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UCU condemns murder of Colombian academic

2 September 2011

On Monday 22 August, Colombian trade union activist, Alfonso Diaz Villa, was assassinated near his home in the Coroda region.

Diaz, who was a regional leader of the University Workers' Union and a security guard at the Monteria Public University, was shot four times.

He had been receiving death threats since 2005, yet, despite the danger SINTRAUNICOL leaders find themselves in, the Colombian Government has suspended the protection scheme to the union's leading activists; belying claims by the regime that trade unionists are given adequate protection.

Cordoba is a region known for its long history of paramilitary repression. The university community has withstood constant threats, intimidation and assassinations, like Diaz's murder. Colombia is the most dangerous place in the world in which to be a trade unionist. Four thousand trade unionists have been killed in the last 20 years.

UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, who has visited Colombia, said: 'The facts are that people continue to be murdered, disappeared, exiled or imprisoned for criticising the Colombian regime. Forty years of civil war have come at a huge price for Colombia and its people and they deserve much better.

'What I saw in Colombia will stay with me for the rest of my life. We met people who encounter human rights abuses on a daily basis, but who are still brave enough to speak out against the injustices they witness. Their bravery is quite incredible, but too often that bravery ends up costing them their life. This has to stop.'

Last updated: 11 December 2015

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