Two more teachers murdered in Colombia
Ramiro Cuadros Roballo and Walter Escobar Marín, both members of SUTEV, a teacher union affiliated to FECODE, and two other trade-unionists were assassinated last month, as the violence against trade union activists continues to mount.
Ramiro Cuadros Roballo worked for 20 years as a teacher and was a prominent union leader. In recent years he assisted teachers in their claims for debt payments at the local administration of Tulúa, in the department of Valle del Cauca. Due to his work in the defence and promotion of trade union and human rights he received many death threats over a period of several years, peaking at the end of 2008. On 24th March at 6am he was shot dead outside his house by a group of gunmen as he set off for work.
Cuadros had filed several complaints with the regional Special Committee for Displaced and Threatened Teachers, and completed the procedure to apply for the status of threatened teacher. These mechanisms are guaranteed in a 2003 Government Decree with the aim of protecting vulnerable teachers.
Walter Escobar Marín worked at an education institution in the district of Cali, Valle del Cauca. The circumstances of his death remain unknown, since his body was found in the district of Palmira on 21st March, after a reported absence at work of 8 days.
EI and the ITUC have sent letters to the President of Colombia, Álvaro Uribe, calling urgently for a complete investigation and appropriate judgement for both those who carried out the killings and those who orchestrated them. The letters also call for closer cooperation between the Government and local administration in order to speed up the process of approving the status of displaced and threatened teachers, facilitating the rapid transfer of applicants to safer districts and job posts.