E/CN.4/1995/111 page 15 Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Industria Agropecuaria (SINTRAINAGRO, National Trade Union of Agricultural Workers), a powerful trade union and a potential source of revenue for the EPL. The means of protection put at the disposal of trade unions by the Government were said to be insufficient. As a consequence, many were said to be forced to leave their areas of residence. Violence against trade unionists continues. Reports of killings and death threats are received on an almost regular basis. One of the most recent cases concerned the killing, on 10 October 1994, of trade union leader Hernando Cuadros, who was abducted from his home in Tibú, Norte de Santander, and killed, allegedly by paramilitary forces. 45. Numerous members of peasant and indigenous organizations have also become victims of violence at the hands of the security forces and private justice and guerrilla groups in the context of land disputes in which they claimed their rights to certain areas, or for their activities aimed at the protection of their identity and organization. Thus, at least 78 indigenous leaders are said to have been killed in the past four years. 46. Since its creation in 1985, as a result of bilateral negotiations between the Government and the FARC, the political party Unión Patriótica (UP) (Patriotic Union) has lost more than 2,000 members, including 1 member of the Senate, 3 deputies of the House of Representatives and a number of mayors and municipal counsellors, as victims of politically motivated killings. A report published in October 1992 by the Defensor del Pueblo 20/ describes how the UP, after gaining considerable support from the population when it first participated in the electoral process in 1996, came to be perceived as a threat by traditional sectors, who saw its gains as an attack on their privileges and the "victory of international communism". 21/ Similarly, the Partido Comunista de Colombia (PCC) (Communist Party of Colombia), was also regarded as an "internal enemy" under the doctrine of "National Security" motivating the military’s counterinsurgency efforts. 22/ Those responsible for acts of violence against members of the UP and the PCC are said to be paramilitary groups and hired gunmen in the service of large landowners and drug traffickers, as well as members of the security forces. The killing of leaders and members of these two parties continues. On 9 August 1994, Manuel Cepeda Vargas, Senator for the PCC, was shot dead in Bogota after having received death threats on repeated occasions. 23/ In 1993, the Executive Committee of these two parties denounced the existence of a plan called "coup de grâce" within the command of the armed forces aimed at eliminating their leadership. To date, two of the persons whose names were reported to be on the list of those to be killed have been assassinated: Manuel Cepeda Vargas and José Miller Chacón Penna. 47. The response of the security forces, particularly the DAS, charged with the task of providing protection to citizens at risk, is reported to be insufficient - quite apart from the fact that in a number of cases the security forces themselves, or groups collaborating with them or enjoying their acquiescence, are said to be at the origin of the threats. Not surprisingly, there appears to be reluctance on the part of those under threat to seek the protection of escorts provided by State institutions.