Pedro Orozco Pérez, an adviser to the Atlántico branch of the CUT trade union confederation was shot by two unidentified gunmen in Barranquilla in October 2005; subsequently dying from his wounds. Trade unionists in Colombia are at grave risk of human rights abuses. Successive Colombian governments have implemented a series of policies to improve the protection of trade unionists. However, this has not guaranteed their safety. The long-term security of trade unionists depends on decisive action by the Colombian authorities to end the impunity which protects the vast majority of those responsible for the human rights abuses against them.
