The International Centre for Trade Union Rights

COLOMBIA BULLETIN 15: 30 September 2003

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During the past two weeks ICTUR has received the following reports from Colombia, including serious violations of trade union rights:
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9 September: Maria Elena Vivas, a member and activist of the university teachers' association ASPU, received death threats by email telling her to stay away from the students and to stop teaching. This occurred in Popayan, the capital city of the Cauca Department.

11 September: paramilitary groups delivered death threats to all members of the peasants farmers' association ASOPEMA, which is based in the north of the Tolima Department. The farmers have been forced to leave their farms after receiving these threats.

13 September: the trade union of the Cali Municipal Corporation SINTRAEMCALI called upon the national government to respect the accords of 27 June which were aimed at preventing the liquidation or privatisation of the public corporation EMCALI. SINTRAEMCALI representatives believe that the accords may be broken following a new agreement that will inject capital from private banks into the EMCALI corporation. The trade union is concerned that the banks and private interests may be given too much control over the direction and management of the public corporation.

17 September: Coca-Cola FEMSA (a large company that bottles Coca-Cola in several Latin American countries) has announced plans to close nine bottling plants in Colombia resulting in 2500 job losses. The Latin American company is currently being sued in the US Courts over allegations of 'corporate complicity' in the murders of union activists in the Colombian Coca-Cola bottling plants.

17 September: Renzo Vargas, a member of the teachers' union FECODE, was assassinated in Villarrica, a small town in the Tolima Department.

21 September: Wilson Rafael Peluffo Arroyo, a member of the milk workers' union SINTRACOOLECHERA (CGTD) was assassinated in Barranquilla. According to government sources three members of the police force have been arrested in connection with the murder.

25 September: Rito Hernandez Porras, an activist with the municipal water workers' union ECASS in Saravena, Arauca Department, was attacked and killed in front of his home by two armed men. Human rights groups based in Bogota report that witnesses saw the two men heading away from the scene of the attack and passing through a police checkpoint into the controlled area surrounding the nearby Saravena police station.

29 September: Jose Luis Paez Romero, President of university workers' union SINTRAUNICOL, and Carmelo Jose Perez Rossi, a member of the same trade union, received several threatening phone calls from unknown persons to their homes in the city of Monteria, capital of Cordoba Department.

During September: Roque Rodríguez, Antonio Sánchez, Marco Díaz, Germán Díaz, and Jesús Quiñones, leaders of the independent tire workers' unions Sintraicollantas and Sintraincapla, were dismissed from the Cali and Bogota Michelin factories. Several other trade unionists were suspended at the same time, in an act apparently intended to halt the unions' organising campaigns.

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ICTUR has written to the Colombian authorities to protest against the continuing violations of trade union rights. ICTUR calls for an end to the aggression and insists that the authorities implement and ensure full respect for the international legal standards that protect freedom of association.

For more information contact ICTUR: miguel@ictur.org

If you want to take action in support of these cases you can send letters of protest to the Colombian authorities at the following addresses:

President of the Republic of Colombia
Dr. Alvaro Uribe Velez
Palacio de Narino, Carrera 8 No.7-26 Santafe de Bogota, COLOMBIA
Fax: + 57 1 3375890 / 3420592
E-mail: auribe@presidencia.gov.co; rdh@presidencia.gov.co

Vicepresident of the Republic of Colombia
Francisco Santos - Consejeria Presidential de Derechos Humanos
Calle 7, No 6-54, Piso 3 Santafe de Bogota, COLOMBIA
Fax: 00 57 1 337 1351 E-mail: mdn@cable.net.co; infprotocol@mindefensa.gov.co; siden@mindefensa.gov.co

Minister of the Interior and Justice
Fernando Londono Hoyos Ministerio del Interior y Justicia
Palacio Echeverry, Carrera 8a, No.8-09, piso 2o., Santafe de Bogota, Colombia
Fax:00 57 1 286 8025 E-mail: mininterior@myrealbox.com

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Appeal
Over the last year the International Centre for Trade Union Rights has made work on Colombia a priority for its activities and has developed a defined programme of activities, led by respected Colombian lawyer Miguel Puerto who is employed by ICTUR in London. This work has involved publishing reports, organising meetings for Colombian trade unionists, liasing with other NGOs and generally raising the profile of the dreadful situation for trade union activists and leaders in Colombia.

ICTUR desperately needs additional financial resources if we are to continue our work on Colombia. ICTUR makes no qualms about its partizan support of labour rights and trade unionists and this can sometimes make it difficult to secure institutional funding. We are therefore reliant on organisations and individuals providing donations to support our work. As well as salary and travel costs, the project has publishing costs, and the costs of supporting Colombian trade unionists when they are in Europe. We need to raise £9,000 (approx. US $14,000) by the end of the year.

Please give generously. You can donate online or send a cheque (payable to 'IUR' to ICTUR's international office (the address is at the foot of this page).

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