The Bogota city council Monday expressed concern over the death threats it is receiving from the metropolitan block of neo-paramilitary drug-trafficking organization the “Aguilas Negras.”
Councilor Alvaro Argote said that he and other councilors, as well as Polo Democratico congressmen and human rights organizations, have all received numerous death threats from the criminal group via letter and email.
According to Argote, emails sent by the Aguilas Negras declare opposition congressmen and NGOs as military targets.
“Despite the fact that the proper notifications have been made to the competent authorities, neither the police, nor the intelligence centers, nor the district government secretariat, no response has been received,” Argote said.
Argote’s comments follow the attempted murder of Marco Romero, the director of CODHES, a Colombian NGO that campaigns for human rights and against forced displacement, last weekend.
Before the attack, Romero reported receiving three death threats from drug trafficking criminal gangs “Aguilas Negras,” “Los Rastrojos,” and “Bloque Capital,” in the last week alone.
The assassination attempt on Romero follows the murder of a human rights activist in northern Colombia last week.
