A mayoral candidate for a municipality in Colombia’s southern Cauca department was shot and killed in his home on Wednesay night.
Liberal Party candidate Ilvio Gentil Gomez, who had served on the local government council between 1998 and 2001, was murdered in his residence in the Vereda la Esperanza zone of Cauca’s Patia municipality.
According to witness testimony, a hooded man entered Gentil Gomez’s home while he was resting and, without speaking, shot the candidate multiple times, killing him, reported RCN Radio.
The Electoral Observation Mission (MOE), a Colombian NGO that monitors irregularities in the electoral process, reported that 14 candidates for local offices have been murdered so far this year, while another six have survived assassination attempts.
UPDATE (3:30PM)
Cauca Government Secretary Alvaro Grijalba said that FARC guerrillas were likely responsible for the crime, given that the candidate had apparently received threats from the guerrillas, and that the assassination five weeks earlier of a town council candidate in the same department was also attributed to the FARC, reported newspaper El Especador.
