Ei-iE

EI is delighted to inform all members and Global Union partners that Raquel Castro, Colombian teacher and union activist, was released from prison last August 2nd.

Castro and Samuel Morales Flores, members of the Arauca Teachers’s Union, were arrested by the Colombian army on 5 August 2004 following a military operation, on the course of which they witnessed the assassination of three trade union colleagues.

Castro and Morales were distinguished with the EI Human and Trade Union Rights Award. Neither teacher were able to attend the gala awards ceremony in Berlin during the recent EI World Congress. Morales had been released in May 2007, but the government of Colombia denied him permission to leave the country. Castro, despite the fact that she should have been released last May as well, remained in prison until August 2nd.

EI will continue to monitor the situation of trade union and human rights in Colombia and wishes to thank member organisations and everyone who has campaigned for their release and shown solidarity with Castro and Morales.

EI is committed to campaigning for the release of trade unionists unfairly imprisoned by Colombia’s repressive government.