European Parliament
Alyssandrakis (GUE/NGL ).
(EL)
Mr President, I wish to condemn the arrest, by the armed forces of Colombia, of Rubiel Vargas, a member of the Executive Committee of the Columbian Communist Youth and correspondent of the independent news agency Ancol. This arrest comes two months after the arrest of Gabriel Becerra, Secretary-General of the Communist Youth and representative of the social and political front of Colombia, on 23 January. Luz Perly Córdoba, a trade unionist from the agricultural movement Campesina de Arauca, was arrested on 18 February and the communist Marίa Lucero Henao was murdered, together with her husband, by soldiers on 6 February.
This is just a small sample of the persecutions suffered by communists and grass-roots fighters in general in Colombia. It illustrates just how hypocritical President Uribe was when he spoke of national reconciliation a few weeks ago, during the official reception which you and the few Members present in the House afforded him.

