The social leader helped the UBPDD and the JEP advance in the forensic recovery of 46 unidentified bodies.
Willington Hernández, a social leader who helped identify victims of FARC violence, was assassinated in the Colombian department of Caquetá (south) after presiding over a meeting with the community, the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) reported on Wednesday .
The JEP, arising from the peace agreement signed in 2016 between the Colombian government and the extinct FARC guerrilla, recalled that Hernández, assassinated on Tuesday, was the president of the Community Action Board of the El Centro neighborhood of the Peneya Union, of the La Montañita municipality, Caquetá department.
The social leader contributed to the Search Unit for Disappeared Persons (UBPD) and the JEP to advance in the forensic work of recovering 46 unidentified bodies in the Union Peneya cemetery, which could correspond to missing persons and children recruited to the strength.
Hernández was also decisive for the victims of the armed conflict to approach the UBPD and the JEP in search of attention, the transitional justice recalled in the statement.
“During the last years, Willington Hernández has worked to make peacebuilding a reality in this region historically affected by the presence of armed actors and the precarious state presence,” the JEP stressed.
In addition, the murdered leader was also a key part of the community to help the return and reconstruction of life projects after the massive displacement to which the people of Unión Peneya were subjected in January 2004.
Although the perpetrators of his murder are not yet known, in the La Montañita area and other nearby municipalities there is a presence of a group of FARC dissidents.
The JEP condemned the murder and called on the corresponding institutions to investigate and punish those “responsible for this act that mourns not only the community of La Unión Peneya, but all of Colombia.”
According to data from the Institute for Peace Development Studies (Indepaz), with Hernández, 152 leaders and human rights defenders have been assassinated so far this year and 1,267 since the signing of the peace agreement. (I)
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