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Wilton Orrego
After many years of armed violence in the Colombian State, illegal armed groups (IAGs) have noticed that massacres and slaughter are very effective ways to silence minorities. As a result, we find the phenomenon of killing social leaders: instead of killing an entire group, these IAGs only deal with its leader in order to send a threatening message. The effect, although sometimes resulting in an increased sense of motivation to fight the IAGs, often ends up being the abandonment of minorities’ demands for rights. While minority groups in Colombia have long suffered a suppression of their rights, the long running civil conflict and presence of the FARC guerrilla group tended to distract from such issues. However, it is pertinent to say that the murders of social leaders became a real public issue after the signing of the agreement with the FARC-EP. One of the most notable cases from a vast list of murders is the that of park ranger Wilton Orrego. Firstly, this text will show the life and death of this man; his job, his workplace, and the role he played in the increase of attention from the media towards the situation of social leaders. Then, the case of Mr. Orrego will be compared to other cases in order to find similarities. Finally, the article will outline the circumstances that make all this illegal activity possible in Colombian territory.
Wilton Fauder Orrego León was a 38 year old park ranger who was killed on Monday, January 14th 2019. Wilton had been working for three years as a contractor for the Natural Parks Unit, attached to Parque Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, carrying out surveillance work in the La Lengüeta sector, a rural area on the coast near Santa Marta. Not only had Wilton never received threats against his life, but he also had a great performance in his work as Park Ranger in Natural National Parks. Therefore, the authorities’ investigation did not find a direct relation between his murder and his profession. However, some other facts need to be taken into account; like the recent removals that the park rangers had carried out against illegal occupations in this area. Another important point is related to his wife Saida García, who has exercised a labor as a social leader and participated in several projects within the area.
Secondly, the murder of Wilton Orrego follows certain patterns that can be seen in other social leaders cases. For example, according to RCN, the assassination of Ricardo Silva’s son, in their farmhouse, by an unspecified illegal group, who had actually targeted his father. The relationship between these murders is that the victims weren’t social leaders, but their relatives were. Also, the authorities couldn’t find any precise information about the killings, so they linked it to the relationships between the social leaders and the victims.
The next step is to explain the circumstances of the Colombian context that could be considered potential causes of these violent deaths, taking into account the factors and patterns of the park ranger’s murder. According to a report named Patterns of Violence, many social leaders have not been attacked directly; nevertheless, their relatives and friends have been victims of personal attacks. The statistics provided by the report show that, in most of the cases, the aggressor does not belong to any identified criminal group, but nearly all of the cases occur in contexts where illegal armed groups are present.
Wilton Orrego, who was buried in the Sierra Nevada, had been involved in reporting illegal settlements on land which the National Parks entity claims for the purpose of conservation. These lands had become a home for some settlers, who had been living there for more than 20 years. The site is key not only for its natural exuberance, being a refuge for biodiversity and a major tourist attraction, but it is also a strategic corridor that allows illegal groups to move tonnes of narcotics and weapons thanks to the natural ports of deep waters, and to the main Caribbean road link that crosses by the zone, assuring the terrestrial connection with Barranquilla, Cartagena, the rest of the coast, as well as the interior of the country. National Natural Parks of Colombia calls for the continuity of adequate investigations to clarify this terrible situation; the death of a leader who was meant to ensure the conservation of biodiversity in northern Colombia.
The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is one of the zones in Colombia with a degree of State absence. The will of the governments since the formation of the state, has always been to focus the investment, development, infrastructure and security in the urban centers. As a consequence, the peripheral zones are always at risk of the presence of illegal groups that take advantage of the absence of effective rule of law. As was already said in the text, the zone is a strategic point for narcotrafficking thanks to the rivers that cross this land. In a report made by the magazine SEMANA, it is written: “The impregnable mountain that rises a short distance serves as a hiding place and rearguard for criminal organizations that profit from this traffic, the Pachencas and the Rojas, heirs of the paramilitary groups of Hernán Giraldo and Adam Rojas, respectively.” This is a common feature of rural areas where social leaders get murdered: very little governmental institutionality and a considerable presence of illegal armed groups, as well as cartels.
To summarise this article, it is important to mention once again that most social leaders are murdered protecting the rights of vulnerable communities, or the land where minority and marginalized groups live. There are similarities in all the cases, mainly the fact that even their relatives result negatively affected. Even though one can say there was once peace in the area of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, today it has become a disputed zone for territorial control between the armed groups mentioned, the Clan del Gólfo, the ELN, the Pachencas, and The Rojas. And in the middle of such conflict, social leaders who want to defend the rights of its people are in grave danger.
*Article written by Laura Ayala, Yoel Jepes and Ezequiel Saurith
Sources:
Comunidad y familiares piden justicia por crimen de Wilton Orrego
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