Dione Perea was a union representative of the Teachers Association of Antioquia. Bautista considers the outlook bleak, pointing out that business owners can take advantage of the country's chaotic, violent atmosphere to threaten and attack union leaders. In addition, he says, most murders of union leaders, community and political leaders, human rights defenders, students and campesinos go unpunished. About 30,000 Colombians die violently every year. Paramilitary groups, which claim that union supporters aid the country's guerrilla insurgency, are accused of being responsible for most of these murders.
Some attacks claim individual victims, while others are massacres.
He is accused of participating in the murder attempt, along with three other police and 10 army officers. On April 7, the prosecutor investigating the case determined that military personnel from the Third Army Brigade in Cali were also involved. He has called for negotiators to place on the agenda sanctions for companies or public officials who finance or support armed groups operating outside the law. Armed violence is not the only threat to union members and leaders in Colombia. In many cases, he says, when unions present grievances, management counters with offers that withdraw rights that had been guaranteed under the workers' contracts.