Eight Local Candidates Murdered So Far in Colombia

•According to eltiempo.com , four candidates for mayor’s offices and four council candidates have been murdered.
•Groups such as FARC have been behind these murders as well as threats and several failed attempts to dissuade people from running for or continuing public office.
•The police received 2,892 requests for protection and assigned 227 individual security plans.
•The Police have been developing a “Plan Padrino” (godfather plan) in which the candidates will maintain contact with an office according to the director of Protection and Special Services of the police, general Nicolás Ramsés Muñoz.
•The most affected areas are Caquetá, Chocó, Guaviare, and Valle.
•Analyst León Valencia predicts that these violent groups will be vying for power because of the reparation to victims of these same groups which will be handled by mayors and the local governments.
•In the first phase of voter’s registration there have been 994,319 registrants with Meta, Antioquia, and Casanare as the areas with the largest numbers of registrations. Read Article