Reply #4: Unionists' murders cloud Colombia

[Nutmegger]

Zully Codina was a mother, veteran hospital worker and union activist. The last role was the one that cost Codina her life at the hands of paramilitary death squads, whose records show they collaborated with the country's intelligence service to liquidate her and other union activists.

Codina was killed on Nov. 11, 2003, when a gunman pumped three bullets into her head moments after she kissed her family goodbye and walked out of her Santa Marta home.

Her murder remains unsolved, as do those of the vast majority of the 400 union members killed since President Alvaro Uribe took office in 2002.

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Recent disclosures about the purported role of the Colombian intelligence service, the Administrative Security Department, or DAS, in the murder of Codina and several other union leaders has ignited a political firestorm here that is reaching Capitol Hill just as the Bush administration is fighting for congressional approval of a free-trade pact with Colombia, the third-largest recipient of U.S. aid.

Full article: http://www.chinapost.com.tw/news/archives/international/2007412/106936.htm