Colombia’s ‘social cleansing’ phenomenon: Exterminating people like bugs
Source: Colombia Reports
Colombia’s ‘social cleansing’ phenomenon: Exterminating people like bugs
written by Thomas Graham April 21, 2016
Legal authorities continue to turn a blind eye to so-called “social cleansing” practices that kill hundreds of “undesirables” in Colombia’s urban areas every year.
Social cleansing killings have a long, bloody history in Colombia’s major cities. For the most part they remain unsolved, yet to human rights monitors they are part of a vicious crusade against society’s “disposables,” targeting vagrants, criminals, prostitutes, drug addicts, homosexuals and anyone deemed undesirable.
A new study from the National Center for Historical Memory and the National University indicates that social cleansing between 1988 and the first half of 2013 has left 4,928 bodies in its wake. However, state agencies do not report the same findings.
Human rights groups assert that these killings are carried our by vigilante groups who often attack in cycles, during which they target specific groups of people. Sometimes pamphlets are distributed beforehand, imposing curfews and making explicit threats. The marked bodies of their victims are often left to serve as deterrents.
Read more: http://colombiareports.com/social-extermination-undesirables-colombia/
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