Excmo. Sr. Presidente Gustavo Petro Urrego President of the Republic of Colombia contacto@presidencia.gov.co | Sra. Luz Adriana Camargo Attorney General of Colombia |
June 25, 2024
Dear President Petro and Attorney General Camargo:
We are saddened and outraged to learn of the assassination of social leader Alba Rocío Riaño Nossa, vice-president of the Community Action Board of Verbenal Paraíso in Ciudad Bolívar, one of 19 localities in the Capital District of Bogotá.
On June 16, she was approached by two hitmen who shot her several times in the middle of a public road in the El Paraíso neighborhood of Ciudad Bolívar. Two of the shots lodged in her skull. She was rushed to the Meissen Hospital where she finally lost her life on June 24.
In her role as a community leader, Alba Rocío Riaño Nossa had recently reported the sale of narcotics and other crimes committed by criminal groups in the El Verbenal neighborhood. Several armed groups operate in Ciudad Bolívar, including Block 33 of the FARC dissidents and the Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces, which is known to outsource its work to other criminal structures such as Los Boyacos and San Andresito Office.
We urge that authorities in Colombia:
- investigate the assassination of Alba Rocío Riaño Nossa, publish the results, and bring those responsible to justice
- consult with other social leaders in Ciudad Bolívar and offer them protection measures, in strict accordance with their wishes
- consult with community groups representing the five sectors of especially vulnerable populations identified by the government secretariat of Bogotá: human rights defenders, victims of human trafficking, LGBTI community members, former combatants in the reincorporation process, and victims of alleged abuse of authority
Sincerely,
Brian J. Stefan Szittai and Christine L. Stonebraker-Martínez
Co-Coordinators
copies:
Luis Gilberto Murillo Urrutia, Ambassador of Colombia to the US ~ via email, US mail
José Luis Caballero Ochoa, Rapporteur for Colombia , Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) ~ via email, US mail
UN: Juliette De Rivero, Representative in Colombia of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights ~ via email
US Embassy: Francisco Palmieri (Chargé d’Affaires, ad interim); Adam Levy (human rights) ~ via email
US State Department: Desk Officer for Colombia ~ via email
US Senators from Ohio: Brown & Vance ~ via email
US Representatives from Ohio: Beatty, Brown, Jordan, Joyce, Kaptur, Latta, Miller, Sykes ~ via email
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