Piedad Cordoba. Photo credit: EneasMX

On October 6, the National Lawyers Guild International Committee sent the letter below to the Fiscalia General (Attorney General’s office) of Colombia, urging precautionary measures to be taken to protect the life of former Colombian Senator, human rights defender and prominent advocate of the Peace Accords, Piedad Cordoba.  On September 30, 2020, her security vehicle was attacked by a group of eight armed men in a clear threat on her life; this follows multiple threats of assassination over the years.

The Guild has long worked with Piedad Cordoba and her fellow human rights defenders who aim to uphold the Peace Accords and work to achieve social justice in Colombia. Indeed, we had the honor of hearing her as a speaker at a reception at the Venezuelan embassy for Guild members attending the NLG’s 2007 Law for the People Convention in Washington, D.C., where she discussed U.S. complicity in human rights violation and political imprisonment of Colombian activists. She also met with members of the joint NLG/Alliance for Global Justice delegation to Colombia one year later, hosting delegates at her home.

As noted in the letter, “We admire and applaud the work of our colleague, Piedad Cordoba, who has struggled tirelessly to bring peace with social justice to Colombia and defend the Peace Accords. We unequivocally support her effort to help resolve the conflicts of the past decades by using the mechanism of the Truth Commission. The Fiscalía should support her as well and protect her right to speak her truth. We ask that the Fiscalía take precautionary measures to protect Piedad Cordoba and provide any necessary guarantees to comport with the rule of law.”

Download the letter: in English | in Spanish

Dear Mr. Barbosa Delgado:

We are writing to request the Colombian government take immediate action to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators of the attack on the security vehicle of ex-Senator Piedad Cordoba in Bogota on September 30, 2020, by a group of 8 armed men.  Given all the threats on her life over the years, including two armed attacks within the past year, there is no question that the attack on her vehicle was intended as an attack on her life at a crucial moment when she is set to speak her truth to the Truth Commission  (Comisión para el Esclarecimiento de la Verdad, la Convivencia y la No Repetición), which is a part of the Integral System of the Truth, Justice, Reparation and Non Repetition (Sistema Integral de Verdad, Justicia, Reparación y No Repetición – SIVJRNR)—a system whose legitimacy has been upheld by the Colombian legislature and courts, as well as the UN Security Council.

For over eighty years, the National Lawyers Guild—the oldest and largest association of public interest and human rights lawyers and legal workers in the United States—has fought to further human rights in the United States and through the work of the NLG International Committee, to protect human rights defenders all over the world.

We are familiar with the situation in Colombia and understand that the peace process has intractable enemies in high places and assassins who do their bidding. By some estimates, two hundred and thirty-one ex-combatants as well as over seven hundred social leaders have been assassinated since the signing of the peace agreement. In the case of most of these murders no one has been held responsible and there is a cloud of impunity over these brutal acts. We have longstanding ties with valiant attorneys and human rights workers who risk their lives every day to defend the rights of the Colombian people, specifically those who are seeking, despite all odds, to implement the 2016 Peace Accords.

We admire and applaud the work of our colleague, Piedad Cordoba, who has struggled tirelessly to bring peace with social justice to Colombia and defend the Peace Accords. We unequivocally support her effort to help resolve the conflicts of the past decades by using the mechanism of the Truth Commission. The Fiscalía should support her as well and protect her right to speak her truth. We ask that the Fiscalía take precautionary measures to protect Piedad Cordoba and provide any necessary guarantees to comport with the rule of law.

Sincerely,

National Lawyers Guild International Committee

English letter:

Spanish letter: