Four people on official mission to recover land stolen from peasants have been murdered in the Meta region of central Colombia, Colombian President Ivan Duque announced on Twitter on Friday.
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These four people, including an official from the public entity created to return land to peasants dispossessed during the armed conflict in Colombia, had disappeared since May 27 in the municipality of Mesetas, said a statement from this entity, the Land restitution unit.
Karen Garay, cartographer belonging to this unit, had disappeared with her driver and two sisters belonging to the family demanding this restitution.
Their father was assassinated in 1996 by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and their property confiscated.
No leads on the identity of the aggressors emerged from the first elements of the investigation, but several rebel groups, having refused the peace agreement signed in 2016 between the government and the FARC, are still active in this region.
Seven FARC dissidents were killed on Friday in the north of the country during clashes with ELN guerrillas, the National Liberation Army, not a party to the 2016 agreement.
The Land Restitution Unit was created in 2011 by then President Juan Manuel Santos to return their land to peasants or indigenous groups looted during the armed conflict that ravaged the country for years.
President Duque on Friday promised to continue this restitution mission, and assured that everything would be done to find the perpetrators of this assassination.