PBI-Colombia accompanies Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation at meeting with the German Embassy

On June 17, PBI-Colombia tweeted:

“Thank you @EmbAlemaniaCOL [German Embassy in Colombia] @caritas_ci [Caritas International] for meeting with @nydia_erika [Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation] after attacks and illegal intelligence against them, affecting +400 victims of #Forced Disappearance. International support is essential for #Women Searchers who demand Truth, Justice and Non-Repetition. @giz_gmbh [German Society for International Cooperation]”

This follows the German Embassy tweeting:

“Kidnapping, physical attacks, theft of sensitive information from victims. Very worrying what the Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation has told us and the pressure to which the social leaders of the country are subjected. It is essential to clarify the crimes and more security.”

PBI-Colombia also recently accompanied the Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation at meetings with representatives of the Embassies of France, Sweden, the European Union and Ireland.

This meeting follows a break-in at the office of the Foundation on June 5.

Infobae has reported: “[The Nydia Érika Bautista Foundation] denounced that in the early hours of last Sunday [June 5] a man entered the headquarters of the foundation in Bogotá where he stole information linked to a meeting [on June 1] with the president of the Truth Commission, the Jesuit priest Francisco de Roux, and photographs of the victims represented, members of the work team and the families that are accompanied by the foundation.”

Still from video of the break-in.

The Foundation has also stated: “These acts of intimidation of our defense of victims of forced disappearance, sexual violence and victims during the National Strike, now occur in the context of the recent delivery of Recommendations to the Truth Commission, legal actions and memory.”

It has also denounced: “The repeated theft of information and resources from the Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation and its directives in the last 9 months are not isolated events, they affect more than 400 victims in territories and could derive from intelligence and intimidation actions.”

In response, PBI-Colombia has tweeted: “Deep concern and solidarity with @nydia_erika for direct attack, theft of sensitive information and #illegal intelligence that exposes them to high risk as well as victims #Forced Disappearance to those who defend! Effective investigations are urgently needed to avoid #Impunity.”

PBI-Canada joins with the concern expressed by PBI-Colombia and other entities calling for an investigation and recovery of the stolen information.