E-055/99ie
May 25, 1999 

OAS SECRETARY GENERAL CONDEMNS KIDNAPPING
OF COLOMBIAN SENATOR PIEDAD CÓRDOBA

 

César Gaviria, the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), today strongly condemned the kidnapping of Colombian senator Piedad Córdoba. He demanded her immediate release.

In a statement he released in Stockholm, Sweden, where he is participating in a meeting of the Consultative Group for Central American Reconstruction, Mr. Gaviria—a former Colombian president—described last Friday’s kidnapping as "a violation of basic human rights and without justification whatsoever."

Recalling that as chair of the Senate Human Rights Committee, "Ms. Córdoba has played a vital role in the quest for peace and coexistence in Colombia," the OAS chief said "Her work has always been marked by a genuine sense of independence and commitment to defending the fundamental principles of human dignity. Her kidnapping is a reprehensible act that the entire international community joins us Colombians in repudiating."

"I extend my heart-felt sympathies to Ms. Córdoba’s family and hope that she will be immediately freed, safe and sound," Mr. Gaviria’s statement said.

**********