Q&A: Colombia Still in the Icy Grip of Impunity
Q&A: Colombia Still in the Icy Grip of Impunity
By Alexander Chaves
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 20 2013 (IPS) - Death threats are hardly uncommon in Colombia. In fact, if you are a human rights activist, it is practically guaranteed.
Just ask Diego Martinez, executive secretary of the Permanent Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, a non-governmental organisation founded in 1979 during the Forum for the Defence of Human Rights and Democratic Freedom.
According to a six-year study by the National Centre for Historical Memory, Colombia’s conflict has claimed the lives of 220,000 people between 1958 and 2013, most of them civilians. And it remains one of the most dangerous places in the world for those would speak out against abuses.
Just last month, on Jul. 6, Martinez and his colleague, Jeison Paba Reyes, received a death threat via e-mail by an unidentified author. It was not the first.
More:
http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/08/qa-colombia-still-in-the-icy-grip-of-impunity/