Dreadful toll of assassinations mounts in Colombia

[Judi Lynn]

2010-03-18
Dreadful toll of assassinations mounts in Colombia

Colombian teacher Duvian Dario Rojo Cadavid and his wife were enjoying an early evening walk together in the municipal park of their home town of Puerto Berrío when they were shot dead by unknown assailants on 13 March, the day before senatorial elections. Their deaths bring the total number of teachers killed in Colombia in 2010 to six.

According to his local union ADIDA, Rojo Cavidad was targeted generally for his union activism and specifically because last week he openly spoke to the media about the fact that at least 30 local teachers had been subjected to extortion by illegal armed groups.

The Federación Colombiana de Educadores (FECODE) has publicly denounced these latest killings to a broad range of officials in the Ministries of Education, Justice, Social Protection, the Interior, the Public Defender and the President of the Republic, demanding that Colombian authorities guarantee free exercise of trade union activities and that they undertake all necessary investigations to break the chain of impunity that typically characterises the murder of teachers and trade unionists.

Education International joins FECODE in denouncing in the strongest terms this latest atrocious killing, and expressing its deepest sympathy with the family of Duvian Dario Rojo Cadavid and his wife, colleagues and students, along with the leaders and members of ADIDA, and the education community in Puerto Berrío.

More:
http://www.ei-ie.org/en/news/show.php?id=1216&theme=rights&country=colombia