Trade Union Leader Receives Death Threats
News from Colombia |
on: Monday, 17 December 2007
Antonio Amaya, President of the ACA trade union in the department of Arauca, has received further death threats referring directly to his work as a trade unionist.
The most recent threats arrived at Mr Amaya's home in the town of Arauquita. They coincided with a petition submitted by Colombian human rights organizations to the Inter American Commission on Human Rights requesting that Mr Amaya be given special protection measures due to the dangers that he faces.
As well as leading ACA (the Association of Campesinos of Arauca) Mr Amaya sits on the national executive committee of the Colombian agricultural workers trade union FENSUAGRO – the second largest union in the country. ACA's Vice-President, Pedro Mosquera, was tortured to death in 2004 and the former leader of the union, Luz Perly Cordoba, now lives in exile after receiving numerous death threats.
For some years intense conflict has affected the region of Arauca and numerous trade unionists and other civil society activists have been assassinated by both paramilitaries and the Colombian Army with whom they collaborate.
