Sindicato de Trabajadores Agrarios del Sumapaz
:: Distrito Capital, Colombia ::
Site Map
Suscríbete a servicioprensarural

Urgent Action - Colombia
Trade unionists must be allowed to work free from the fear of arrest and assassination
Justice For Colombia / Monday 29 October 2007
 

On Saturday morning (27th Oct) Moises Delgado and Eliberto Poveda, both from the region of Sumapaz near Bogotá, were taken away by the Colombian security forces.

Mr Delgado was the ‘Democratic Pole’ opposition party candidate for the regional assembly elections. The timing of his detention, a day before the elections, was a clear attempt to prevent him from participating in the democratic process.

Mr Poveda, who is in bad health, is the President of the agricultural workers trade union in Sumapaz, SINTRAPAZ.

The peasant farming communities in the region of Sumapaz have long been the victims of systematic human rights violations at the hands of various units of the Colombian security forces including the British trained 1st High Mountain Battalion of the Colombian Army. Recently these have included serious harassment and threats against Jose Alfredo Agudelo a well-known trade unionist and human rights activist in the region.

Both of the detained men have been detained on previous occasions: Mr Poveda on June 6th 2006 when soldiers of the 39th Battalion of the Colombian Army accompanied by men wearing balaclavas took him away for four days, and Mr Delgado in 2004 when he was imprisoned for 14 months accused of ‘rebellion’ before being released and declared innocent.

Mr Delgado is not the only opposition candidate to have been detained in the run up to the elections. On October 10th 2007 Isaac Paez Lopez, the ‘Democratic Pole’ candidate for mayor of the town of Cartagena del Chaira was also taken away.

Please e-mail a protest to the Colombian Vice-President Francisco Santos (fsantos@presidencia.gov.co) demanding that Edilberto Poveda and Moises Delgado are given full due process and that they be released as soon as possible if there is no evidence against them. Please also copy in the Colombian Embassy in London (mail@colombianembassy.co.uk) and JFC (info@justiceforcolombia.org). A draft protest message is below.


Dear Vice-President,

I am writing to you to express my extreme concern at the arrests made on the morning of Saturday 27th October of Edilberto Poveda, the President of the Sumapaz Agricultural Workers’ Union, SINTRAPAZ and Moises Delgado, the opposition (Polo Democratico Alternativo Party) candidate for the SUMAPAZ assembly in Sunday’s (October 28th) local elections.

I understand that other opposition candidates were also detained in the run up to the elections including the opposition candidate for the Mayor of Cartagena del Chaira, Isaac Paez Lopez, who was arrested on October 10th.

Saturday’s arrests seem to be an effort to prevent a free democratic election, and it is a clear intimidation tactic against legitimate opposition.

The arrest of Edilberto, who has serious health problems, appears to be part of a pattern of arrests made against trade union leaders by the Colombian regime. Trade unionists must be allowed to work free from the fear of arrest and assassination. Similarly I ask you to guarantee the safety of all members of SINTRAPAZ, and take measures to guarantee the safety of trade unionist and human rights defender Jose Alfredo Agudelo Lombana. Mr Agudelo, also of SINTRAPAZ, is being constantly followed and intimidated, and there are serious fears for his safety given that several trade unionists in the area have been assassinated in recent years.

I demand that you address this matter urgently and that those arrested be given full due process, and that they are released immediately if, as is so often the case, there is no evidence against them.

The international community will not stand by in silence whilst the Colombian regime continues to repress its critics with violence and intimidation and will continue to call for the freedom of Colombia’s political prisoners. I look forward to your reply regarding this matter.

Yours sincerely