Colombia: hip-hop artist assassinated

A hip-hop artist who works with youth cultural programs in the violence-torn MedellĂ­n district of Comuna 13 was killed Aug. 25 by gunmen on a motorbike in the city’s barrio of Eduardo Santos. Identified only as “Colacho,” the youth rapped with the group C15, according to the MedellĂ­n anti-militarist group Red Juvenil (Youth Network). The group states that hundreds of youth have been assassinated this year in MedellĂ­n’s popular barrios. (Red Juvenil, Aug. 28)

In related news, some 180 people displaced by violence in MedellĂ­n and surrounding areas began a protest occupation of the city’s Metropolitan Basilica Aug. 31, with some 350 more camping in bivouacs around the basilica. They are demanding aid from Colombia’s Social Action Agency, created to assist victims of the country’s internal violence. (IPC press agency, MedellĂ­n, via Red Juvenil, Sept. 1)

See our last posts on Colombia and citizen peace initiatives.

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