Colombia: Why Are So Many Environmental Activists Being Killed in Colombia?

Dec 28, 2021 | Victoria Seabrook, Sky News
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Since 2018 the number of massacres in Colombia has grown constantly, with 2020 recording the highest number since 2014, according to the United Nations. And it has become the deadliest place in the world for environmental defenders. Global Witness documented 65 killings in 2020, of which 17 were related to the crop substitution programme. Social leaders who promote the programme are "attacked by illegal armed groups that live off economic resources produced by drug trafficking and they aren't interested in the elimination of coca crops," says Diana Sánchez, director of Minga, a Colombian human rights organisation.