On 27 May 2010, a death threat was issued against human rights defenders Ms Berenice Celeyta, Ms Luz Marina Palacios, Mr John Freddy Poso and the Comité de Solidaridad con los Presos Políticos – CSPP (Committee of Solidarity with Political Prisoners).

Further Information

Berenice Celeyta is a member of NOMADESC – Asociación para la Investigación y la Acción Social (The Association for Research and Social Action), an organisation which aims to give a voice to isolated rural communities at risk of displacement. Luz Marina Palacios and John Freddy Poso are members of Asociación ECATE, a social development and human rights organisation. The CSPP is a human rights organisation working for the promotion and respect of human rights in relation to political prisoners in Colombia.

On the evening of 27 May 2010, Assistant Superintendent Julio Cesar Bermúdez at the Police Command in the Municipality of Tulua, in the department of Valle del Cauca, received a phone call on their emergency number from a man who purported to be a “professional soldier”, who stated that he was calling “to alert [you] that they have until Monday to leave the region, there is an order to kill Luz Marina and John Freddy of ECATE, Berenice Leyta (sic) of NOMADESC, and those of the Comité de Solidaridad de Presos Políticos (sic)”.

The following day, the Assistant Superintendent informed ECATE and NOMADESC that he had passed the report of the phone call to his superiors, and in particular the District Protection Chiefs and the Human Rights Chief, Superintendent Mosquera. He also stated that police surveillance and accompaniment patrols had been ordered the same morning in order to tend to the situation.

Previously, on 5 May 2010, a text message was sent to various leaders of the municipalities of Suárez and Buenos Aires-Cauca in which it was threatened that members of NOMADESC, the Consejo Comunitario La Toma (La Toma Community Council), Proceso de Comunidades Negras de Colombia –PCN (Process of Black Communities of Colombia), Consejo Regional Indígena del Cauca –CRIC (Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca), la Minga de Resistencia Social y Comunitaria, the trade unions SINTRAUNICOL and CUT, and el Polo Democrático Alternativo (Alternative Democratic Pole) would be killed as “auxiliaries of the militias”.

Front Line believes the death threats against Berenice Celeyta, Luz Marina Palacios, John Freddy Poso and the CSPP are directly related to their work in defence of human rights. Front Line is concerned for the physical and psychological integrity of the aforementioned human rights defenders and given the fact that Colombia continues to record some of the highest levels of attacks on human rights defenders, including killings, Front Line reiterates that immediate measures must be taken to protect those who have been threatened.