, 2017). La historia tras la ONG de mujeres más antigua en Colombia. El Tiempo. Recovered from: https://www.eltiempo.com/politica/proceso-de-paz/historia-de-la-organizacion-femenina-popular-en-barrancabermeja-92106
Noticias Caracol. (2019). ¿Quién era Karina García, la candidata a la Alcaldía de Suárez que fue víctima de una masacre? Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ug0fPua7n1U
Semana. (2020). Van 152 asesinatos en 2020 de líderes, defensores de DD.HH. y exmiembros de Farc. Retrieved from https://www.semana.com/nacion/articulo/asesinato-de-lideres-sociales-en-colombia-cifras-durante-cuarentena-covid-19/686859/
Torres, L.A. & Montoya, A.M. (2020). Pandemia del Feminicidio: 99 mujeres asesinadas en lo corrido del 2020. El Tiempo. Retrieved from https://www.eltiempo.com/bogota/pandemia-del-feminicidio-99-mujeres-asesinadas-en-lo-corrido-del-2020-509910
*Image retrieved from https://pares.com.co/2020/03/25/asesinato-de-lideres-la-otra-pandemia-nacional/
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