A targeted killing in Cauca, Colombia

December 17, 2008

A targeted killing in Cauca, Colombia

Yesterday at four in the morning, Edwin Legarda Vázquez was killed by the Colombian Army. He was driving a vehicle that belongs to the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca (CRIC), in which his partner, Aida Quilcué often traveled in.

Aida Quilcué is the maximum leader of the CRIC, and gained national and international notoriety for her powerful words and actions during the Indigenous and popular movement, part of the Minga, which mobilized thousands of people throughout Colombia this fall.

The Minister of Defense has admitted that soldiers killed Legarda. They shot 17 bullets into the car. There is no doubt among Indigenous organizations here that the killing was politically motivated.

Senator Alexander Lopez denounced the killing as a state crime.

Mario Murillo has done an excellent job documenting yesterday's events, as well as putting them in historical context, since December 16th is also the anniversary of the massacre at El Nilo.