Peace Brigades International (PBI) remembers union leader Luciano Romero Molina on the 20th anniversary of his murder.
The Committee for Solidarity with Political Prisoners (CSPP), an organization accompanied by PBI, has posted on Instagram:
“Luciano Romero Molina was a union leader, human rights defender and member of the CSPP. As director of the CUT [Central Union of Workers] and leader of SINALTRAINAL [the National Union of Food Workers], he dedicated his life to defending the workers of the agri-food sector and to denounce the abuses of multinationals in the Cesar.
In September 2005, he was tortured and murdered in Valledupar, in a crime that evidenced the alliance between paramilitary groups and state agents to silence the voice of unionism.
His case is documented in reports from the CSPP, ASOEXCICNES and the CUT, and recognized by the JEP [Special Jurisdiction for Peace] in macro-case 08. However, nearly 20 years after his murder, there are no state and business officials sanctioned.”
Their post on September 12 adds: “Today we continue to demand truth, justice and complete reparation. Because defending human rights can’t cost a life. Because unionism in Colombia deserves to live. Because impunity can’t have the final word.”
Last year, the Central Union of Workers remembered: “On September 11, 2005, his body was found tied hand and foot and with serious signs of having been tortured, since about 40 wounds were inflicted on him with sharp weapons.”
They further noted: “Due to the death threats to which he had been subjected, he had precautionary measures and at the end of 2004, he was welcomed by the Asturian Programme for Temporary Relocation (PAV) focuses on human rights defenders (PAV-DDHH), leaving the country for a prudent time with the same purpose of protecting his life.”
In June 2015, the PBI accompanied José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective (CAJAR) commented: “Luciano’s death is a crime against humanity because it is part of a systematic and unpunished persecution that aims to exterminate Colombian trade unionism.”
Those threats continue against union members in Colombia.
This past February, the National Union of Food Workers (Sinaltrainal) demanded: “End of harassment and threats: they denounce that the members of the union have received death threats, and demand guarantees for their safety.”
On February 27, 2025, Periferia reported: “According to reports from the National Trade Union School, delivered to the Truth Commission in 2020, 3,240 trade unionists were killed in Colombia between 1971 and 2018. Sinaltrainal counts 39 members who were victims of the homicidal crusade, the first in 1989 and the most recent in 2018.”
That article in Periferia further noted: “An investigation is still open against five Nestlé executives into the murders committed by paramilitary groups against two Sinaltrainal executives: Luciano Enrique Romero in 2005, and Víctor Eloy Mieles Ospino in 1999; both were declared crimes against humanity.”
We continue to follow this.
