By: Ornella Márquez
He is one of the most recognized personalities in the latin community in Toronto and also among human rights defenders. Mario Guilombo arrived in Canada in 2001 with his family, after his daughter Lilian Julieth Guilombo Angarita, who at that time was 5 years old, assassins broke his legs as a warning to his father.
Guilombo, who at the time was an officer in the Colombian Navy, was victim of five assassination attempts in 2001, after revealed to his superiors a network inside the institution that had ties to drug traffickers and paramilitaries.
“Protection was repeatedly requested for my family and for me and it was never obtained, and at the decision of the honorable Colombia State Council he ordered forgiveness at a ceremony,” said the retired officer at the public ceremony held at the facilities of the National Navy at the Catam Military Complex “CATAM – El Dorado Airport”.
Guilombo, who attended accompanied by his daughter Lilian Julieth and his wife Liliana Angarita Buitrago, affirmed stay calm now with the pardon that they requested and satisfied because those who denounced were dismissed and responded to justice.
Currently, Guilombo, his wife and daughter are founding members and directors of the Canadian Human Rights International Organization (CHRIO) and the Collective Human Rights Defenders Laura Acosta International Organization (COHURIDELA), organizations that work for the defense of human rights, in Canada and the world.
For him and his family, the social work that they do through in CHRIO and Cohuridela, is a way of giving back to all those who helped him at his worst moment, when he arrived in Canada, with only $ 20 in his pocket and with not English, after the attack that their suffered in their native country.