Front Line is seriously concerned following reports that human rights lawyer, Ms Lina Paolo Malagón Díaz, received a threatening fax on 2 March 2009. In the fax, Lina Paolo Malagón Díaz was listed as a military target and accused of having ties with the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia. Lina Paolo Malagón Díaz is a member of the Comisión Colombiana de Juristas – CCJ (Colombian Commission of Jurists).

Further Information

In February 2009 she produced a report on combating impunity for human rights violations against trade union members. The report was presented at a meeting on 12 February 2009, organised by Representative George Miller, the President of the Education and Work Commission in the Chamber of Representatives of the United States of America, to address the situation of workers' rights in Colombia and anti-trade union violence. President Álvaro Uribe reportedly claimed that the participants in the meeting were people who distorted the truth because of political hatred.

On 2 March 2009, at 12.21 p.m., the CCJ received a threatening fax sent by the AUC Bloque Capital de las Águilas Negras (Capital Block of the Black Eagles, a branch of the Black Eagles paramilitary group).

In the fax, Lina Paolo Malagón Díaz was listed as a military target and accused of having ties with the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia - FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), a guerrilla movement. She was described as “La puta guerrillera que trabaja defendiendo a los sindicalistas [The guerrilla whore who works to defend the trade unionists]” and it was claimed that the CCJ is full of communist militants.

In addition it was claimed that the senders knew where Lina Paolo Malagón Diaz works, who she spends time with, and her daily routine, and that they were monitoring her home and her family. It also contained her telephone number and threatened that if she did not leave Bogotá within a day, they would proceed and carry out the threat.

The fax mentioned another CCJ member who was forced to leave Colombia in late 2008 following persecution and threats by the AUC Bloque Capital de las Águilas Negras. Previously, other members of the CCJ have been victims of threats and smear campaigns by paramilitary groups.

Front Line believes that the threats against Lina Paolo Malagón Díaz are directly related to her legitimate and peaceful work in the defence of human rights. Front Line considers this part of an ongoing trend of harassment against members of the CCJ. Front Line is seriously concerned for the physical and psychological integrity of Lina Paolo Malagón Díaz as well as her family and the other members of the CCJ.