The International Centre for Trade Union Rights ('ICTUR')
COLOMBIA BULLETIN: January – March 2007

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During the period between January to March 2007, ICTUR received the following reports from Colombia, including serious violations of trade union rights:
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This bulletin marks the fourth anniversary of ICTUR’s project to record and condemn the continuing and serious violations of human and trade union rights that trade unionists have been suffering in Colombia.

Before listing the violations that have taken place in Colombia during the first three months of 2007, it seems appropriate to provide a brief summary of the statistics regarding violations in 2006.

In the opinion of the ENS trade union education college, the past year can be characterised by the intensification of the murders against union members and the extensive efforts of the Colombian government to deny its responsibility, by the re-organisation of the paramilitary groups in different parts of the country, and by the rising number of murders of trade union members.

According to the ENS, between 1 January and 20 November 2006, 71 union members were killed. This reveals that the number of murders increased by six percent since the previous year, during which 67 murders were recorded. The union organisations have denounced the continuous pursuits and threats on the part of paramilitary groups that under new figures and new names appeal to the rhetoric of defence of national security. These organisations have reorganised and they continue to view trade union leaders as military objectives, committing against them all kinds of human rights violations.

17 December 2006: Norberto Fajardo, a trade unionist and a member of the construction workers’ trade union SINDICONS, was assassinated by armed men in the city of Arauquita, in the Arauca region.

21 December 2006: Rafael Arrieta Piñeres, the vice-president for the southern Bolivar miners’ union Fedeagromisbol, was detained for many hours by members of the Colombian army. The soldiers reproached him for the accusations that were made against their battalion, primarily concerning the assassination of Alejandro Uribe, another mining trade union leader who was assassinated in 2006.

28 December 2006: in the city of Villavicencio, in the Meta region, Omar Gutierrez, a member of the Executive Committee for the food workers’ union SINALTRAINAL, who is employed at the city’s coca-cola bottling factory, was approached by a stranger on a motorbike who threatened him and promised to kill members of the trade union.

22 January: The 41st Penal Court of Bogota D.C, finally declared 34 social leaders as innocent. They had been illegally held in the city of Saravena – Arauca, in 2002. Amongst those released are various trade union leaders from Arauca.

28 January: employees of the firm Exportationes Bochica SA CL, situated in La Ceja, Department of Antioquia, formed the Exportationes Bochica SA Cl workers’ union. Immediately, the manager of the firm gathered all the employees to tell them he did not want any trade union within the firm, he also told members of the union to disassociate themselves from it and gathered a number of members to discuss the union’s dissolution. Two days later, the President, treasurer and financial director of the union received death threats, signed by one of the recently formed paramilitary groups; who encouraged them to discontinue their work for the union unless they wanted to become military targets.

In February: Gonzalo Hernandez, a member of the National Executive Committee for the miners’ union SINTRAMINERCOL, was fired in violation of national labour law which protects trade union officers.

3 February: in the city of Sardinata, in the Department of North Santander, there was an explosion in a coal mine, leaving 32 employees dead. Just three days later in Gamaza, Department of Boyacá, there was another explosion in a coal mine killing another eight workers. One of those killed in the second explosion was under working age.

7 February: the oil workers’ union USO, accused the state oil company ECOPETROL and the Colombian government of aggressive and anti-trade union politics. To date, through disciplinary measures, ECOPETROL has dismissed 46 employees, all of whom had previously been dismissed and then reinstated following their participation in strike action.

7 February: Carmen Cecilia Santana Romaña, a leader of the agricultural workers’ union SINTRAINAGRO, was assassinated in her home in the city of Apartadó, Department of Antioquia.

8 February: a protest against the exploitation of local resources by multinational companies was organised by the local community and supported by mining sector trade unions in the town of La Jagua of Iberico, in the Cesar Department.

12 February: police attacked the demonstrations in La Jaqua with tear gas, water cannons and live ammunition, causing several injuries and leaving one person dead.

10 February: an envelope was left in the CUT’s Santander headquarters, in the city of Bucaramanga, which contained alarming threats against members of the foodworkers’ union SINALTRAINAL union which works with the Coca cola bottling factory in Baucaramanga. The letter, signed by the paramilitary group Aguilas Negras, directly threatened union members Javier Correa, Luis García, Domingo Flores and Nelson Perez.

12 February: The CUT accused the Colombian government, represented by the Foreign Minister, of opposing the advisory status of the new International Trade Union Confederation, before the United Nations.

2 March: in the town of Sabana de Torres, Department of Santander, Benigno Gonzales Urbina, a trade unionist who had worked for the state oil company ECOPETROL for 26 years and was an activist of the oil workers’ union, USO, had his house broken into and was subsequently placed under arrest. The USO has condemned the fact that the arrest of the trade unionist occurred only days after the local union demanded jobs for local people in the oil sector.

7 March: in the city of Bogota, a young boy, Sergio Antonio Rodriguez Munoz, went missing. The boy is the son of union leader and Vice President of the university workers’ union SINTRAUNICOL Maximum Rodriguez.

8 March: Martha Cecilia Díaz, President of the local public sector union ASTDEMP, survived an assassination attempt. Armed men approached her house on a motorcycle, but fortunately they were stopped by guards from the local area. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has previously issued a protection order requiring the State to protect Martha Cecilia Diaz. However, to date, the protection has not materialised and she remains very vulnerable.

12 March: SINTRAUNICOL, the union for the workers of the national Colombian universities, condemned the Principle of the Atlantic University for ordering the dismissal of nearly all the administrative workforce (439 employees), leaving only two secretaries. In acting this way, the University has ignored the right of the university workers’ union SINTRAUNICOL to represent its members in negotiations.

22 March: Domingo Tovar, Director for the National Department of Human Rights for the CUT federation was threatened with death by police officers, who called him a terrorist. Tovar and his bodyguard noted the officers’ identification numbers and complained to the government programme for the protection of trade unionists.

22 March, The CUT, and other Colombia trade union organisations, publicly condemned the multinational banana company, Chiquita Brands International, who admitted making payments to paramilitary and guerrilla groups. The company paid a fine of 25 million dollars to the US justice system, after admitting that they delivered more than 1.7 million dollars to armed groups in Colombia during more than 10 years.
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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 must 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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