Afro-Colombian communities face difficulties in exercising their right to vote in the second round of presidential elections taking place this Sunday in Colombia, where candidates Gustavo Petro and Rodolfo Hernandez are competing for the office of president.
From San Juan Nepomuceno in Montes de María, Manuel Ortiz and Duván Caro, reporters who are part of a group of journalists covering the second round of elections in Colombia, sponsored by the organization Global Exchange in collaboration with Peninsula 360 Press, highlighted that the obstacles for the mostly black communities have not stopped in the Colombian Caribbean.
"Yesterday we toured some of the communities of Montes de Maria, mostly Afro-Colombian peasant communities and we found some obstacles that people will have today to vote," said Duvan.
From there, he said, they were able to see that there are many Afro-farming and ethnic communities that have to overcome difficulties this Sunday to exercise their right to vote freely.
One of these obstacles, he explained, is the armed presence of illegal actors outside the law, precisely the same that approximately one month ago led or decreed an armed strike in the area.
Meanwhile, other communities in the Magdalena River area state that they are having difficulty voting due to the floods that are currently affecting the communities.
Thus, these reporters have taken on the task of initiating a tour of the area to verify and accompany these communities to exercise their right to vote.
This community, they said, was one of those that was confined during the recent armed strike.
"San Juan Nepomuceno is one of the municipalities that was affected by the confinement decreed by this illegal armed actor known as "Las Sauces or Clan del Golfo", a region that experienced approximately one week of complete silence and abandonment by the government institutions".
It should be noted that the mayor of said municipality was provisionally replaced by the Colombian National Electoral Council, barely 15 days ago, for improper participation in politics.
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