CUT Official Shot in Cali
News from Colombia |
on: Tuesday, 26 July 2011
The CUT has reported that on 19th July the vice-president of the CUT in Valle department, Wilson Saenz Manchola, was shot in the foot. The CUT argues that this shows the ineffectiveness of the protection measures provided by the government to selected trade unionists.
The CUT office in Valle gets government protection but the guards have to be shared by everyone, meaning that Wilson Saenz only had protection available for one week a month.
At half past three on July 19th, Wilson Saenz was walking to his car three blocks away from the CUT building in Cali when he was stopped by a man who put a gun to his head, swore at him and demanded that he hand over “his gun”. Mr Saenz, like other trade unionists does not carry a gun, and while he tried to explain this, the attacker shot him in the foot.
Cali has been the scene of several recent killings, including a well-known trade union lawyer and two trade unionists.
