Colombia: 'terrorist' attack on union headquarters
The offices of the Cali Municipal Workers Synidicate (Sintraemcali), located in the center of the Colombian industrial city, was attacked with hurled incendiary bombs April 16, causing damage to the facade and plumbing of the building. Sintraemcali called the bombing a "terrorist attack," and pledged to file a complaint with the Inter-American Human Rights Commission. The attack came five days after a judge in Bogotá ordered the president of the republic, Juan Manuel Santos, to issue a formal pardon to members of Sintraemcali, the Colombian University Workers Syndicate (Sintraunicol) and the Bogotá Telecommunications Workers Synidate (Sintratelefonos), who had been accused by former president Álvaro Uribe Vélez of being linked to terrorist groups and constituting a "Brotherhood of Terrorism." (Radio Caracol, Etorno Inteligente, April 16)
Colombia remains the most dangerous country in the world for unionists.
Another attack on Cali union leader
The Cali municipal workers' union Sintraemcali is calling for the National Protective Unite to instate special measures for their leaders following another attack that they are calling an attempted assassination. In the pre-dawn hours of May 21, assailaints hurled petrol bombs at the car of Sintraemcali vice president José Ernesto Reyes, which was parked outside his house in the city's Nueva Floresta district. The Toyota Corolla was completely gutted. "Now I am very concerned for the security of my family and the vulnerability of my hourse, as I live in working class neighborhood [barrio popular] where I've never had any problem with anybody and where everybody knows me," said Reyes. (El Pais)