Bogota, October 21, 1998 The Colombian Human Rights Non-Governmental Organizations express before the national and international community our fierce condemnation of the treacherous murder of compañero JORGE LUIS ORTEGA GARCIA, First Vice-President of the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores — CUT - at 7:15 p.m. yesterday, October 20, 1998 in Bogota. This event occurred as Jorge Ortega was entering the building where he lived, and was carried out by a person who was waiting for him and fired 6 shots which killed him instantly. Jorge Ortega was a member of the National Strike Command of the Public Workers Strike, playing a very active role in this body; the members of the Command had received death threats since its inception; this horrible crime is, therefore, a clear retaliation against the strength of the actions of the workers who throughout the country have legitimately demanded their rights, and to whose positions the government has responded in a intransigent and warlike fashion. The strike, which has now lasted 14 days without the government having proposed any solution, has been arbitrarily repressed. As a result of this military treatment the following people have been murdered: MARCO PEREZ, member of Sintraelecol Sincelejo (Electricity Workers) and ORFA LIGIA MAJIA, a teacher in Nariño. As well, EUGENIANO SANCHEZ, BENITO RUEDA and VIRGILIO OCHOA, all members of Sintracuemponal in Barrancabermeja, were injured in attempts on thier lives. At the same time, many workers have been assaulted, arbitrarily detained and victims of violent dispersions of the crowds which have caused serious personal injuries. JORGE ORTEGA GARCIA dedicated a large part of his life to the defence of Colombian workers’ rights. During the course of his work he was an outstanding leader of the Sindicato de Trabajadores del Sector Electríco (electricity workers union) — SINTRAELECOL — and a leader at the national level in the Central Unitaria de Trabajdores since the beginning of the labour central. At the same time, he played an active and leading role as a representative of the workers in the Permanent Assembly for Peace and led the CUT Human Rights Department. In his capacity as a human rights defender he participated as a delegate of the union and social organizations to the Risks Evaluation Committee of the "Program for the Protection and Human Rights Defender and Social Leaders", of the Ministry of the Interior. In that forum he repeatedly demanded from the Colombian State protective measures and guarantees for hundreds of workers, and advocated the investigation of the cases of murder, forced disappearances, tortures, attempted murders and threats suffered by Colombian trade unionists. In the sessions of those Committees JORGE ORTEGA has repeatedly indicated the high levels of risks to him, DOMINGO TOVAR and other members of the Executive Committee of the CUT. In the Session of the Risk Evaluation Committee on October 19, 1998 in Bogota, only one day before his death, JORGE ORTEGA, in the presence of delegates from the Ministries of the Interior and Labour, the Presidential Advisory Group on Human Rights and the Security Administration Department, DAS, identified the Colombian State as the only and exclusive party responsible for any attempt on his life, given that after five months of having repeatedly requested security measures, he had not been granted body guards nor a vehicle, despite the recurring events denounced by the CUT. On September 22, 1998, JORGE LUIS ORTEGA GARCIA was subjected to an illegal raid of his apartment. Various armed men entered his home, beat and gagged his wife and destroyed their belongings, searching the entire house. This grave crime was denounced before the Nation’s Attorney General on the same day and the same night the President of the USO and JORGE ORTEGA himself held a meeting with the Vice-Minister of the Interior Dr. Jorge Mario Eastman to demand protection for his life. There is other evidence that indicates State responsability in the matter. JORGE ORTEGA was arbitrarily detained by military units in February 1994, and deprived of his liberty for three months by the Regional Attorney of Bogota. This process was initiated fundamentally on the basis of military intelligence reports of the 13th Brigade of the Army. Being followed and subjected to attacks and threats against his life obliged him to leave the country on various occasions. Nevertheless Jorge Ortega always returned to the country to carry out with fortitude his responsibilities as a union and human rights leader. For these reasons the Human Rights NGOs do not hesitate to identify the Colombian State, and the governments of Presidents Samper and Pastrana as the only authors of this abominable crime that has plunged the workers and the entire country into mourning.

For the above reasons: We declare Our justified solidarity with the just struggles for workers’ rights that the trade union movement is carrying out and express our profound pain and indignation regarding this latest crime of the State. Our decision to withdraw, along with the social and trade union organizations, from the Risk Evaluation Committee of the Protection Program of the Ministry of the Interior, given that we consider that this latest crime proves once again the ineffectiveness of these kinds of mechanisms, as well as the absence of political will on the part of the State to protect and prevent new crimes against social, trade union and human rights leaders. We Demand That the political responsibility on the part of the authorities who repeatedly failed to authorize the protective measures agreed upon by the trade union and human rights organizations after the murder of the defence lawyer Eduardo Umaña Mendoza be established. That the penal and disciplinary responsibility be established of those who participated in this crime, by action or by omission, for the purpose of assuring that this atrocious murder that has provoked mourning in the Colombian society and the international trade union movement does not remain unpunished, as have so many others perpetrated against human rights defenders and social and trade union leaders. That clear and unequivocal responses that go beyond declarations and that are backed up by real actions be given to the demands formulated by the social, trade union and human rights organizations at the national and international level for the a) dismanteling and destructuring of the paramilitary groups, b) the overcoming of the impunity in which the crimes against humanity and the grave violations of human rights continue, c) the removal from active service of members of the public forces (army, navy, airforce, police, DAS) and other State organisms implicated in human rights violations; d) a review of the intelligence activities carried out by the Armed Forces and security organisms. That the Office of the United Nations’ High Commission for Human Rights completely fulfill in a decisive manner its mandate to the effect of compelling the Colombian State to adopt effective and immediate mechanisms to prevent the numerous attempts against social, trade union and human rights leaders, as well as intervening to assure that this new crime does not go unpunished. That trade union freedoms and the right to collective bargaining, protected in the National Constitution, as well as in Agreements 87, 98 and 151 of the ILO be respected. As a consequence, that the Decree declaring the National Public Sector Strike illegal be revoked and that retaliatory measures against those who have legitimately exercised these rights be abstained from. That the exercise of the rights to meet and demonstrate be guaranteed and that the repressive treatment to which the National Public Sector Strike has been subjected be suspended. In particular we ask that the national, regional and local authorities, such as the Mayor of Bogota Enrique Peñaloza, lift the restrictions imposed by them on the mobilizations planned by the workers. That the President of the Republic Andres Pastrana correct his intransigent and repressive attitude regarding this legitimate movement, immediately negotiating in good faith the bargaining demands presented by the National Unitary Workers Command, guaranteeing the free exercise of the rights to associate, meet and mobilize. As well, that he abstain from new arbitrary measures, among them the declaration of a state of siege. We call upon the entire society to publicly and massively express its repudiation and indignation regarding the policy of extermination of the social sectors committed to the defence of human rights and in particular regarding this horrendous crime, and to join the activities and demonstrations organized by the Colombian trade union movement. Colectivo de Abogados "José Alvear Restrepo" Asociación de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos Comité Permanente para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos Comisión Colombiana de Juristas. Comisión Intercongregacional de Justicia y Paz Humanidad Vigente Corporación Jurídica Asociación para la Promoción Social Alternativa —MINGA- Corporación SEMBRAR Comité de Solidaridad con los Presos Politicos Corporación Jurídica Libertad CODEHSEL Fundación Manuel Cepeda Vargas Familia Franciscana de Colombia Comisión de Justicia, Paz y Reverencia con la Creación de la F.F.C. ILSA REINICIAR CREDHOS ANDAS Comité Regional de Derechos Humanos JOEL SIERRA Departamento de Derechos Humanos de la CUT BENPOSTA Comité Derechos Humanos del Nordeste Antioqueño Corporación Juan Bosco Comunidades Eclesiales de Base REDES Centro CLEBER CINEP

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