Two Human Rights Defenders Killed in Colombia

At the beginning of February 2004, human rights defender María Lucero Henao and her son, 16 year old Yamid Daniel were reportedly killed outside their home in Meta Department, south of Bogotá, in Colombia. The same week it was reported that Human Rights Defender José Mendivil Cárdenas was killed as he travelled in his car in Barranquilla, Atlantic Department, in the north of Colombia.

According to reports, Ms. Lucero Henao and her son were taken from their home and shot dead by armed men at 10.30pm on the night of February 6th. María Lucero Henao had been a victim of threats on two occasions and an attempted murder in the last three years. She and her family were one of ten families who remained on farmland in Puerta Esperanza after a paramilitary invasion in August 2001. She had been president of the Junta de Acción Comunal and a defender of the land rights of the inhabitants of Puerta Esperanza.

It has also been reported that on February 7th 2004 Human Rights Defender José Mendivil Cárdenas was killed as he travelled in his car with his friend Ortiz Blanco, who was seriously injured, metres from the Clínica de Policía in Barranquilla, Atlantic Department. José Mendivil Cárdenas had worked in conjunction with Amnesty International for many years and with other social organizations and NGOs which worked to promote and protect human rights in the city.

European External Affairs Commissioner Chris Patten, on a two-day visit to Colombia last week, spoke of new anti-terrorism laws in Colombia, which could result in increased human rights violations. The laws increase the power of the armed forces in Colombia.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Velez, in a plenary session before the European Parliament in Strasbourg on 10th February 2004, reportedly criticized the work of human rights organizations in Colombia. President Uribe cited as an example, the human rights organization Colectivo de Abogados José Alvear Restrepo (Jose Alvear Restrepo Lawyers' Collective, CAJAR). CAJAR is held in high estime in the international human rights community. CAJAR, whose president was recently awarded the prestigious Martin Ennals award for human rights defenders, has also received awards such as the Weimar Human Rights Prize and the Human Rights prize of the French Republic in 1996.

Human Rights Defenders in Colombia face daily risks of harassment, threats, forced disappearances and killings.