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

[DCKit]

1. But, but, they're getting universal healthcare in 2012.

They can't deal with a few (thousand) atrocities in exchange?
:sarcasm:

[gbscar]

2. Even if that wasn't a false dilemma, all sarcasm aside, nothing justifies this.

Colombia could resolve all other outstanding labor, human rights and political violence issues by 2012 or 2050 and the past murders of Jaime Gómez and many others shall never be justified. It will forever be a sign of a long, tragic period of intolerance, violence and impunity.

[DCKit]

3. That's exactly my point.

It's the most brutal country in this hemisphere, and they're promising something I don't believe they ever have any intention of providing.

The whole country is going to become a giant work camp.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Continued Impunity: Enforced Disappearances in Colombia

Continued Impunity: Enforced Disappearances in Colombia
Americas, Prisoners and People at Risk | Posted by: Bryna Subherwal, August 12, 2011 at 2:25 PM

In the last two weeks, Francisco Pineda and Everto González, two members of the community council of Caracolí in north-west Colombia, were subjected to enforced disappearance by paramilitaries. They were both picked up by a group of paramilitaries, who took them away to “resolve some land issues.”

Pineda and González have not been heard from since, and their whereabouts remain unknown. Amnesty International fears their lives and the lives of other members of the Afro-descendant community may be at risk, and has issued an Urgent Action on their behalf.

Enforced disappearances persist in many countries all over the world, and violate a wide range of human rights. In Colombia, especially, there is tremendous impunity for enforced disappearances, and violators continue to evade justice.

Many members of the Afro-descendent communities in the country have been threatened repeatedly in the past couple of decades, and some even killed. Enrique Petro, leader of the community council of Andalucía, is among those who have recently received death threats for his resistance to palm oil companies who seek to seize his land and plant African palm.

More:
http://blog.amnestyusa.org/iar/continued-impunity-enforced-disappearances-in-colombia/