CRISIS IN COLOMBIA
DIARY OF A HUMAN RIGHTS INVESTIGATION
Human Rights Activists and Workers Risk Their Lives
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This human rights lawyer was "disappeared" in the middle of Cali, one of Colombia's largest cities.
Photo © Robin Kirk/HRW
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In Colombia, those who speak out in favor of peace and protection for civilians are being killed ruthlessly. Last year, four human rights defenders were killed and four "disappeared":
March 2: Jairo Bedoya Hoyos, an indigenous activist member of the Antioquia Indigenous Organization (Organizacion Indigena de Antioquia, OIA) who worked on human rights issues, was "disappeared"
March 3: Demetrio Playonero, a human rights leader was murdered apparently by paramilitaries
April 3: Margarita Maria Pulgarin Trujillo, a government prosecutor and part of a team investigating cases linking paramilitaries to the army and regional drug traffickers, was murdered in Medellin
May: Jesœs Ramiro Zapata, the only remaining member of the Segovia Human Rights Committee, was killed near Segovia
July 11: Elizabeth Ca–as, a member of the Association of Family Members of the Detained and Disappeared (Asociacion de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos-Colomobia ASFADDES), was shot and killed in Barrancabermeja
October 6: Angel Quintero and Claudia Patricia Monsalve, also ASFADDES members, were "disappeared" in Medellin
December 10: Fernando Cruz, a human rights lawyer, was "disappeared" in the middle of Cali, one of the country's largest cities.
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