July 2015 Action Item
As part of the ongoing internal conflict, Colombia has a long history of forced disappearances, rape, torture, and murder of those opposing the government. Additionally, human rights defenders who in recent days have spoken out calling for impartial investigations and a bringing to justice of those responsible for these atrocities have faced violence and threats themselves. In April, May, and June of 2015, Jacqueline Ramírez, the wife of the disappeared James Holguin (whose abduction, and presumed murder, along with that of five other men at the hands of Colombian paramilitaries working with the police, is now called La Combinada case), is a key witness in the case and has received numerous death threats. In this same time span, her son Jhon Alexander Holguín Ramírez was stabbed, and the human rights lawyer prosecuting the case, Andrea Torres Bautista, received numerous threats of rape and murder. In fact, in one phone call a man told her, “[…] didn’t you understand that you should stop annoying us, we are going to kill you, but first we will rape you so that you respect men.” The judge who was scheduled to preside over the July 13 and 30 hearings of this case was forced to recuse himself and was sentenced to 66 months in prison for “perverting the course of justice.” This is just one example of how endemic corruption is within the Colombian government and justice system, and how vulnerable and unprotected activists, lawyers, relatives, and witnesses are as they pursue truth and justice in these cases.
Send cards or letters to:
President Juan Manuel Santos
Presidente de la República
Casa de Nariño Calle 7. No 6-54.
Bogotá, Colombia
Salutation: Dear President Santos/ Excmo. Sr. Presidente Santos
Attorney General Eduardo Montealegre
Fiscalía General de la Nación
Diagonal 22B No. 52-01 (Ciudad Salitre)
Bloque C Piso 4, Bogotá, Colombia
Salutation: Dear Attorney General/ Estimado Sr. Fiscal General
Expressing concern for the safety of Andrea Torres Bautista, as well as Jhon Alexander Holguín Ramírez, Jacqueline Ramírez and other relatives and witnesses of the La Combinada case, and urging the authorities to take measures to guarantee their safety, in strict accordance with their wishes and needs;
Calling on the authorities to order full and impartial investigations into the threats and the attack mentioned and to take all necessary measures to ensure that criminal investigations into enforced disappearance cases are carried out, that the results be made public and all those involved be brought to justice;
Calling on them to recognize the competence of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances to receive and consider communications on this and other cases from or on behalf of victims or other states parties to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.