Reply #4: New item from today: Human rights groups accuse Colombian government of endangering activists [View All]

[Judi Lynn]

Human rights groups accuse Colombian government of endangering activists

The Associated Press
Wednesday, March 26, 2008

BOGOTA, Colombia: Human rights groups accused the administration of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe on Wednesday of endangering the lives of activists by suggesting they are linked to leftist rebels.

Directors of Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International USA, Refugees International, Human Rights First and 18 other groups demanded in a public letter that Uribe do more to protect human rights advocates and trade union members following a wave of killings earlier this month.

At least four people involved in a recent national march to protest paramilitary death squad violence were killed by the far-right groups, and dozens more threatened with death, the letter said.

It also accused close Uribe adviser Jose Obdulio Gaviria of jeopardizing the lives of people who took part in the march by suggesting it was organized by the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

"Baseless comments such as these are profoundly damaging to Colombian democracy and human rights, and place those against whom they are made in direct danger of violence," the letter said. It urged Uribe to "publicly disavow statements by Gaviria and others that linked the protest organizers to guerrillas."

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http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=11448033