The International Centre for Trade Union Rights

URGENT ACTION BULLETIN 5: COLOMBIA, 27 March 2003

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During the past two weeks ICTUR has received the following reports of serious violations of trade union rights in Colombia:
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14 February: Geiner Antonio Munive Rodriguez, Medical Director of the Recetor hospital in Casanare; Nairo Chaparro, an ambulance driver; and Javier Martinez, who was working as an Environmental Health Technician, were all 'disappeared' as part of a campaign that has outraged the ANTHOC health workers union.

21 February: seven members of the USO oil workers' trade union were violently 'evicted' from their workplace and 15 of their co-workers were detained as the labour dispute between USO and the state oil company ECOPETROL continued. In the weeks preceding this violent episode 12 workers, including several union activists, were dismissed from the Cartagena refinery.The negotiations have now ended - after 40 days without agreement - and USO is expected to announce strike dates.

21 February: Fredy Perilla Montoya, an employee of the EMCALI telephone company and an activist with the SINTRAEMCALI public sector union, was intercepted by a group of men in a van who tried to kidnap him. When he resisted they shot him six times and left him to die.

21 February: the Cali branch of the university workers' union, SINTRAUNICOL, discovered a plan to assassinate Jose Adonai Munera Ortega, National President of SINTRAUNICOL; Carlos Arbey Gonzalez Quintero, Executive Member of SINTRAUNICOL and CUT; Jesus Antonio Gonzalez Luna, of the Human Rights Defence Committee (CPDH); and Luis Carlos Moreira Roldan, Executive Member of the Cali branch of SINTRAUNICOL.

24 February: the management of the Benilda flower farm terminated the contracts of Gladys Garcia, Soraida Murillo and Marleny Murillo, founders and board members of the local UNTRAFLORES union, following their battle against 'flexible' employment contracts. These contracts are being offered to long-serving employees together with cash incentives. The trade union officers had returned to work from a previous dismissal only a matter of days beforehand, having won a court order that required their reemployment at the farm. The union claims that there are 'no legitimate reasons' for the dismissals.

11 March: the home of Laura Guerrero, a well-known trade union activist and an official of the Bogota-Cundinamarca branch of the CUT, was raided and her property left in disarray. Nothing was taken and CUT concludes that the raid was part of a campaign of retaliation against Laura's trade union activities.

12 March: Soraya Patricia Diaz, a teacher and officer of the FECODE-affiliated SER teachers union, Risaralda, was assassinated in the village of Agua Salada, in Quinchía Municipality.

12 March: members of the 3rd Brigade of the army interrupted a public meeting in Cali to disarm union bodyguards and immobilise union leaders' vehicles. This action leaves Otoniel Ramirez, President of the Valle branch of the CUT; Ariel Diaz, CUT Executive; and Juan Carlos Valens, President of SINTRADEPARTAMENTO with no protection against the ongoing serious threats to their security. At the same time protection was also removed from Carlos Garcia, a leader of the Colombian Communist Party. The soldiers claim they were following orders but the authorities have provided no explanation for this action.

14 March: A death threat was delivered by telephone to the headquarters of the public sector union, SINTRAEMCALI, during an important inter-union meeting with the oil workers union, USO, and the communication workers unions, USTC and ATELCA. The caller told SINTRAEMCALI operators that the trade unionists were 'all going to die'.

14 March: two 'suspicious' individuals were detected by security guards at the Navarro plant where 2,000 workers were meeting for the Workers General Assembly to hear speeches by senior trade union leaders. A Police patrol unit was also spotted filming the General Assembly from the motorway that overlooks the plant, and later more police arrived in two buses. Of the two men detained the first escaped but the latter gave a false identification, claiming to be a teacher and trade unionist.

14 March: A letter was delivered to the offices of the Bucaramanga branch of the foodworkers union, SINTRAINAL, purporting to be from the AUC paramilitary group and criticising Efrain Guerrero, President of the local branch of SINTRAINAL, because of his 'activities against the economy that generates employment in the region'. The letter instructed Efrain Guerrero to leave the city or to pay with his life for his 'irresponsible' words at a rally of Coca Cola workers on 22 January. Efrain works in the Coca Cola bottling plant and has been the victim of persecution and threats on several occasions as a result of his outspoken defence of workers' interests.

18 March: A message was delivered to teacher and trade union activist Enrique Pertuz advising him that he would have 'bad luck' if he was stopped at a roadside check-point.

19 March: a death threat was delivered to the house of teacher Jaime Ernesto Carillo, President of the regional teachers' union ASEDAR in Aruaca. The threat was directed against Jaime's family, and in particular against his son.

20 March: Alejandro Torres, doctor at the San Lorenzo hospital in Arauquita and active trade union member, was found dead outside the city. He had 'disappeared' from the hospital some days earlier. This 'disappearance' occurred inside one of the two zones in Colombia that the are under strict military control, the 'zonas de Rehabilitación y Consolidación'.

24 March: an unidentified assailant began shooting indiscriminately at demonstrators who had joined a rally of the Cali public workers' union, SINTRAEMCALI. The police were informed and failed to arrrest the man. Demonstrators claim that police advised them that the best way to be safe was to go home. The demonstration ended in violence when police attempted to make arrests and dispersed demonstrators with their battons.

During March: Samuel Morales, President of the Arauca branch of the CUT federation, was temporarily detained by state police. He was freed quickly following a campaign by trade unions and NGOs to protest his detention.

During late March: there were many reports of an imminent attack against the CUT federation, against national trade unions and human rights organisations.

During March: 180 women workers of the 'Jeans and Jackets' factory received no redundancy payments when the company decided to close their factory. In cooperation with the CUT and CGTD trade union federations, the women occupied the factory in protest until, on 21 March, the company signed an agreement to pay the compensation that was due.

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ICTUR has written to the Colombian authorities to protest these violations of trade union rights. We call for an end to the aggression and insist 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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