COLOMBIAN NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS REPUDIATE THE MURDER OF EDUARDO UMANA MENDOZA Today, April 18, at his home in the Santafe de Bogota's northwestern neighborhood of Nicolas de Federman, and in a cowardly and vile manner, Eduardo Umana Mendoza, expert in criminal law and human rights defender, was murdered with two gunshots to the head by several individuals dressed in civilian garments, who eluded the security of the residential unit to gain access to his apartment and commit the murder. Amid a profound sense of impotence and indignation, we, human rights non-governmental organizations, repudiate the murder of Eduardo Umana Mendoza, and reiterate our demands to the government to adopt efficient measures in order to protect human rights defenders, social and union leaders, and political activists from the opposition, who must suffer file inspections and activities by government intelligence organizations, persecution and dismantling of paramilitary groups, and the decanting of the Armed Forces, the Police, and State Security of officers and policemen compromised in serious human rights violations and in ties to paramilitary groups. The violent death of Eduardo Umana Mendoza conforms the continuance of a wave of persecutions, disapparitions, murders and other attempts against human rights defenders, some of which are very well known while others remain anonymous, and which not only have taken place in the country for more than a decade, but have intensified in the last three years. This tragic event takes place amid a generalized climate of hostility against human rights defenders, aided or tolerated for several years by successive governments, which have insisted in accusing those human rights defenders of being enemies of government institutions or of being allies or spokespersons of guerrilla groups. In such climate, State military or security officials or members of paramilitary groups feel that they are doing good or being patriotic or defending the institutions through the use of violence and through the elimination of defenders in perfidious and cowardly crimes. We, non-governmental human rights organizations, receive with indignation the condolences of a government that has delayed indefinitely the adoption of a serious and efficient protection policy for human rights defenders that allows the creation of favorable climate for the free exercise of our legitimate and necessary labor in any democratic society. Eduardo Umana Mendoza was from the beginning of the 70s, a tireless fighter for human rights. He dedicated his efforts, his intelligence, and his passion to the uncompromising defense, through the practise of law, through his ability to do research and investigations, through his exercise of criticism, and through polemics and public denunciations of grave human rights violations of the weakest and of those persecuted due to political reasons. In 1977, he was an active member of the Foundation Solidarity Commission with Political Prisoners, and in 1978, together with other professionals also human rights defenders, he founded the Corporation Lawyers Collective "Jose Alvear Restrepo" (Corporacion Colectivo de Abogados "Jose Alvear Restrepo"), in which he participated until 1994. Since then, he continued practicing his brilliant labor from a corner of his home, where today, the murderers entered to end his life. We, non-governmental human rights organizations, express to Professor Eduardo Umana Luna, to his wife and to his family our deep sorrow and dismay for this abominable crime, as well as our feelings of solidarity and support in these ill-fated times. At the same time, we reiterate our demand to the President of the Republic to go beyond the rhetoric and enter the facts, to adopt urgent and efficient measures in order to protect the life and integrity of human rights defenders, of social, civic, peasant and union leaders, and of political opposition members, and to guarantee the free exercise of their legitimate activities. We make a call to the Church, to the academicians, to the diverse organized social sectors and to the society in general, to recuperate their capacity to be astonished in the face of vicious crimes against those who, as in the case of Eduardo Umana Mendoza, have made a commitment to defend life and public freedoms, and to join the great national journey of mobilizations that, together with other sectors, we are going to summon in the upcoming days in order to repudiate this crime. We call to an open meeting of the various sectors affected or disturbed by this crime, which will take place on the 19th of April, at 2:00 p.m., at National University School of Law in this city. Given in Santafe de Bogota, on April 18, 1998. Signed, Colectivo de Abogados "Jose Alvear Restrepo" Comite de Solidaridad con los Presos Politicos Comision Colombiana de Juristas CINEP ASFADDES Corriente de Renovacion Socialista Corporacion Servicios Profesionales Comunitarios "Sembrar" CEUDES DNI-Colombia Corporacion Nuevo Arco Iris UNEB- Seccional Bogota Cundinamarca Asociacion para la Promocion Social Alternativa -- MINGA Centro del Estudio del Trabajo -- CESTRA Observatorio para la Paz Colegio Nacional de Periodistas PUBLIC DECLARATION The Corporation Lawyers Collective "Jose Alvear Restrepo" (Corporacion Colectivo de Abogados "Jose Alvear Restrepo"), an organization that deals with legal assistance, firmly REPUDIATES the murder of Dr. Eduardo Umana Mendoza. Eduardo always fought so that the truth could be said, above all that truth that reveals the abuses perpetrated thanks to the criminal exercise of a power that punishes its opponents. Faced with the ignominy of a regime that squelches all voice of protest and all calls for justice, Eduardo contributed to the foundation of numerous organizations that defend human rights in Colombia. A founding member of the Corporation Lawyers Collective "Jose Alvear Restrepo", he worked for fifteen years with us, leaving the mark of his serious work, of his total dedication to the defenses and cases he undertook, of the profound investigations he made, all of which become, in the face of his death, the reaffirmation of the struggle for the full realization of human rights in our land. Worried and in order to plant seed that would allow the germination of a nation free of the ignominy of a dirty war, he contributed to the formation of The Committee for Solidarity with Political Prisoners, of the Association of Relatives of the Disappeared-ASFADES, of the Corporation SEMBRAR, of MINGA, etc. Many times we heard members of the high echelons of the Armed Forces point to these organizations as part of organized crime, discrediting any work in lieu of human rights and creating a climate conducive to Eduardo's murder. He was part of numerous international organizations of human rights, in which he was amply recognized for his work. He was member of the Permanent Tribunal of the Peoples, of the international bureau of the World Organization Against Torture, was representative of ACNUR in Colombia, was an academician and a university professor, who always used his knowledge to serve justice causes and the defense of democratic freedoms. A s jurist of extensive experience in the defense of political prisoners, Eduardo contributed to the peace processes, as in the case of the dialogues with M-19, EPL, PRT, and the Quintin Lame, assisting their members in judicial proceedings, such as the reprieve, to aid in their reincorporation into civilian life. He also helped the National Constitutional Assembly, striving to see represented the democratic yearnings of the Colombian people. Eduardo, convinced always of the inherent right of peoples to self- determination, to protest, and to unioni, neighborhood, student, peasant, and popular organization, assumed the defense of popular leaders criminally prosecuted and jailed just for the "crime" of defending their rights or dissent from the official policies. He also denounced the way the "justice without a face" became an instrument of political persecution on the part of the State through the use of false evidence, witnesses without a face, clonation of witnesses, etc., as in the case of the defense he made of union leaders of TELECOM, USO, UNEB, ANUC, ONIC, and many popular organizations criminalized for their opposition to the antipopular policies of various governments. Eduardo always believed in the equality of peoples and never wavered in his desire to serve citizens of other nationalities, as in the case of four Dominicans detained in Colombia accused of belonging to insurgent movements. This case was presented before the United Nations, body that declared the Colombian State responsible for the arbitrary detention of these individuals. A convinced democrat, Eduardo always refused to follow the game of a State that applies a policy of persecution against any trace of inconformity, what he called "dirty war" or State-sponsored terrorism. During the Turbay administration, he organized the defense of political prisoners on trial in Military Tribunals. Years later, faced with the Massacre at the Palace of Justice, Eduardo denounced the disapparition of dozens of people that left the building alive and never made it to their homes. The horrible murder of Dr. Umana Mendoza attempts against the democratic freedoms that he symbolized and led. In his memory, we must assume with increased strength the banner of the struggle for democratic freedoms and rights. All who wish for a Colombia free of inequalities, all the mothers and relatives who while crying for their sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, or parents, found in Eduardo, in his work, a seed of justice and freedom; the popular leaders that suffer State persecution; all who follow his steps and work for the defense human rights, will never forget him nor will allow that his assassination be relegated to impunity. Eduardo always struggled against a State that builds itself on ignominy, on a dirty war, on terror, on hunger, on poverty, on corruption and on the exclusion of the great majority. That State, and only that State is responsible for his death as it is for the deaths of countless popular leaders, more so, when his death is framed in the systematic plan that has been responsible for the deaths of Josue Giraldo Cardona of the Civic Committee of Meta Department, Victor Julio Garzon of FENSUAGRO, Jesus Maria Valle of the Permanent Commission on Human Rights, Maria Arango Fonnegra, ex-member of the PCC, etc. We demand the punishment of his murderers, of the intellectual and material culprits of the crime. The Corporation Lawyers Collective "Jose Alvear Restrepo" (Corporacion Colectivo de Abogados "Jose Alvear Restrepo") April 18, 1998 >Personeria Juridica 1292 of 1980 - Minjusticia ANOTHER STATE CRIME The Human Rights Collective Freedom Seeds (El Colectivo de Derechos Humanos Semillas de Libertad), which encompasses the organizations that sign this communique, expresses to the national and international communities its repudiation of the ignominious and abominable murder suffered today by the lawyer and defender of human rights, JOSE EDUARDO UMANA MENDOZA, in events that took place this afternoon, April 18, 1998, in Santafe de Bogota. ANTECEDENTS 1.- JOSE EDUARDO UMANA MENDOZA participated actively since the 70s in defense of human rights in Colombia, through his participation on the development of various non-governmental organizations. 2.- His role in defense of political prisoners was a constant throughout his professional life. In each of the processes he participated, he was characterized for his undefeated urge for justice to prevail. Never did he doubt in denouncing openly and without beating about the bush the role of the Military Penal Justice as a factor in the violation of the human rights of the persons submitted to it, as well as an instrument of impunity favoring the members of the Public Forces. At the present time, he was continuing his tireless labor and, with clarity, had pointed to the role of the Attorney General's Office, which in open collusion and connivance with the Public Forces, was preparing and designing penal processes in order to attempt against union and social organizations, part of which the nation remembers as what happened to the leaders of the Union Sindical Obrera, USO. 3- At the same time, Eduardo was tireless in his struggle for human rights. His denunciation of the murders of indigenous, union, and peasant leaders led him to point publicly to the nets that worked within the security organizations of the State, and to the responsibility of military intelligence in the implementation of the dirty war. As part of his activity, he zeroed on his efforts to solve the forced disapparition of more that 12 people in the events at the Palace of Justice, achieving a declaration of responsibility of the Colombian State in the execution of these Crimes Against Humanity. 4- Eduardo was always characterized by the depth and sharpness of his analysis of the national and international situation, which he shared frequently through academic teaching as well as in meetings with communities and popular organizations. All of it, and also the recognition that he enjoyed among the international community for his commitment for the dignity, the justice, and the rights of peoples, made him worthy of being named Judge of the Permanent Tribunal of the Peoples. Today there do not remain any doubts about the real governmental policy about human rights, in which all that counts is the international image, leaving aside the implementation of serious, decisive, and efficient measures in order to overcome the grave human rights crisis that Colombia currently undergoes. The national and international communities must reflect upon the motives that led to the crimes against JOSE EDUARDO UMANA MENDOZA, as well as against the lawyer JESUS MARIA VALLE JARAMILLO, which take place only days after the Colombian government got US certification, and after the President of the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations presented a declaration in which he recognized the efforts that were being made on the part of the authorities. We express our feelings of solidarity to Eduardo's relatives and friends, as well as our repudiation and indignation for the abrupt death of a great human rights defender. We cannot falter in the face of these criminal acts since they pretend to generate intimidation and terror in order to obtain impunity and to silence all who fight for truth, justice, and dignity. We call on human rights, neighborhood, student, peasant, union, and social organizations to mobilize together and denounce widely this abominable crime. We call on the international community to raise its most energetic voice of protest before the Colombian government and to obtain the suspension of all military aid to Colombia, as a means to make clear to the Colombian people its will to contribute in the reduction of human rights violations. Medellin, April 18, 1998 Sign Corporación Jurídica Libertad Corporación Sembrar Asfaddes Sec. Medellín Comité de Solidaridad con los Presos Políticos Comité de Derechos Humanos de Segovia Comisión de Derechos Humanos de Oriente Unido Corporación Procuradores Comunitarios Asociación Campesina de Antioquia Asociación Nacional de Ayuda Solidaria Sec Valle de Aburrá Secretaría de Derechos Humanos de Futran Comunidades Eclesiales de Base Translated by: Colombia Support Network P.O. Box 1505 Madison, WI 53701 (608) 257-8753 fax (608) 255-6621 csn@igc.apc.org http://www.igc.apc.org/csn
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