Emilsen Manyoma

Emilsen Manyoma (1984 or 1985 - 2017) was a human rights activist from Colombia.[1] Manyoma was of Afro-Colombian descent. She worked for the "Communities Building Peace in Territories" or CONPAZ network in the Bajo Calima region of the country in Valle del Cauca.[2] Manyoma had been an outspoken critic of right-wing paramilitaries and mining and agricultural corporations.[2] Manyoma's work involved the rights of people displaced by drug trafficking.[3] She had also been working for the Colombian Truth Commission, documenting murder and disappearances.[1] She was assassinated in January 2017, along with Joe Javier Rodallega, her partner.[1] Emilsen also worked with Humanitarian Space Puente Nayero which began in April 2014 trying to create a space free from armed groups. [4]

Assassination

Rodallega's mother told El País that Manyoma and Rodallega had been at home in their pajamas watching a movie with their son on the night of 14 January 2017 when they boarded a taxi, never to be seen again.[5] Their bodies were found three days later in a rural zone of Buenaventura, the city where they lived, in a state of decomposition with stab wounds and gunshot wounds.[6] Both of their throats had been slit, and Rodallega's hands were bound.[6] In the days following her assassination, the FARC issued a statement blaming Manyoma's brother Marco Antonio Manyoma Ocampo, alias Camilo Robledo, for her murder.[7] According to the statement, Robledo had deserted from the FARC with money and weapons and returned to Buenaventura where he killed his sister and her partner.[7][8] In February 2017, Colombian authorities arrested taxi driver Julio César Valencia Moreno for supposedly participating in the murder, [9] and they arrested Manyoma's brother Marco Antonio Manyoma Ocampo a week later.[10] On 13 February, 2017, a man whose name was not revealed was also arrested and sent to prison for the same case.[11]

Her work against the interests of businesses and paramilitaries were described as the reasons for the murder:[1] Her murder was part of a series of killings of political activists in the country that occurred during the presidency of Juan Manuel Santos: at least 534 activists were killed between 2011 and 2016.[2]

References
  1. "Em 2017, três dirigentes sociais já foram assassinados na Colômbia". Vermelho. January 18, 2017. Retrieved 2017-01-27.
  2. Kelleher, Richard (2017-01-18). "Husband and wife brutally murdered as attacks on Colombia's community leaders continue". Colombia Reports. Retrieved 2017-01-27.
  3. "Emilsen Manyoma defensora asesinada Buenaventura". Elespectador.Com. Retrieved 2017-01-27.
  4. About Emilsen Manyoma
  5. "Hallan a pareja de esposos degollados en Buenaventura" (in Spanish). El País. 17 January 2017. Retrieved 2018-05-20.
  6. "Emilsen Manyoma Killed". Front Line Defenders. Retrieved 2018-05-20.
  7. "Disidente de Farc habría asesinado a líder social" (in Spanish). El Tiempo. 20 January 2017. Retrieved 2018-05-20.
  8. Estado Mayor Bloque Occidental Comandante Alfonso Cano de las FARC-EP (18 January 2017). "Comunicado A La Opinión Pública: Las FARC-EP Se Solidarizan Con Familia De La Señora Emilsen Manyoma" (in Spanish). FARC. Retrieved 2018-05-20.
  9. "Detenido taxista por crimen de lideresa en Buenaventura" (in Spanish). El Tiempo. 4 February 2017. Retrieved 2018-05-20.
  10. "Segunda captura por el homicidio de lideresa y de su esposo" (in Spanish). El Tiempo. 12 February 2017. Retrieved 2018-05-20.
  11. EMILSEN MANYOMA † 01.16.2017

See also
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