Colombia-Paramilitaries Are Killing Afro-Colombians

People shout slogans in support of the peace agreement prior the signing of the peace agreement between Colombia’s government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, in Cartagena, Colombia, Monday, Sept. 26, 2016. Colombia’s government and the FARC will sign a peace agreement to end over 50 years of conflict. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
People shout slogans in support of the peace agreement prior the signing of the peace agreement between Colombia’s government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, in Cartagena, Colombia, Monday, Sept. 26, 2016. Colombia's government and the FARC will sign a peace agreement to end over 50 years of conflict. Fernando Vergara/AP
People shout slogans in support of the peace agreement prior the signing of the peace agreement between Colombia’s government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, in Cartagena, Colombia, Monday, Sept. 26, 2016. Colombia’s government and the FARC will sign a peace agreement to end over 50 years of conflict. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
People shout slogans in support of the peace agreement prior the signing of the peace agreement between Colombia’s government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, in Cartagena, Colombia, Monday, Sept. 26, 2016. Colombia's government and the FARC will sign a peace agreement to end over 50 years of conflict. Fernando Vergara/AP

Colombia-Paramilitaries Are Killing Afro-Colombians

WBEZ brings you fact-based news and information. Sign up for our newsletters to stay up to date on the stories that matter.

As Colombia’s government and Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels implement a historic peace deal that ended over 50 years of civil war, the country’s Afro-Colombian population still suffers. Human rights observers and media reports detail ongoing murders and forced displacement by armed groups, including the Gaitanista Self-Defenses of Colombia (AGC).

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos attends a ceremony where he received the St. Francis Lamp peace prize in Assisi's Basilica, Italy, Saturday Dec. 17, 2016. Santos picked up a 2016 Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo for his role in the peace agreement with FARC-EP that led to the end of a civil war in Colombia (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

In early January 2017, AGC fighters killed human rights defenders Juan De la Cruz and his son, Moisés Mosquera Moreno. We talk about the murders and continued violent repression of Colombia’s of Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities with Gimena Sánchez, senior associate at the Washington Office on Latin America.