President of SINALTRAINAL Assassinated

It is with much pain we inform you that our comrade Luciano
Romero, President of SINALTRAINAL, has been assassinated. He
was last seen by a family member at about 9:00 PM driving a
Spring taxi with plates VP 473 on September 10th in the city
of Valledupar. He was later found tied with about 40 stab
wounds and signs of torture.

Luciano Romero who was 45 years old and is survived by 4
children and his partner, worked in the Ciclac-Nestle factory
in the city of Valledupar where he was fired on October 22,
2002 due to an allegation that he engaged in an illegal strike
which was really a protest meeting.

Our comrade Luciano had been threatened with death which is
why on various occasions he had left Valledupar for his own
protection and was once in Gijon, Spain in a program of
protection and solidarity. He was the union’s delegate to
the Political Prisoners Solidarity Committee in which he
carried out solidarity and humanitarian activities for the
detainees.

We repudiate this horrendous crime, which is part of the
interminable list of assassinated Colombian union leaders with
in the strategy of State Terrorism and the persecution of
carried out by corporations in order to exterminate the labor
movement. We condemn the government of Alvaro Uribe Velez
and its deceptive Peace dialog with paramilitary groups that
continues to massacre the defenseless population and under
the law of Justice and Peace they will be recognized as legal
by the state which is nothing more that a pardon.

Send protest letters to:
Álvaro Uribe Vélez
Presidente de la República de Colombia
Carrera 8 No 7 -26 Palacio de Nariño,
Bogotá D. C.,
Colombia, South America

Telefax: (57) 1 5662071, E-mail: auribe@presidencia.gov.co

Fraternally,

LUIS JAVIER CORREA SUAREZ
President