Héctor Abad Gómez

Héctor Abad Gómez was a Colombian prominent medical doctor, university professor, and human rights leader whose holistic vision of healthcare led him to found the Colombian National School of Public Health. He developed practical public health programs for the poor in Medellín. The increasing violence and human rights abuses of the 1970s and 1980s led him to fight for social justice in his community, but his political views put him at odds with those in power and Abad was killed in 1987. He and other great defenders of the human rights of the time shows us the importance of standing up against injustice and fight for the respect for human rights, despite staggering opposition. His son said he learned something from his father that the murderers don't know how to do: to use words to express the truth – a truth that will last longer than their lie.