Teacher murdered by shadowy hands in the town of Puerto Tejada, Cauca.

PUBLIC DENUNCIATION

(Translated by Peter Lenny, a CSN volunteer translator)


The question we keep asking is how long we educators will have to stand for the barbarity we are subject to by this decadent State misgoverned under purported security policies, which in practice have brought nothing but desolation, displacement and death to Colombia.

We have not yet finishing mourning three murdered teachers, our colleagues, and already we face another period of mourning for our colleague Bernarda Zúñiga. She was threatened with death in the town of Buenos Aires Cauca, and was working as a teacher in Puerto Tejada where she was tragically killed. What is especially worrying teachers in Cauca is, firstly, that all these murders have been committed against teachers who are members of our trade union; secondly, that three of the four murders were against women; and lastly, that all these cases have gone unpunished and the government has not even made any kind of pronouncement.

The Cauca teachers’ association “ASOINCA” repudiates the vile murder of the educator, our colleague, BERNARDA ZÚÑIGA IMBACHI, who worked at the “San Pedro Claver” educational institution in the town of Puerto Tejada.

On 21 May 2007, she was found murdered with a gunshot wound to the head at a deserted part of the La Ventura area of the Timba district in the municipality of Buenos Aires. She had been receiving death threats for the last year and a half, and the Committee on Death Threats had accordingly granted her official “under threat” status. What we cannot accept is that the local administration transferred her, with no protection, to a place close to where she was later killed, because hers was a very risky case. For that reason, we demand an investigation and the corresponding declaration from the authorities. This murder was perpetrated by persons unknown who took her from a party where she was talking to friends.

In her teaching career, this educator and colleague, who at the time of her death was a member or our union, won distinction for her academic qualifications which, with the greatest quality and dedication, she placed at the service of all her students at the various teaching institutions where she worked in the state. She was also a colleague who distinguished herself in the struggle for public education, for the rights of teachers, children, young people and the underprivileged generally.

We repudiate the horrendous crime committed against our colleague and demand that the competent authorities conduct proper and timely investigations so that this crime, which today has brought so much grief to our organization, the educational community in Cauca, and especially her family, does not go unpunished as have so many other crimes.

We call on the government to guarantee fully the freedom to teach and trade union activity and we call, particularly, on the Ministry of the Interior to honor the agreements reached with our trade union organization. This is becoming so recurrent that we find ourselves with no alternative but to hold the government accountable for whatever may happen to our colleagues in our trade union organization, ASOINCA.

We call on the international community, and Colombian and international human rights NGOs, to help denounce the aggression, forced displacement, murders and persecution of Colombian educators.



WE DEMAND

 

THAT THE OFFICE OF THE UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS (UNHCHR)

• fulfill its mandate in overseeing compliance by the Colombian State with its constitutional obligations and the rules of international human rights law (IHRL)

 

THAT THE COLOMBIAN STATE

• comply immediately with the reiterated recommendations made by the United Nations Human Rights Commission, the OAS Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and other international organizations, as regards its respecting and complying with International Human Rights Law.

• halt the repressive measures and the intimidation that teachers in Cauca are being subject to by shadowy forces.

• guarantee the right to life, physical and psychological well-being, and freedom of movement of teachers in Cauca.

• begin the necessary investigations to elucidate the events that took place in the locality of Timba Cauca in the Cauca Department, on 20 May 2007, and which resulted in the murder of the educator and our colleague BERNARDA ZUÑIGA IMBACHI by hired killers.

 

THAT THE GOVERNMENT OF CAUCA

• halt and pronounce itself against the repressive measures and intimidation that teachers in Cauca are being subject to by shadowy forces.

• begin the necessary investigations to elucidate the events that happened to the teacher mentioned above.

 

THAT THE PUBLIC DEFENDER’S OFFICE

• perform its institutional role of ensuring that the constitutional rights to life of educators in Colombia and in Cauca are guaranteed and respected.

• begin the necessary investigations to elucidate the events that happened to the teacher mentioned above.

 

WE REQUEST

 

THAT THE OFFICE OF THE UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS (UNHCHR)

• in fulfillment of its mandate, provide all possible assistance so that the efforts of the Colombian State comply with Colombian and international rules that it has undertaken to abide by and that the respective  investigations  be started given the fact that the office has no previous knowledge of the facts described.

 

THAT THE COLOMBIAN AND INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITIES:

• demand that the government of Colombia comply immediately with the reiterated recommendations made by the United Nations Human Rights Commission, the OAS Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and other international organizations, as regards its respecting and complying with International Human Rights Law.

• demand that the government of Colombia guarantee the right to life, physical and psychological well-being, and freedom of movement of the citizens of Cauca Department, and especially its teachers.

• demand that the government of the department headed by the government guarantee the right to life and physical and psychological well-being of the communities.

• demand that the government of Colombia and of the Department of Cauca begin the necessary investigations to establish the facts of what happened to the teachers ALCIRA TAPIA MUÑOZ and TERESA SILVA, on 21 and 28 March 2007, MIGUEL MASIAS on 22 April 2007, and BERNARDA ZUÑIGA IMBACHI.

 

WE URGE HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANISATIONS AND GRASSROOTS ORGANISATIONS TO STAY WATCHFUL AND ALERT WITH REGARD TO THE CRITICAL HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION THAT CONFRONTS THE DEPARTMENT OF CAUCA.

 

FRATERNALLY:

HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION

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