Good afternoon. I would like to thank you for receiving me and listening to what I have to say. I'll try to be brief in spite of the fact that I have many things to say.
My name is Yessika Hoyos Morales, and I am the daughter of Jorge Darío Hoyos Franco, a trade unionist who was assassinated in the year 2001. My father was one of the 2,709 trade unionists who have been killed since 1986 up to this date. This year,16 trade unionists have already been killed.
The problem is not only the murders but the impunity around the murderers. According to the data provided by the prosecutor general's office, up to January this year they have only investigated 816 of these murders.
In Colombia, not only trade unionists are being assassinated. We also have many of our human rights defenders, journalists, and people who belong to social organizations being killed. From July 2002 up to 2007, 1,112 extrajudicial killings took place.
The Colombian government is seriously implicated in the activities of the paramilitaries. Jorge Noguera, the former director of the national security department in Colombia, the intelligence department of the country, is being investigated by the prosecutor's office because of his links with the paramilitary.
Mr. Jorge Visbal Martelo, former ambassador of Colombia to Canada up until two years ago, is being investigated today by the prosecutor's office for his links with the paramilitary.
There are other illegal activities on the part of the Colombian government--for example, the tapping of the telephone lines of human rights defenders, journalists, members of the opposition party, and even the magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice, and of the three largest trade union organizations in the country.
I will close my remarks by stating that there are multiple violations of human rights in my country. I would like to thank you for giving me this opportunity, because it is usually other voices that are heard at forums like this.
I am very thankful to you for listening to me, because in Colombia there are really serious violations of human rights.