[e-drug] Threats against Germán Velásquez (cont'd)

[James Love <love@cptech.org>]

E-drug: Threats against Germán Velásquez (cont'd)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Cross posted from the Pharm-policy forum. A better version of
the earlier distributed article. HH]

http://www.unfoundation.org/unwire/2001/07/13/index.asp#16011

WHO: Staff Member Mysteriously Assaulted, Threatened 

A senior World Health Organization official has been assaulted
several times and has received death threats apparently stemming
from his involvement in a campaign to get pharmaceutical
companies to reduce drug prices for essential life-saving drugs,
reports the Brazilian daily O Globo.

The official, Drug Action Program Coordinator German Velasquez, is
a major critic of the pharmaceutical industry's pricing policies for
essential drugs. Although the WHO is trying to keep the case
secret, its security department is reportedly conducting an
investigation. French police are also investigating. According to
official sources who were first informed of the incidents by
Velasquez himself, O Globo reports that the governments of Brazil,
South Africa and Colombia, and two nongovernmental organizations
that have actively advocated for cheaper access to essential
medicines, Oxfam and Medecins Sans Frontieres, have also been
briefed on the case. 

The incidents began on 26 May when Velasquez, a Colombian
doctor, was assaulted and robbed in Rio de Janeiro on his way to a
WHO meeting. He attributed the attack to the city's high crime rate,
until two days later in Miami, where he was attacked again by two
men who not only referred to the assault in Rio, but also warned
him directly, "Don't mess with the pharmaceutical industry."

Following that incident, Velasquez informed the WHO, but that
event was not the last. At his home near Geneva, he received three
more intimidating telephone calls, one of which included a warning
that he should not attend a World Trade Organization debate on
intellectual property. When he asked who was calling, the caller
referred to Lincoln Road, the street where he was attacked in
Miami.

Despite the reluctance of the pharmaceutical industry to comment
on the issue, a source who asked not to be identified said the
incident was "strange" and was uncertain how the industry could
benefit from such action. Phil Bloomer, an Oxfam official who is
following the case, confirmed the WHO had contacted his
organization about the incidents and said they are "taking this
episode extremely seriously" Bloomer added, "We hope the
investigation rapidly reveals the motive and the actors responsible
for the attacks and threats against German."

The WHO and Velasquez himself have refused to comment on the
incidents (Deborah Bernlick, 13 Jul, UN Wire translation).

_______________________________________________
Pharm-policy mailing list
Pharm-policy@lists.essential.org
http://lists.essential.org/mailman/listinfo/pharm-policy


--
Send mail for the `E-Drug' conference to `e-drug@usa.healthnet.org'.
Information and archive http://satellife.healthnet.org/programs/edrug.html
Mail administrative requests to `majordomo@usa.healthnet.org'.
For additional assistance, send mail to:  `owner-e-drug@usa.healthnet.org'.