Military operations in Catatumbo lead to death of 8-year old girl

Justice For Colombia News | on: Friday, 20 June 2014

Tragedy in rural Colombia is common, but that does not make the grief any easier for the parents of Dariane Sepúlveda Díaz, an eight year old girl who died on Tuesday, 17 June, after being shot in the head.

The death came in the midst of a now almost two week military operation by the Colombian Airforce and Army which has been causing terror amongst the local civilian population in Hacari, a municipality of the Catatumbo region. Days before, two peasant farmers had to escape for their lives as an army helicopter opened fire on them from above.

Dariane had been playing in the area just outside the wooden house in which she lived. When her mother hed gunshots, she ran outside to see that her daughter had been hit. She rushed to take her to the local medical centre but it was too far. Dariane died in her mother’s arms.

Justice for Colombia continues to echo the calls of Colombian civil society for an immediate bilateral ceasefire to bring an end to the humanitarian crisis particularly affecting rural Colombia.