Jaime Prieto Mendez
| Jaime Prieto Mendez | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1954 |
| Nationality | Colombian |
| Organization | Committee in Solidarity with Political Prisoners |
| Known for | human rights activism |
| Awards | Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award |
Jaime Prieto Mendez (born c. 1954[1]) is a Colombian human rights activist. The Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights describes him as "internationally regarded as a founder of the modern Colombian human rights movement",[2] and in 1998 awarded him its Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award along with fellow Colombian activists Berenice Celeyta, Gloria Florez, and Mario Calixto.[3]
Prieto began his career as a teacher in a poor area of Bogotá. Feeling that lack of "human rights literacy" increased the abuses against the poor, he began a human rights education program for which authorities later imprisoned him. In 1976, he joined the Committee in Solidarity with Political Prisoners, and in 1990 he became its executive director, a position he held until 1998. He then took a teaching position at a university in Bogotá.[2]
References
- ↑ "Four Activists Deplore Tide of Violence". The Miami Herald. 10 November 1998. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
- 1 2 "Colombia: Jaime Prieto Mendez". Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human rights. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
- ↑ "1998: Berenice Celeyta, Gloria Florez, Jaime Prieto & Mario Calixto, Colombia". Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. Retrieved 5 July 2012.