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TUC Protest letter - murder of Rafael Tobon Zea - Colombia

Issue date

H.E. Mauricio Rodriguez Munera

Ambassador
Embassy of Colombia
3 Hans Crescent
London
SW1X OLN

your ref

Dear Ambassador

Assassination of Colombian Trade Unionist - Rafael Tobon Zea

On behalf of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) representing British workers and the 6.1 million members of our affiliated unions it is with regret that I have to write once again to condemn in the strongest possible terms the assassination of another trade unionist in Colombia.

In my last letter of 2 August I raised the murder of four teachers. However we have also been increasingly concerned by the mounting number of attacks on workers in the mining an extractive sectors.

On 26 July in El Campo District, Rafael Tobon Zea a founding member of the Segovia branch of SINTRAMIENERGETICA, the mine and fuel workers union, was murdered.

The International Trade Union Confederation has written to President Santos to call for all necessary steps to be taken to investigate this latest killing and I would ask you to convey the TUC's support for this demand to your government.

We welcomed President Santos stated commitment to respect human rights and to trying to end the culture of impunity that surrounds these killings, but as we have discussed the situation on the ground does not match the commitments given.

The ongoing killings - which as we have already highlighted this year are continuing to run at the rate of almost one a week - indicate that contrary to the repeated assurances given by your Government to the international community, far too little is being done to safeguard the lives of trade union members and activists in Colombia, or to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators of these killings.

I look forward to hearing from you regarding what measures are being taken to find and prosecute the murderers in these cases.

Yours sincerely

Brendan Barber

General Secretary

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