The International Centre for Trade Union Rights ('ICTUR')
COLOMBIA BULLETIN: October 2007

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During the period between July to September 2007, ICTUR received the following reports from Colombia, including serious violations of trade union rights:

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This edition of the Bulletin was delayed due to ICTUR's involvement in organising a joint conference with Amnesty International (UK Section) examining the crisis of impunity in Colombia in relation to trade unionists.  A report from that event is available at: www.ictur.org.colombia_conference.htm

22 June: Professor Julio Cesar Gómez Cano, a member of the Antioquia branch of the CUT, was assassinated in the city of Medellin, Department of Antioquia.

5 July: Alberto Bautista, Vice-president of the Becerri branch of the mineworkers’ union Sintramienergética, survived an attempt made against his life. He is a negotiator currently representing the demands of workers at the firm Operadores Mineros del Cesar (OMC) who are contracted by the multinational company Glencore to work the Yerbabuena coal mines in Cesar Department.

1 August: Operadores Mineros del Cesar (OMC) sacked 112 members of the Becerril branch of the trade union Sintramienergética.  The union had just presented its collective bargaining claims simultaneously to OMC and a number of other small mining companies.  Many of these companies are associated with Matriz Consorcio Minero Unido (CMU) and Carbones de la Jagua S.A, which are both owned by the multinational firm GLENCORE AG.  Sintramienergética believes that the dismissals at OMC were in retaliation for the union’s bargaining claims. 

1 August: A leaflet was sent to the headquarters of the oil workers’ union USO, threatening its members. The president of the union, Jorge Gamboa, was singled out. The threats claim to be from the paramilitary groups.

2 August: The leader of the oil workers’ union USO, German Osman, received a death threat while in the city of Barrancabermeja.

9 August: Various trade unions received an email from the paramilitary groups, in which there were death threats made against the Board of Directors of Sintraemcali (public sector workers’ union, city of Cali) Sintrateléfonos (telecom workers’ union), Sintraunicol (university workers’ union for non-teaching staff), Fecode (teachers’ union), Anthoc (health workers’ union) and the Uneb (bank workers’ union).

16 August: Termotasajero Company has fired a large number of employees, many of whom have worked for the company for many years. These dismissals were carried out with the permission of the Social Protection Ministry.  The CUT has complained that these actions violate the recommendations of the ILO Tripartite Agreement.

17 August: Hernando Meneses Velaides, Secretary of Human Rights for the national oil workers’ union USO, received an email containing death threats against him and other members of the union.

6 September: Augusto Ramírez Atehortua, a teacher at the La Immaculada school and a member of a FECODE-affiliated teachers’ union, was assassinated in the town of Guarne, Department of Antioquia,

12 September: Alberto Valencia Correa, a teacher of the School Las Palmas and a member of a FECODE-affiliated teachers’ union, was assassinated in the city of Envigado, Department of Antioquia,

19 September: Rosalino Palacios Mosquera, a teacher at the school of Atanasio Girardot and a member of a FECODE-affiliated teachers’ union, was assassinated In the town of Bello, Antioquia Department.

21 September: Rodolfo Vecino Acevedo, the leader of the oil workers’ union USO, received a death threat sent to the union’s offices.

27 September; Andrés Damián Florez Rodríguez (son of Jose Domingo Florez, a leader of the food workers’ union SINALTRAINAL at a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Santander) was returning home from college when he was accosted by three individuals who forced him into their van. After beating him for some time, they let him go but issued a threat against his father.

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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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