[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 105 (Thursday, July 14, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H5023-H5025]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           COLOMBIA: DEMAND RESULTS ON LABOR AND HUMAN RIGHTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, 6 days ago, on Friday, July 1, armed men 
assassinated a candidate for the city council of Caldas, a town just 
outside of Medellin, Colombia. He was the ninth local candidate 
murdered over the last few months.
  Last Thursday, June 30, Luis Eduardo Gomez, a Colombian journalist 
and witness for a high profile investigation into links between 
Colombian politicians and paramilitary groups, was shot down and killed 
in northwestern Antioquia, an area I visited first in 2001. Gomez was 
70 years old. He was returning home at night with his wife when he was 
gunned down. He was murdered a few days after another witness in the 
case was killed. And investigators for the Attorney General have said 
several other witnesses have disappeared.
  Antonio Mendoza Morales was a councilman in the Caribbean town of San 
Onofre, Sucre. The 34-year-old Mendoza was also a leader of the 
Association of Displaced Persons of San Onofre and the Montes de Maria. 
He was also shot and killed last Thursday night. He is at least the 
11th land claims, victims' rights, or displaced persons leader to have 
been killed in Colombia so far this year.
  Displaced persons and victims' rights advocates in the Sucre region 
received a series of death threats during the month of June. We don't 
know yet whether Mendoza's killing is related to these threats. But I 
traveled to Sucre in 2003, and can attest to the daily violence 
suffered by local leaders and displaced persons and campesino 
organizations.
  On June 7, Anna Fabricia Cordoba, 51, a leader of the displaced and a 
land rights activist, was shot dead by an unidentified gunman while 
riding on a bus in Medellin. She had fled her home in northern 
Antioquia in 2001 after several of her family members were killed. She 
had been campaigning for the restitution of lands to Colombia's 
displaced, and was a member of Ruta Pacifica, the Peaceful Path, a 
women's organization calling for a negotiated end to the war. In 2008, 
Ruta Pacifica testified before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission 
about Colombia's internally displaced. Cordoba, an Afro-Colombian, had 
been receiving death threats for months. She had asked the Colombian 
Government for protection, but had not received any. Her children have 
received death threats following their mother's death.
  The Inter-American Commission for Human Rights condemned Cordoba's 
murder and expressed alarm over the increase in serious threats against 
Colombian human rights defenders. The situation is getting worse. Every 
day I receive news about threats, murders, and disappearances of 
Colombian labor and human rights activists and community leaders.
  Mr. Speaker, I recite this sad litany of recent murders to impress 
upon my colleagues that these are real people, real leaders, being 
murdered every single day in Colombia. Will their murderers be brought 
to justice or will their deaths be just one more case that remains in 
impunity? Will the government's promises to their families to seek 
justice be fulfilled? Will other threatened leaders and their families 
receive real protection? I hope so, but we simply don't know yet. 
Promises are easy. Results take time, commitment, and political will to 
achieve.
  This morning, some of my colleagues will describe the dangers facing 
Colombia's labor activists. Colombia still remains the most dangerous 
place in the world to be a unionist. But violence against Colombia's 
workers happens in the context of a very threatening landscape for 
anyone who has the courage to organize their communities, run for 
public office, or stand up for the rights of the poor, the displaced, 
and the victims of human rights abuse. The source of violence are all 
the illegal armed actors, the FARC, the ELN, the paramilitaries, and 
criminal networks known as BACRIM. And also, sadly, it includes members 
and units of the Colombian military and police.
  Before any trade agreement is brought to the Congress for a vote, we 
owe it to the brave people of Colombia

[[Page H5024]]

to give the Santos administration time to demonstrate that it can carry 
out the historic reforms that it has announced as its priorities. We 
need time to see if the initial steps required by the U.S.-Colombia 
Labor Action Plan actually result in changes on the ground inside 
Colombia. Will workers be able to exercise their rights, organize 
freely, and bargain directly with their employers without the fear of 
death? And we need time to determine whether violence against rights 
defenders and community leaders is actually reduced under the 
leadership of President Santos, and whether greater protections are 
provided and prove to be effective.
  We need to see, and we should demand to see, results on the ground 
before Congress takes up the free trade agreement. Let's use whatever 
leverage the U.S. has in Colombia to help end a culture of impunity and 
violence that by any standard is intolerable. I cannot approve an FTA 
on the basis of good intentions. It must be based on results.
  Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, let me just say trade agreements should 
be about lifting people up, not keeping them down.

    11 Colombian Land Rights, Victims' Rights and Displaced Leaders 
                       Murdered in 2011 (6/30/11)

       February 4
       Ana M. Hernandez. Assassinated with her 10 year old son. 
     Community Board member of El Cupadero en Frontino 
     (Antioquia). She was killed in front of her 3 children.
       March 6
       Zoraida Acevedo. Leader of Familias en Accion en Tibu 
     (Norte de Santander). She was shot in front of her husband 
     and her four children.
       March 19
       Hernan Pinto, victims' rights leader in Cundinamarca, he 
     was murdered brutally, clubbed and stoned to death. Sources 
     say the perpetrators were the FARC.
       March 22
       Bernardo Rios Londono, 27, member of the San Jose de 
     Apartado Peace Community, in the Uraba region of northwestern 
     Antioquia.
       March 23
       David Goez and Ever Verbel. Goez was assassinated near a 
     commercial center in Medellin. Verbel was killed in San 
     Onofre (Sucre).
       April 7
       Andres Alvarez Orozco. Campesino leader of Antioquia who 
     had denounced irregular actions by the Public Forces (police) 
     in this region.
       April 15
       Hugo Ulcue. Assassinated when leaving an event in Cauca. He 
     was an indigenous leader who had called for reparations for 
     the massacre of the Naya people.
       April 27
       Martha Gaibao. Leader on land rights and restitution for 
     six communities in Southern Cordoba. She was assassinated as 
     she arrived at her home.
       June 7
       Ana Fabricia Cordoba Cabral, 51, member of Ruta Pacifica de 
     Mujeres and founder of the Association of Leaders Moving 
     Forward for a Human Fabric of Peace/LATEPAZ. Murdered by 
     gunman on motorcycle while she was riding on a bus in 
     Medellin.
       June 30
       Antonio Medoza Morales, councilman in San Onofre (Sucre) 
     and leader of the Association of Displaced Persons of San 
     Onofre and the Montes de Maria. Shot and killed at a billiard 
     hall near his home.
       Sources: El Tiempo (Bogota, Colombia) 6/8/11; 6/20/11; and 
     7/1/11.
                                  ____


 [From the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Organization of 
                    American States, June 20, 2011]

 IACHR Condemns Murder of Human Rights Activist and Expresses Concern 
         Over New Threats to Human Rights Defenders in Colombia

       Washington, DC.--The Inter-American Commission on Human 
     Rights (IACHR) condemns the murder in Colombia of Ana 
     Fabricia Cordoba Cabrera, an Afro-descendant community leader 
     who worked with displaced persons seeking the restitution of 
     lands in the Uraba region. The Commission also expresses its 
     deep concern over a new death threat targeting human rights 
     defenders and organizations.
       According to the information the IACHR has received, Ana 
     Fabricia Cordoba was a member of the organization Ruta 
     Pacifica de las Mujeres (Women's Peaceful Path) and a founder 
     of the Asociacion Lideres Hacia delante por un Tejido Humano 
     de Paz (Association of Leaders Moving Forward for a Human 
     Fabric of Peace, LATEPAZ), whose mission is to support 
     victims of forced displacement. Ana Fabricia Cordoba Cabrera 
     had allegedly reported a number of cases in which rights of 
     displaced persons had been violated by paramilitaries in the 
     Medellin neighborhoods of La Cruz and La Honda. The 
     information indicates that on June 7, a man shot the 
     community leader with a firearm while she was traveling on a 
     bus on her way to Santa Cruz. The IACHR is deeply concerned 
     that Colombian government authorities have admitted publicly 
     that the murder of Ana Fabricia Cordoba could have been 
     averted, since the Ministry of the Interior's Protection 
     Program had reportedly known about threats against the 
     community leader since May 9 but had failed to implement 
     protection measures in a timely manner.
       According to the information available, days before the 
     murder, dozens of organizations that work to defend the 
     rights of the displaced population--including Ruta Pacifica 
     de las Mujeres, to which the human rights defender belonged--
     received a death threat dated June 2. It was signed by the 
     armed group ``Rastrojos'' and targeted those who had played 
     an active role in the framework of Colombia's Victims and 
     Land Restitution Law, passed on Friday, June 10. The 
     organizations targeted by the threat include CREAR, Arco 
     Iris, Fundacion Social, Sisma Mujer, Red de Empoderamiento, 
     Colectivo de Abogados Jose Alvear Restrepo, FUNDEPAZ, Casa 
     Mujer, Ruta Pacifica de las Mujeres, FUNDHEFEM, CODHES, 
     FUNDEMUD, MOVICE, UNIPA, and Fundacion Nuevo Amanecer. The 
     threat also mentioned several individuals by name, including 
     Viviana Ortiz, Angelica Bello, Ruby Castano, Maria Eugenia 
     Cruz, Piedad Cordoba, Lorena Guerra, and Ivan Cepeda. Members 
     of several of the aforementioned organizations as well as 
     several of those named individually in the threat are 
     beneficiaries of precautionary measures granted by the IACHR. 
     The Commission also observes with concern that the document 
     signed by ``the Rastrojos'' threatens the United Nations 
     Development Programme (UNDP) and the Office of the United 
     Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
       The Commission reiterates that one of the first steps to 
     effectively protect human rights defenders is to publicly 
     recognize the legitimacy of their work and to take steps to 
     protect them from the moment the public authorities learn 
     that they have received threats due to their work. The 
     Commission brings to mind that in many cases, such as with 
     Ana Fabricia Cordoba, the death of human rights defenders is 
     preceded by threats that were reported to the authorities.
       The Commission urges the State to guarantee the right to 
     life, integrity, and security of Ana Fabricia Cordoba's 
     family members, investigate what occurred, and punish those 
     responsible for her murder. The Commission also urges the 
     State of Colombia to immediately and urgently adopt any 
     necessary measures to guarantee the right to life, integrity, 
     and security of human rights defenders, especially the 
     organizations and individuals who have been threatened. The 
     State should carry out a comprehensive and systematic 
     investigation of the threat with respect to all the 
     organizations and individuals named therein.
       The Commission reiterates that the work of human rights 
     defenders is critical to building a solid, lasting democratic 
     society and to fully attaining the rule of law. In this 
     regard, acts of violence and other attacks against human 
     rights defenders impinge on the essential role they play in 
     society and contribute to the vulnerability of those whose 
     rights they are working to defend.
       A principal, autonomous body of the Organization of 
     American States (OAS), the IACHR derives its mandate from the 
     OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The 
     Inter-American Commission has a mandate to promote respect 
     for human rights in the region and acts as a consultative 
     body to the OAS in this matter. The Commission is composed of 
     seven independent members who are elected in a personal 
     capacity by the OAS General Assembly and who do not represent 
     their countries of origin or residence.
                                  ____


       [From the Committee to Protect Journalists, July 5, 2011]

            Provincial journalist Shot to Death in Colombia

       New York.--Luis Eduardo Gomez, a Colombian freelance 
     journalist who was a witness for an investigation into links 
     between politicians and paramilitary groups, was shot and 
     killed on Thursday in the town of Arboletes, in the 
     northwestern province of Antioquia, according to news 
     reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists called on 
     Colombian authorities today to thoroughly investigate his 
     murder and bring those responsible to justice.
       Gomez, 70, was returning home at night with his wife when 
     he was gunned down by unidentified assailants who fled the 
     scene on a motorcycle, according to local press reports. 
     Gomez had reported on local corruption and links among 
     politicians and illegal right-wing paramilitary groups in the 
     Uraba region of Antioquia, the Colombian press freedom group 
     Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP) said. Most recently, he 
     had written about tourism and the environment for the 
     newspapers El Heraldo de Uraba and Uraba al dia, among 
     others, the Colombian press said.
       According to the newspaper El Colombiano, the journalist 
     had not received any threats prior to his death.
       Gomez was participating as a witness in the attorney 
     general's investigation of links between politicians and 
     right-wing paramilitary groups, a scandal known as 
     ``parapolitics.'' Another witness in the case was killed a 
     few days before the journalist's death, and investigators 
     said other witnesses have disappeared, according to press 
     reports. Gomez was also investigating the unsolved murder of 
     his son, who was also his professional collaborator, and was 
     killed two years ago, the daily El Espectador said.

[[Page H5025]]

       ``We urge Colombian authorities to fully investigate the 
     murder of freelance reporter Luis Eduardo Gomez, establish 
     whether he was killed for his work, and bring those 
     responsible to justice,'' said Carlos Lauria, CPJ's senior 
     program coordinator for the Americas. ``Colombia has made 
     progress recently in its fight against impunity in journalist 
     murders. It must not allow this new killing to set its 
     progress back.''
       The parapolitics scandal broke in late 2006, after the 
     weekly newsmagazine Semana published a series of 
     investigative pieces that forced Colombian authorities to 
     examine the alleged associations. Dozens of former and 
     current members of Congress have been detained or 
     investigated since 2007, the press said.
       The Uraba region of Antioquia province has been marked by 
     violence for some time and was controlled for many years 
     (until 2006) by the paramilitary group the United Self-
     Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), press reports said. 
     Colombian provincial journalists, working in areas where 
     paramilitaries and other illegal armed groups are prevalent, 
     face challenges in trying to report on the organizations' 
     activities, CPJ research shows.
       With 43 journalists killed for their work since 1992, 
     Colombia has historically been one of the most dangerous 
     places in the world for journalists, CPJ research shows. 
     However, CPJ's Impunity Index has showed that over the past 
     four years the country is improving its record, as anti-press 
     violence has slowed and authorities have had some success in 
     prosecuting journalist murders.

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