Rights group decries latest Colombia union murders

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

Rights group decries latest Colombia union murders
Wed Nov 7, 2007 4:47pm EST
By Hugh Bronstein

BOGOTA, Nov 7 (Reuters) - The murder of two Colombian labor leaders last week underscores the need for the government to start prosecuting those who have killed more than two dozen union members this year, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday.

A free trade deal with the United States is stalled and U.S. military aid is being reconsidered due to rights concerns and a scandal linking members of Colombia's Congress to right-wing death squads known for gunning down union members.

Against this diplomatically sensitive backdrop, Jairo Giraldo of the national fruit-workers union and Leonidas Silva of a teachers' union were murdered in separate incidents. The killers have not been caught.
(snip)

More than 2,500 trade unionists have been killed over the last 20 years and 26 in 2007 alone, and almost all of the cases are unsolved, according to Colombian labor rights groups.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/americasCrisis/idUSN07311316