The Latin American Working Group Education Fund (LAWGEF) and the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) invite you to a discussion on...

Spying on Democracy: Colombia's Intelligence Scandal

Featuring:

Rafael Barrios, José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers Association
Iván Cepeda Castro, National Movement for Victims of State Crimes
Conor Carrigan, Colombian Commission of Jurists
Hollman Morris, Journalist
Danilo Rueda, Intereclesial Commission for Justice and Peace

In May 2009, Colombian media revealed that the Colombian security agency that answers to the Colombian President, the DAS, conducted systematic surveillance against hundreds of persons belonging to human rights organizations, the political opposition, trade unions and judges, journalists and clergy. This illegal operation, which began in 2004, included routine surveillance of victims and their families by DAS agents, warrantless wiretapping, email interceptions, examination of bank and tax records, and break ins into homes and offices. Victims of this intelligence operation apparently were targeted because they were perceived to present a challenge to the Colombian government. Supreme Court judges, for example, were spied upon after they opened investigations into allegations of links between legislators and paramilitary groups. The DAS went beyond surveillance to carrying out acts of intimidation and death threats against those targeted by this operation. This event brings together various prominent Colombian jurists, journalists and others targeted by the DAS operation to discuss this scandal's influence on Colombian politics, the security of the victims and U.S. policy and programs towards Colombia.

English translation will be provided/

Thursday, July 30, 2009
10:30am-12pm
Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA)
1666 Connecticut Ave, 4th Floor conference room
Washington, DC

Please RSVP to Rachel Robb, (202) 797-2171 or rrobb@wola.org by July, 28, 2009.

Speakers' Bios:

Rafael Barrios is the founding member and the International Coordinator of the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers Association (CAJAR), a non-governmental human rights organization, created in 1980, whose objective is to strengthen the state of law, democracy, and human rights through national and international litigation. CAJAR was one of the organizations most subjected to the intensive, illegal wiretapping and other surveillance by the DAS intelligence agency in Colombia. They just released a report on the surveillance.

Iván Cepeda Castro, Director of the National Movement for Victims of State Crimes (MOVICE), an umbrella organization of more than 200 Colombian human rights organizations. He is also a columnist in the leading Colombian newspaper El Espectador. In 2007, Ivan was awarded the Roger N Baldwin Medal of Liberty by Human Rights First in recognition of Iván's human rights work and that of other Colombian human rights defenders who have been unfairly stigmatized by the Colombian government.

Conor Carrigan is an Irish lawyer who has been working in the research team of the Colombian Commission of Jurists (CCJ) since February 2008. Following the extradition of the paramilitary commanders to the United States, he has been researching this subject and working on lobbying efforts to ensure the United States authorities live up to their responsibilities to protect the rights of Colombian victims to truth, justice and reparation.

Hollman Morris, Since 2002 Hollman Morris has produced and directed the television show Contravia (countercurrent). Through dozens of half-hour shows, Hollman Morris has filmed eyewitness accounts of the most serious human rights situations in Colombia, constituting one of the most important video archives of the country's recent history. In November 2007 he received the prestigious Human Rights Watch Defender Award.

Danilo Rueda, Intereclesial Commission for Justice and Peace, is a social communicator with a Masters in Political Science. He was previously a Professor at the Javeriana and Externado University. Mr. Rueda is currently the coordinator for cases JyP is representing in the Inter-American System of Human Rights and writes for several international publications such as Actualidad Colombia and Radio Sur Norte. He also contributes to Magazine Peace and Justice and Contagio Radio.