Front Line is extremely concerned for the physical and psychological safety of Claudia Duque and her ten-year old daughter. According to information received by Front Line in recent months, Claudia Duque has been the victim of several threatening phone-calls, voicemails and text messages since 7th September 2004.
The gravity of the threats has gradually intensified and the latest call (17th November 2004) threatened to burn her daughter alive in retaliation for her [Claudia’s] human rights activities: “though it hurts us, we have no other option but to kill your daughter, even if you go around in an armoured car, your daughter will suffer, we are going to burn her alive, we are going to scatter her fingers all over the place”. Claudia Duque reports that she has also been followed, and her home and the places she frequents patrolled.
A Colombian journalist and prominent human rights defender, Claudia Duque has been involved in raising a number of contentious issues at a local, national and international level.
