José Onofre Esquivel Luna
José Onofre Esquivel Luna is the Vice-president of Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Industria de Alimentos (Sinaltrainal) Seccional Bugalagrande (the Bulgalagrande Section of the National Union of Workers of the Food Industry) and an employee of the multinational company Nestlé SA. The human rights defender is committed to the defence of workers' rights in Colombia, and has been granted precautionary protection measures by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
HRDs in Colombia work in a violent and unsafe environment. They are subjected to threats, intimidation, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, physical assaults, torture, killings, illegal searches of their homes and offices and stigmatisation as a result of their activities in defence of human rights. The perpetrators of these abuses are frequently paramilitary groups, many of whom have links to the government or security services, or armed opposition groups. The continued frequent and severe threats and attacks against HRDs around the country contradict government claims of paramilitary demobilisation.
