On July 25 the ONIC reported that social leader and teacher Odà lmer de Jesà ºs Gutie'rrez of the Embera Chamà community in Bolà var, Valle del Cauca, received a death threat in the form of a letter delivered to his home. The death threat orders him to leave the municipality within eight day or be murdered. Traditional indigenous protection measures are in place while the leader awaits a decision on his threat level as determined by the UNP, which could decide to grant him further protection.
Naya Massacre Survivor and Indigenous Leader Threatened (Cauca)
On July 7, the ONIC reported that indigenous leader Enrique Fernandez Dagua received multiple death threats which accused him of being a guerilla member and a communist. On February 19, a mail bomb was delivered to his door step before being carefully diffused by the local authorities. Enrique is also a survivor of the 2001 Naya Massacres committed the AUC paramilitaries.
WOLA Human Rights Prize Recipient Followed in Bogota' (Bolivar)
On August 14, members of the UNP reported that human rights defender Danilo Rueda of the Inter-Ecclesial Commission for Human Rights (Justicia y Paz) was followed by two unidentified men riding a motorcycle. The men followed Danilo until UNP agents began to pursue them. The men quickly turned off the street and the motorcycle license plate could not be read. This is the third time this year Danilo was followed or taken hostage.
Death Threats Cause 110 Social Leaders in Antioquia to Resign from Jobs (Antioquia)
An August 14, Contagio Radio reported that consistent death threats play a large cause in the increase in social leaders and human rights defenders resigning from their jobs. According to Oscar Zapata of the Colombia-Europe-United States Coordination (Coordinacià ³n Colombia-Europa-Estados Unidos, CCEEU), there has been a 190 percent increase of selective assassinations in the Bajo Cauca. Concerns among residents in Antioquia are growing as the Department now finds itself second only to Cauca on the list of Departments with the most social leaders assassinated.
National Union School Finds Infiltrated Bodyguard to be a Part of Hitmen Gang (Medellin)
On July 31, the National Union School (Escuela Nacional Sindical, ENS) reported that multiple thefts to their campus were linked to a gang of hit men dismantled to the police. Among the members of the gang they found a former bodyguard for the ENS director Carlos Julio DÃ az Lotero. The assailants knew the security schedules and the location of security cameras. The UNP hired the man through a third-party agency, neither have responded to the allegations of the ENS.
Controversial Police Intervention in Union Protest (Atla'ntico)
According to the Central Coordinating Body of Workers (Central Unitaria de Trabajadores, CUT) unionized Bavaria workers were pacifically protesting labor conditions in Barranquilla when the police barged in and intimidated the protesters. The purpose of the protest was to demand that workers' collective bargaining rights are respected. The CUT is asking that Colombian judicial authorities investigate the actions taken by Rafael Villamizar of the National Police.
(compiled by WOLA
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