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A paramilitary death squad has assassinated peasant organiser Jose Maria Maldonado in the Loma Arena area of the municipality of Pondera in Atlantico department. According to witnesses two men on a motorbike approached Mr Maldonado and shot him dead on the morning of May 17th.
For a long period a paramilitary death squad has been operating in the municipality of Ponedera where they have carried out a systematic campaign of assassinations against local union organisers. Local people say that the paramilitary unit acts under the orders of local landowners and that they use terror to force people from their land allowing the landowners to take over their property. Recently the legal officer of the agricultural workers union, Seferino Padilla, was forced to flee his land and the region after the paramilitaries said they would kill him.
Please send a message of protest condemning this latest murder and calling for a full investigation to the following:
Dr. Álvaro Uribe Vélez
President of Colombia
Fax: 57 1 566 2071
Jorge Alberto Uribe
Minister of Defence
E-mail: siden@mindefensa.gov.co; infoprotocolo@mindefensa.gov.co; mdn@cable.net.co
Dr. Carlos Franco
Director of the Presidential Human Rights Program
E-mail: cefranco@prsidencia.gov.co; fibarra@presidencia.gov.co
Dr. Luis Camilo Osorio
Attorney General
E-mail: contactofiscalia@fiscalia.gov.co; denuncie@fiscalia.gov.co
Please also copy your message to the Justice for Colombia office on info@justiceforcolombia.org and the UN High Commission for Human Rights on oacnudh@hchr.org.co
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