They found 290 people missing after the protests – Telam

Some 290 people who had been reported as “not located” after massive protests that began late last month in Colombia have been traced, official sources reported today.

“The teams made up of the two institutions (the public prosecutor and the mediator) found 290 people who had been reported as not located,” the public prosecutor said in a statement.

The report covers the period from April 28 to May 23 and also states that the Urgent Search Mechanism (MBU) is still active in relation to 129 requests from “non-located” people, reports the Sputnik news agency.

According to complaints from human rights organizations, more than 520 people have “disappeared”.

After taking note of the statement, the United Nations (UN) Office for Human Rights and the Missing Persons Search Unit (UBPD) issued a joint statement in which they reiterate << l importance of implementing all adequate and effective measures to prevent the disappearance of persons, including enforced disappearance ".

“In view of the current context, we recommend that the measures adopted so far be strengthened in order to consolidate a unified record of the deprivation of liberty, which contributes to the delimitation of the universe of persons whose disappearance is alleged”, they say. The UN and the UBPD.

On the other hand, the president Ivn Duque has appointed a new peace commissioner to replace Miguel Ceballos, who resigned over the weekend.

Juan Camilo Restrepo, a lawyer specializing in tax matters, adviser to the defense ministry and deputy agriculture minister, will now be responsible for “strengthening the search for peace” in Colombia, Duque wrote on Twitter.

Duque assured that his former peace delegate “will continue to support the executive in dialogue and negotiations with the National Strike Committee.

However, he did not give details on the role to be played in finding a deal that would deactivate popular discontent that started with a plan to raise taxes – already abandoned – leading to other popular demands to put an end to social inequalities and which revive the response of the public force in the streets.

The new presidential delegate for a possible rapprochement with armed groups, such as the National Liberation Army (ELN), the last recognized guerrilla in the country, “It was fundamental in the process of dialogue with the different social sectors in the search for agreements, solutions and consensus”, underlined Duque. quoted by local media and AFP news agency.

Ceballos was one of the officials who had been part of Duque’s squad from the start, but had to resign annoyed by peace talks with the ELN carried out behind his back by former president lvaro Uribe (2002-10 ), the most influential figure in the ruling party and historical reference of the hard right in Colombia.

In 2019, Duque broke off the negotiations that his predecessor, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Juan Manuel Santos, had with the ELN following a car bomb attack that was awarded by this group and in which 22 police cadets died, in addition to the attacker.

Ceballos left his post without having rebuilt the dialogue table with this organization in Cuba, site of the process that led in 2016 to the disarmament of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), then the most powerful guerrilla in America and now transformed. into a political party.

At least 50 people were killed in the protests, most at the hands of police, and nearly 600 were injured, at least 37 of whom were shot in the eyes. according to complaints from human rights organizations.

In addition, at least 1,430 people have been arbitrarily detained and sexual violence has been committed against 21 women.

Faced with such abuses, the United Nations (UN), the Organization of American States (OAS), the European Union, human rights organizations and Pope Francis himself have denounced the disproportionate use of force by the Colombian police before the international community.