DOMINGO TOVAR ARRIETA – Director of the Human Rights Department of the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores, (CUT), Columbian Trade Union Confederation
On October 30, 2003 Domingo Tovar Arrieta reportedly received an anonymous call on his mobile phone. The caller told Arrieta, “Pagará con su vida la pérdida del referendo” (“You will pay with your life for the loss of the referendum”), referring to the defeat of the government in a recent national referendum. Arrieta and CUT had lead a campaign encouraging Colombians to abstain from the referendum. There have been numerous reports of threats made by army-back paramilitaries to other supporters of the abstention. [AMR 23/070/2003].
The threat against Arrieta came just days after the Administrative Court of Cundinamarca declared the Defence Ministry, the National Army and the Attorney General responsible for damages and harm caused when Arrieta was unjustly imprisoned February 12th 1994.
[http://www.colombiasolidarity.org.uk/Urgent_actions/1Nov2003.html]. The most recent threat against Arrieta is especially troubling in light of the 58 trade unionists who have been killed in Colombia in 2003 and the two abduction attempts on Arrieta’s daughter, Ana Palina Tovar González, in March 2003. [AMR 23/070/2003].LRWC ACTION
Letter Written November 21, 2003
