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With this document, the Cali subdivision of the
Colombian University Workers Union (abbr. SINTRAUNICOL) in Valle
University seeks to draw national and international attention to
events which occurred on April 4th,
2009, when members of the Colombian National Police Force and
Prosecutor's Office entered the university with the intention of
carrying out a raid.
EVENTS:
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At approximately 4:30 am on April 4th
2009, officers from the National Police Force, apparently ordered by
prosecutor Ángela Londoño of Cali, entered the
university with the aim of carrying out a raid of buildings 385
(Estanislao Zuleta), 381 (Physical Education and Sports) and the
workshop.
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This raid, led by the National Police Force in
collaboration with the Mobile Anti-Riot Squad (ESMAD) and the
Judicial Investigations and Intelligence Service (SIJIN), continued
until approximately 7:00 am and was directed by General Ricardo
Ricaurte, commander of the Valle del Cauca police force.
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The ESMAD and police personnel participating in
this operation proceeded to identify and photograph the human rights
campaigners and university workers that tried to confirm the
validity of the actions, preventing them from doing so.
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It is incredibly worrying that the authorities
claim to have seized explosive material outdoors. It is extremely
strange that, if this material was found outdoors, it should be in
perfect condition and show no signs of degradation or dampness from
it's exposure to the elements.
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In addition, we condemn the way the Prosecutor's
Office refused to present the documents authorizing the raid and
furthermore that the needless blank space they contained could well
have been a mechanism to enable them to be altered according to how
events would unfold.
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It is extremely strange that, though no criminal
material was recorded found during the raid carried out in the
workshop building, subsequently the National Police Force altered
records to claim that sizeable quantities not registered at the time
were seized.
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This raid occurred only a few hours afters after
a Valle University High Council meeting with the Valle del Cauca
government in which no mention of it was made. During this session
the various university departments stated the failure of the
government to meet its legal obligations to provide funding to the
university. These funds have been embezzled by the current Governor,
Juan Carlos Abadía C since January 1st, 2008.
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Additionally we condemn the claims made to the
media by General Ricardo Ricaurte, Commander of the Police, that the
university was now closed, in conflict with the autonomy of the
university whose competent authorities have not reached this
decision.
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As well as the four students and a teacher who
have been assassinated between 2005 and 2007, in the last few months
various members of the university have been taken hostage,
threatened and persecuted, like the cases at the Buenaventura site
of the university and the murder of the student in his second term
studying Company Administration Juan
David Jiménez Caballos on March 26th
2009 a few meters from the Zarzal site in the north of the Cauca
Valley.
These
details and the dawn raid are occuring in the context of a montage of
legal proceedings against workers, students and teachers in the
National Universities; Pedagógica, Distrital, Industrial of
Santander, Antioquia and of la Guajira (the last two there have also
been assassinations of students in March 2009) and where academic
work and social protest are cataloged by the authorities as guerrilla
or terrorist actions. It is unsetteling that this persecution is
being carried out at a time when State universities are financially
very weak.
Due
to the above, we request you to demand that the colombian authorities
will ;
a)
thoroughly investigate the irregularities which we have denounced
here, as well as the acts which are weakening State Universities and
attacking their autonomy.
Cali,
April 4th
2009.
Signed,
Sindicato
de Trabajadores Universitarios de Colombia SINTRAUNICOL- Subdirectiva
Cali
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