City officials in the northwestern Colombian region of Boyaca have reported that police are looking into an acid attack on human rights campaigner Lilia Patricia Cardozo.
Cardozo is the head of an organization for women’s rights called Plataforma Feminista Boyacense (Boyacense Feminist Platform). This group works to end domestic abuse, violence against women, and discrimination, and they do things like rescue victims from their attackers.
Someone threw chemical material at Cardozo while she was walking in a park. Cardozo is still being looked after by doctors because she was hurt on the left side of her face, the NGO’s representative wrote on Facebook.
Do you know that Lasse Wellander, who played guitar for ABBA for many years, dἰed after a brave battle with cancer? His family and friends wrote a sincere message on Facebook about their “indescribable sadness” over the news:
The chemical material that was thrown at Cardozo hurt 4% of her body, including her face and chest, according to the San Rafael de Tunja University Hospital.
Since 2022, deἀth threats have been made against Cardozo. Last September, the country’s National Protection Unit approved a safety plan to keep her safe.
But the Boyacense Feminist Platform says that the local government in Tunja left Cardozo vulnerable by turning on the safety procedures too slowly.
Alejandro Funeme, the mayor of Tunja, said that the policy was put into place late on February 14 due to a lack of money. Local police are looking into what happened and trying to find the attacker, who could be charged with kἰlling a woman.
Women and people who fight for human rights are especially at risk in Colombia. According to Colombia’s Attorney General’s Office, 614 women were kἰlled in 2022.
Human Rights Watch says that since 2016, more than 500 human rights workers have been kἰlled in the country. This makes it one of the most dangerous places in the world for people who fight for human rights.