Maria
del Carmen Moreno Paez, 45, was last seen alive – bound hand and
foot – in a video which went viral across social media.
After
five days of searching, police in Colombia have found the body of
45-year-old social leader Maria del Carmen Moreno Paez in Arauca,
authorities confirmed Wednesday. Her death was confirmed by Municipal
Government Secretary of Arauquita Nelson Perez, who said: "The
body was found half-buried in a farm next to her property."
A mother
of five and president of the local action board, Moreno's murder is
being mourned by many in her native Arauquita Indigenous community.
She was actively involved in a number of environmental development
programs.
"This
situation is very distressing to the community and the municipal
government, so they asked the authorities to advance investigations
to establish those responsible for this crime and be punished to the
extent of the law," Mayor Renson Martinez Prada said.
After
raiding the family farm, a group of men kidnapped Moreno early Friday
morning. She was last seen alive, bound hand and foot in a video
which went viral across social media.
Her
captors claimed to be members of a paramilitary offensive, the United
Self-Defense Group, and demanded a ransom of US$35,000 be paid within
24 hours in order for her safe return. Investigators contradicted the
kidnappers' claim, stating they were most likely part of a common
criminal group because there is no paramilitary presence in the
Arauca department.
Social
leaders marched alongside community residents to demand her release.
Mayor Martinez Prada even offered a reward for anyone who could
provide information regarding Moreno's whereabouts.
"We
categorically reject this vile murder that the heart of the Arauquita
people mourn today, those who pleaded for this woman's freedom,"
the mayor said in a statement.
Following
Moreno's death, District Governor Ricardo Alvarado Bastene called an
extraordinary security council to address the wave of kidnappings
which have occurred across eastern Colombia.
Almost
500 social leaders called on the Inter-American Commission for Human
Rights, requesting the organization introduce precautionary measures
to safeguard the lives of Colombia's human rights defenders,
"especially in areas most affected by armed conflict."
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