Colombian Army Kills Leading Trade Unionists

Two further activists, including Samuel Morales the president of the Arauca branch Colombian TUC have been detained.

The attack, in the province of Arauca, comes just weeks after foreign office minister, Bill Rammell announced that, “There has been progress in improving the human rights situation.”

Human rights groups have been campaigning for the freezing of military aid to Alvaro Uribe’s hard-line Colombian government, and there are well-documented links between the official armed forces and right-wing paramilitary groups.

Nick Dearden, acting Director of Campaigns and Policy, said, "This terrible news from Colombia underlines the concerns War on Want has said for months about UK military aid to Colombia. How on earth can the UK justify its continued relationship with the Colombian armed forces when they are participants in the decimation of the Colombian trade union movement?"

Liam Craig-Best, Secretary of Justice for Colombia, said, “These callous attacks are symptomatic of the Colombian government’s ongoing purge of civil society groups and activists in Colombia. While the UK government continues to plough money into the Colombian military no one in the UK can be sure that their taxes aren’t being used in the war against trade unionists.”

Twenty General Secretaries from UK trade unions have signed a letter to Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw. The letter states that the General Secretaries “Stand shoulder to shoulder” with their Colombian colleagues.