Two recently formed paramilitary groups have claimed responsibility for the killing of Senator Manuel Cepeda Vargas on 9 August 1994. A group calling itself MACOGUE (“death to guerrillas”) isued a communique dated 10 August, claiming responsibility for the killing and threatening other popular activists and opposition leaders. On 10 August, several leaders of the USO trade union were reportedly threatened in a telephone call to USO’s office at Barrancabermeja oil refinery. The call apparently came from a group calling itself COLSIGUE (“Colombia without guerrillas”). AI is concerned about the possibility of further killings of opposition leaders and activists and trade unionists by paramilitaries.
