“The Afro Colombian National Peace Council CONPA calls upon the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), to make a statement about the assassination of Genaro Garcia”

On August 3, 2015…the Afro Colombian leader Gilmer Genaro Garcia Ramirez, Legal Representative of the Community Council of Alto Mira and Frontera, was assassinated. The incident occurred…in the rural district of Tumaco, and in the area of the Rescate las Varas Community Council. Genaro Garcia was a tireless defender of the collective rights of Black people and the rights of Afro Colombian victims of the conflict…The territory of this Community Council has been under pressure due to the construction by palm companies of a national highway between Ecuador-Colombia. It has also been affected on a number of occasions by oil spills, due to the bombing of pipelines and because of natural disasters, such as the overflowing of the Mira River…Additionally, this community council, as well as others in Tumaco and the Pacific, face pressures from the FARC, who even gave an order in Tumaco, to dissolve the Community Councils…