At
7.30pm on Thursday 1st April trade union defence lawyer Carlos Bernal Ramirez
and his bodyguard Camilo Jimenez were both assassinated in the Prado Norte
neighbourhood of the Colombian city of Cucuta in Norte de Santander department.
According to the Permanent Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CPDH)
they were killed by paramilitaries operating with the acquiescence of the
Colombian army.
Carlos
Bernal Ramirez was also the leader of the Social and Political Front opposition
coalition in the region and the President of the CPDH in Cucuta. He had
previously been the peace advisor to the Governor of Norte de Santander and to
the mayor of Cucuta.
The
CPDH, one of Colombia’s most important human rights NGOs, which celebrated its
25th anniversary last week, has blamed the government of President Alvaro Uribe
Velez for both killings.
Please
send messages of protest to:
Alvaro
Uribe Velez, President of the Republic of Colombia, Palacio de Narino, Carrera
8 No. 7-26, Bogotá, Colombia
auribe@presidencia.gov.co
and
General
Carlos Alberto Ospina, Commander of the Colombian Armed Forces, Ministerio de
Defensa Nacional, Avenida El Dorado con Carrera 52, Bogotá, Colombia
comunicacion@mindefensa.gov.co
For
more information please see www.justiceforcolombia.org
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