Social Activist Temistocles Machado supervises some works at the Comuna 6 neighbourhood in Buenaventura, Colombia, just weeks before being murdered. Image: Elisabeth Otálvaro, vía Pasifista!. all rights reserved.
Before he was killed last Saturday January 27, the Colombian activist and community leader Temistocles Machado knew his life could be in danger. Machado was one of the most prominent leaders working to defend collective rights, including the right to land, in the city port of Buenaventura in the Colombian Pacific Coast—the country’s poorest region.
Last year, the people of Buenaventura and Quibdo held a strike to protest the government’s failure to provide funding for infrastructure, health, education, and other essential public services. An expert on these broken promises, Machado was among the leaders of the strike and was also known as a resource for information about land titles and public services.
