The International Centre for Trade Union Rights ('ICTUR')
COLOMBIA BULLETIN: October - December 2006

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During the period between October to December 2006, ICTUR received the following reports from Colombia, including serious violations of trade union rights:
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5 October: the Administrative Security Department DAS partially withdrew security from the President of the minworkers' union (SINTRAMINERCOL), Francisco Ramírez. This protection program was set up for him on the instructions of the Interamerican Commission for Human Rights. Francisco Ramírez actively participated in the negotiation and strike at the Drummond mining company and played a key role in the legal case against the company in the United States.

During the first week of October: the Valle del Cauca branch of the CUT federation uncovered a plan to detain huge numbers of union and civic leaders of the region. The names of those targeted are listed below:

- Carlos Arbey González, President of the National Union of University Employees of Colombia (SINTRAUNICOL)
- William Arley Escobar Holguín, Education Secretary for the metalworkers’ union (SINTRAMETAL);
- Otoniel Ramírez López, Vice President of the Central Union of Workers (CUT) in the Valle del Cauca;
- Wilson Neber Arias Castillo, former President of the National Training Institute workers’ union (SINDESENA) and Congressional candidate;
- Ariel Díaz, coordinator for the Human Rights Department of the Valle del Cauca branch of the CUT federation;
- Luís Antonio Hernández Monroy, former President of the Cali municipal workers’ union – (SINTRAEMCALI);
- Harol Viafara González, former Treasurer of SINTRAEMCALI;

Many other local key human rights campaigners, journalists and civil society activists were also targets.

8 October: Jhon Justo Zarate, a member of the Magdalena social security workers’ union within the CGT federation, was assassinated in the city of Barranquilla.

9 October: Jaime Andrés Sánchez Gutiérrez, a member of the San Carlos workers’ union, was assassinated in the town of Tulua in the Valle del Cauca Department in front of his colleagues.

11 October: Jesús Marino Mosquera, the leader of the farmworkers’ union (SINTRAINAGRO) in Urabá, Antioquia Department, was assassinated.

16 October: the Rector of the Farming Training Institute of La Capilla in the town of Cajibio (Cauca Department) received threatening calls after allowing students to discuss the Free Trade Agreement. The threats have caused great fear amongst the teaching staff of the institution who are mostly members of the teachers’ union ASOINCA.

16 October: José Mario Guerrero Garzón and Héctor Jairo Yate, members of the farmworkers’ union (FENSUAGRO), were assassinated in the town of Ibagué (Tolima Department). Military forces have claimed they were killed during a fight, but this has been denied by both the local farmers and by the union.

17 October: members of the SINALTRAINAL union employed at the Nestlé factory in Valle del Cauca Department, continue to be persecuted and subject to harassment by company directors. On 14 September, the same day the collective bargaining agreement was signed, company directors began harassing union members and violating union rights. They fired two employees and put all SINALTRAINAL members in the same shift, discriminating against them and isolating them from the other employees.

18 October: Douglas Mejia Pinto, acting Secretary of the Management Committee of the court staff and judicial workers’ union Asonal Judicial was assassinated in the city of Riohacha (Guajira Department).

26 October: two hooded figures entered the home of Medardo Cuesta, a member of the national Management Committee of the farmworkers’ union SINTRAINAGRO, and left death threats. His colleague, Oswaldo Cuadrado, also received death threats. These incidents took place in the town of Apartadó (Antioquia Department).

27 and 28 October: 19 people were illegally detained in mass arrests by the authorities in the district of Saravena (Arauca Department). Amongst them were Doris García and William Efraín Higuera, members of the health workers’ union (ANTHOC) at the San Ricardo Hospital, Orlando Páez Duran, a member of the construction workers’ union (SINDICONS), and Vicente Vera, a member of the drivers’ union, as well as a number of other civic leaders and union members.

31 October: Hugo Hernán Perafan Gómez, a member of the court staff and judicial workers’ union Asonal Judicial who worked as an Investigator for the Technical Body of Investigation in the city of Villavicencio, was assassinated.

2 November: Miguel Enrique Ardila Sánchez and Luz Marina Hache Contreras, the Treasurer and Vice President of the court staff and judicial workers’ union Asonal Judicial, received death threats. The two union leaders have been receiving death threats since June when they signed contracts with the union.

During the first week of November: there were a large number of searches carried out at the site of the educational institute SENA in the city of Cali. The unions organising SENA staff, SINTRASENA and SINDESENA, have filed many complaints of persecution carried out by the Director General of SENA, and by other Regional Managers, many of a violent nature.

During November: workers within the flower collecting sector, especially those who are members of the union Sintrasplendor, have complained of acts of harassment by the multinational company Dole. Dole has been accused of carrying out unfair dismissals, intimidating and threatening employees, and failing to pay sick pay.

21 November: Francisco Aza Pérez, a union member and employee of the Villahermosa prison in Cali, was assassinated. He had been a member of the ASEINPEC union, which is a branch of the CGT federation.

22 November: a written threat was found in the headquarters of the teachers’ union of Cauca (ASONICA), in the city of Popayán. The threat was written by a dissident paramilitary group named ’Grupo Mano Negra’. The letter threatened to kill several union and community leaders.

25 November: Martha Cecilia Marrugo Ahumada, the wife of the leader of the oil workers’ union (USO), fell victim to an attempt against her life. The attack took place while she was in an armoured car provided for her security by the state oil company ECOPETROL. The windscreen and the conductor’s door were hit at least nine times by bullets fired by people on motorbikes.

27 and 28 November: Fernando Ramírez, a member of the Human Rights Commission for the oil workers’ union (USO), received several threatening calls.

27 November: the oil workers’ union (USO) and the CUT federation received emails from a group called ‘El bloque norte de las AUC’, containing death threats against various union members.

4 December: Mrs. Marqueza Arrieta, the mother of the national Director for the Department of Human Rights of the CUT federation, was stopped and threatened by unknown men who told her “we’re going to kill you, be warned”. According to the reports, she lives in constant fear and is regularly threatened in retribution for the work of her son protecting human rights.

14 December: in the city of Barranquilla, a note was left in the house of Coca-Cola employee and member of the National Management Committee of the foodworkers’ union (SINALTRAINAL). The threatening note, headed ’the Black Eagles’, said that various union leaders, students and community leaders had one week to leave the city.
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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 1 337 5890
E-mail: auribe@presidencia.gov.co;

Vicepresident of the Republic of Colombia
Francisco Santos - Consejeria Presidential de Derechos Humanos
Carrera 8A No. 5-57, Santafe de Bogota, COLOMBIA
Fax: +57 1 334 4507 / 772 0130
E-mail: fsantos@presedencia.gov.co

Minister of the Interior and Justice
Sabas Pretelt de la Vega Ministerio del Interior y Justicia
Palacio Echeverry, Carrera 8a, No.8-09, piso 2o., Santafe de Bogota, Colombia
Fax: +57 1 560 4630
E-mail: ministro@minjusticia.gov.co

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