These days, I learned of the health problems of my friend, colleague and ex-colleague, lawyer, environmentalist and communicator Rafael Vergara Navarro. I take this opportunity to relate shared work experiences that explain why I am a human rights defender and communicator.

Rafa is from Cartagena. He studied at the Universidad Externado de Colombia and obtained a doctorate degree in law in 1976, specializing in Agrarian Policy, Banking Administration and Public Law. Between 1968-1978 he worked at the Superintendencia Bancaria -now the Superintendencia Financiera- as auditor of the Mint, Director of International Exchange Control and General Director of Control of the Banco de la República.  In the last two I worked with him from 1975 to 1978.

The Exchange Control Office was in charge of overseeing the implementation of the Exchange Statute (Decree Law 444 of 1967) of former President Carlos Lleras Restrepo (1966-1970) by Colombian banks. The Statute was the country’s economic navigation chart for more than 25 years, with the principles of protection, foreign exchange rationing and foreign investment control.

The General Control Directorate of the Banco de la República was responsible for overseeing the country’s central banking system. Let us recall that the Bank was created by Law 25 of 1923 and has administrative, patrimonial and technical autonomy, according to the Political Constitution. Its main objective is to preserve the purchasing power of the currency, in coordination with the general economic policy.

President Julio César Turbay Ayala (1978-1982), author of the Security Statute, appointed Francisco Morris Ordoñez as Banking Superintendent (1978-1982). Mr. Morris fired several employees of the entity, which forced us to exercise the right of association enshrined in the constitution of 1886, and we formed the Union of Workers of the Banking Superintendency. Mr. Morris’ response was the massive dismissal of most of its members in order to put an end to the union, which he succeeded in doing. I was offered a promotion on the condition that I would leave the union. I did not accept the blackmail, I resigned irrevocably and disassociated myself from the entity on October 29, 1978. Rafa was not part of the union but he did support us.

At the beginning of 1979, the two of us opened a law office on Calle 17 and Carrera 5ª in Bogotá. A few months later we joined the legal team of the National Association of Professionals, ASONALPRO, which had its headquarters in the Teusaquillo neighborhood of Bogotá.  It met in the office of lawyers Humberto Vergara Portela, Raúl Burbano and Eduardo Umaña Mendoza, located in the PROAS building diagonal to ours, and Eduardo Carreño Wilches, Adolfo Salamanca, and the two Rafa’s joined us.

 

In December 1979 the ordinary assembly of ASONALPRO was held to evaluate the year’s activities and appoint a board of directors, but it was suspended when a quorum was not present. On January 9, 1980 the National Army raided the headquarters as part of the harassment of the work of the defense of political prisoners and persecuted political prisoners, and the interdisciplinary team of architects, economists, academics, judges and lawyers arrived there.

Shortly thereafter, Rafa Vergara’s downtown Bogotá apartment was raided, forcing him to seek asylum in Mexico in 1979 as a political option.  From that moment on, the law office we shared was permanently watched and besieged by state security agencies, which is why I had to close it at the end of that year.

In early 1980 we founded the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers Collective, CAJAR, together with Eduardo Umaña Luna, Eduardo Umaña Mendoza, María Consuelo del Rio, Daniel Medina González, Eduardo Carreño Wilches, Rafael Soto and myself.

The Lawyers’ Collective had its headquarters at Carrera 10ª and Calle 15 and obtained its legal status in March 1980. I was in charge of applying for it before the Mayor’s Office of Bogota, but was denied because I stated in the bylaws that one of the axes of our work was the “defense of political prisoners and persecuted people”. This was contrary to what President Julio César Turbay Ayala publicly stated that “in Colombia there are no political prisoners, the only political prisoner is me”, allegedly because I was locked up in the Casa de Nariño. My colleagues recommended deleting that part, I resubmitted the request and it was approved.

My life changed when I joined ASONALPRO and CAJAR.  From a lawyer expert in commercial and banking law, official worker and trade unionist, I became a lawyer defending human rights: the First Line. Farewell to the time when I was young, happy and undocumented, parodying Gabriel García Márquez.

In the 80’s our main activity was the defense of political prisoners and persecuted political prisoners. I was a defense attorney in the Verbal War Councils in cases such as the death of former Minister Rafael Pardo Buelvas and against members of Autodefensa Obrera in the Artillery School, and for the theft of weapons from Cantón Norte and other crimes in the Council of the Century against members of the M-19 in the penitentiary chapel of La Picota, south of Bogota. CAJAR also represented victims of forced disappearances such as Omaira Montoya in 1977 and the employees of the Palace of Justice cafeteria in 1985. 

Compelled by the circumstances of the country, since the 1990s CAJAR’s activity has focused on cases of torture, extrajudicial executions, massacres, and forced disappearances of persons at the national and international level. In the Inter-American Human Rights System we represent the victims of atrocious crimes such as the execution of the Unión Patriótica senator, Manuel Cepeda Vargas, the massacres of Santo Domingo and La Rochela, and the disappearances from the Palace of Justice. In recent years, we have opposed new strategies to eliminate political opposition, such as the removal of the former Mayor of Bogotá D.C., Gustavo Petro, by former Attorney General Alejandro Ordoñez.

Since 2002, attacks, threats, and persecutions against our institution have increased, with the illegal intelligence of the Administrative Department of Security, the political police of the Casa de Nariño led by former President Alvaro Uribe Velez. This persecution continues to this day with the “profiling” denounced by Semana magazine.

My namesake told me in a recording that he is much better now, that Rafa will be here for a long time to come. I am so glad! Without you I would not be who I am. Courage and lots of positive energy, you are an example of life. We need you to continue defending the environment, human rights and delighting us with your opinion columns.