A hip-hop artist who works with youth cultural programs in the violence-torn Medellín district of Comuna 13 [2] 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 [3], according to the Medellín anti-militarist group Red Juvenil (Youth Network). The group states that hundreds of youth have been assassinated this year in Medellín's popular barrios. (Red Juvenil [4], Aug. 28)
In related news, some 180 people displaced by violence in Medellín 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, Medellín, via Red Juvenil [5], Sept. 1)
See our last posts on Colombia [6] and citizen peace initiatives [7].
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