Alerts in Colombia
Professor released after two years in prison
Alert Update
Date: 20 June 2011
Miguel Angel Beltran, a Colombian academic arrested two years ago for his alleged links with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), has been released recently after all the charges against him were dropped, Education International reported on 16 June.
Appeal to Free Colombian Professor
Action Alert
Date: 14 September 2010
Education International has launched a global petition calling for the release of Professor Miguel Beltrán, who was imprisoned in 2009 on charges that violate his right to academic freedom.
Two Teacher Unionists Murdered
Alert
Date: 15 November 2007
o Restrepo Campo was shot dead outside the San Juan Bosco School in the town of Cartago by two armed men on a motorcycle, Education International has said.
Student Killed by Anti Riot Squad in Bogota
Alert
Date: 08 March 2006
Oscar Leonardo Salas, a linguistic student from the University of Bogotá, was killed during a protest in the Colombia capital the 8 March 2006. He was 20 years old. Students were holding a protest at of the National University of Bogotá against the singing by the Colombian government of the Andean Free Trade Treaty with the US, Peru and Ecuador.
Student demonstrator shot dead by police
Action Alert
Date: 23 September 2005
University Professors, trade unionist and students are attacked, harassed and often killed in Colombia with increasing frequency. Justice for Colombia informs that on 22 September 2005 a student union activist, Jhony Silva Aranjuren was shot dead by police while attending a rally at the University of Valle, in the city of Cali.
Professor and Journalist Forced to Flee after Attempt on Life
Alert
Date: 19 July 2005
Professor Ochoa Restrepo, who is also director of a television station was forced to leave his hometown in Colombia after an attempt on his life and further intimidation Julián Alberto Ochoa Restrepo, professor at the University of Antioquia and director of a tv channel in the city, has been forced to leave the region on 13 July 2005 after an attempt on his life occurred the 23 May 2005.
Murdered for Standing Up for Public Education
Alert
Date: 06 October 2004
Colombia news agency reports that the past weeks have seen a huge upsurge in deadly attacks on students, teachers and other workers in the Colombian education sector. Students and staff in the Colombian education sector strongly oppose a referendum, due to be held in October 2004, arguing that it includes measures that will destroy the public education system in Colombia.
Popular University Professor and Human Rights Activist Murdered in Colombia
Alert
Date: 24 September 2004
The Colombian pffice of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights firmly condemned the murder of Professor Alfredo Correa de Andreis and his bodyguard, and calls for a full investigation of this murder. Professor Correa, assassinated on September 2004 in the Colombian city of Barranquilla, was a sociologist, agronomist and defender of human rights.
Civil war 'kills one teacher a week'
Alert
Date: 23 May 2003
One teacher or lecturer in Colombia has been killed every week so far this year according to Fecode, the country's teachers' union. The Times Higher Education Supplement reported that the death toll has increased sharply each year since 1999, when it stood at 27. Officials last month told a visiting delegation, including UK lecturers and education trade unionists, that 83 teachers were murdered in 2002 as a result of Colombia's civil war.
Student Disappeared in Colombia
Alert
Date: 13 May 2003
Marlon Mina Gambi, a student at the Javeriana University in Cali (Colombia) has disappeared. The news comes from the Peace and Human Rights Commission of USO (Unión Sindical Obrera-Oilworkers Union). Marlon is the son of Yesid Mina, a worker at the Ecopetrol oil refinery in Cartagena and a member of USO.
Alert
Date: 21 January 2003
Education International has written a protest letter to the President of the Republic of Colombia and the Minister of the Interior and Justice, to condemn the assassination of educator José Marcelino Díaz González. González was the Rector of the Floirán Farias College, in the municipality of TAME, department of Arauca.
Concern for Members of Colombian Teacher’s Association
Action Alert
Date: 17 September 2002
Amnesty International (AI) reported in an alert of 17 September 2002 that there were concerns for the safety of various trade union members, including members of the Association of Teachers of Arauca (ASEDAR). Trade union members from ASEDAR as well as members of the Colombian Electricity Workers' Trade Union (SINTRAELECOL) Arauca Branch; the health workers' union (ANTHOC); journalists; and other social activists in the department of Arauca had also received death threats.