On September, 2005, students of Universidad del Valle in Cali, Colombia, organized a protest action in rejection of the Free Trade Agreement negotiations with the US that were being carried out by Alvaro Uribe´s administration, who was president at the time. Amid a police attack, Anti-Riot police officers entered the University illegally and shot Johnny Silva Aranguren (21), a chemistry student who was leaving the library at that moment.

From the day of his death. Johnny´s family has sought justice. With the support of the student movement and human rights organizations they have faced threats and harassment and have been denied justice, which prompted them to take the case to the Inter-American Human Rights Commission, where the case is currently under study.
Recently, the State Council –one of the High Colombian Courts- has recognized the responsibility of the police officers in the murder of the young student, who in that moment was recognized as the first murder victim of the Free Trade Agreement between Colombia and the US.

In an interview with Real World Radio, Wilman Silva, Johnny´s father, talked about injustice and the architecture of impunity, despite which they continue to seek justice, because they, as victims of a Crime State, refuse to forgive and forget.

Political pressures and cover-ups, both at legal and police level, delayed the conclusion of the case, according to Johnny´s father in the interview with Real World Radio.