23 August, 2010
The most dangerous country for trade unionists saw yet another assassination, 12 August, when Luis German Restrepo Maldonado, President of the Colombian packers’ union Sintraempaques, was shot in the head outside a café in public, in the city of Medellin, by a hit man who evaded arrest.
Prominent trade union leader Maldonado was 58 years old and had spent 40 years representing workers in the central Colombian district of Antioquia.
Assassinated Luis German Restrepo Maldonado
Maldonado also served the Colombian national centre CGT, as treasurer of the Antioquia region. The National Executive Committee of the CGT, led by Julio Gómez Esguerra, condemned the brutal attack, and expressed its solidarity to the family. The CGT added that it “will not be cornered by these acts of violence”. It has become expected in Colombia that crimes against trade unionists are not properly investigated, with the perpetrator almost never brought to justice. The CGT has demanded that this trend does not continue.
This latest murder again brings into question the decision to remove Colombia from the list of 25 countries sanctioned for trade union rights abuses, by the ILO’s Committee on the Application of Standards, in June this year.
The murdered trade unionist is survived by five children, Freddy, Lisette, Veronica, Juan Carlos, and Luis Herman.