Colombia's Disappeared: Five Years Demanding Justice for My Father

[Judi Lynn]

Weekend Edition
August 12 - 14, 2011

Colombia's Disappeared
Five Years Demanding Justice for My Father
By DIANA GOMEZ

~snip~
My father, Jaime Gomez, disappeared on Mar. 21, 2006. He was kidnapped during his morning walk through the hills surrounding Bogotá. Today marks five years since I received his remains, after a long month of searching for him, desperately hoping he was still alive while. Since that time my life, and that of the rest of my family and my close friends, has been radically transformed.

The story I'd heard so often from other women in Colombia came to be my own reality, right in front of my eyes. I had to face my grief at losing him, the fear instilled by forced disappearance, the anger caused by the impunity and injustice that occur permanently in our country, and uncertainty about my own security.

My brother and I lost a father, a friend and a teacher. My grandmother lost her oldest son — a grief from which she has not been able to recover. His wife lost her life's companion, while the rest of the family, his friends and the country not only lost a good human being, but an intellectual and a person committed to a different kind of Colombia.

In March 2006 my father served as advisor to Senator Piedad Córdoba. He was also a historian, a political scientist, a grassroots leader and a politician. He was a trade unionist in the Telephone Company of Bogotá since the 1970s, for around twenty years, during which time he served several terms as union president. He helped create the United Workers Central (Central Unitaria de Trabajadores-CUT). He also served as a City Councilman of Bogotá in the 1990s, and taught in various universities in the capital.

More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/gomez08122011.html