By Natalia Rueda 
The deaths of foreigners continue to hit the city of Medellin, Colombia. A Mexican national was killed in an attack led by hired killers on Sunday, June 30. Horacio Perez Ledezma, 54, was in a Mexican restaurant in the popular “El Poblado” area when two men on a motorcycle opened fire on him without warning. This senseless act of violence has once again drawn attention to the problem of security for foreigners in Colombia.
The motives for the attack are still unclear, but it is clear that it was not a case of robbery because the killers did not take any of Ledezma’s belongings. The authorities quickly activated the police operation “Candado” and managed to capture three suspects, among them a Venezuelan who was driving another motorcycle near the crime scene and two other Colombians, all of them implicated in the murder.
Alarming number of foreigners killed in Medellin
This spate of foreign deaths in Medellin has threatened its reputation as one of Latin America’s most attractive tourist destinations. So far in 2024 alone, 31 foreign tourists have been found dead in suspicious circumstances that have generated growing concern among the international community.
According to official reports, the victims have been of various nationalities, including citizens of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Chile. The modes of operation vary from assaults that end in homicides, drugs, to deaths in circumstances that have not yet been clarified. Impunity and the lack of significant progress in the investigations have sparked both local and international criticism.