continued . . . Colombia, by Harry Kelber
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Since 1986, when the Colombian Labor Federation (CUT) was formed, 3,800 union activists have been murdered. None of their assassins has ever been prosecuted, a delegation of Steelworkers from the United States learned during a fact-finding visit in March, 2001. Yet the Colombian government, which tolerates these and other murders by right-wing paramilitary groups, is receiving $1 billion in financial and military aid from the United States-ostensibly to cut cocaine production and drug trafficking. In fact, the Colombians are using much of the money to carry on their civil war against "leftist rebels" that began half a century ago.
On the second day of their visit to Colombia, the eight US unionists were informed at a CUT meeting that the president and vice-president of the mine workers' union had been assassinated by right-wing gunmen while trying to negotiate a contract with the US-owned Drummond mining company. The two mine workers' leaders were aware of death threats and had asked the mine managers for permission to stay in the plant overnight for their own safety. When Drummond officials refused their plea, they had to leave on a company bus with the workers.
Soon after, the bus was stopped by the paramilitarists, who seized the union president, Valmore Rodriguez, and shot him in the head as the terrified workers watched. Vice President Victor Orcasita was tied up, taken away and killed. "We found ourselves right in the middle of it," said Glynda Williams, the coordinator of the Steelworkers' delegation. "When we heard the news, we felt the terror and the sadness they felt. The courage of these people is incredible." Some 1,200 miners went on strike at Drummond's Loma mine in northern Colombia to protest the murder of their union leaders.
The nation's unionized teachers have been among the hardest hit by right-wing military violence. In the past 15 years, CUT estimates that 418 teachers have been murdered. "We have teachers who are political prisoners in the country's jails when their only crime had been to interpret the needs of the students and people," said Tarsicio Muñoz, vice president of the teachers' union.
The Steelworkers' delegation met with four teachers who were on the run because they are on a hit list maintained by the paramilitary. Denouncing the violence can be the most dangerous action a citizen in Colombia can take, according to one of the teachers.
"Our union's commitment to the fundamental rights of workers in every nation is unyielding. That's why we sent a contingent to Colombia to show our solidarity and bring attention to the workers' plight," said Leo Gerard, president of the Steelworkers. "We are also sending a message to the U.S. government that we are strongly opposed to the amount of military aid being sent to the Colombian army when trade unionists and innocent people are being killed by the very military forces we are financing."
The AFL-CIO and its affiliates must demand that not a penny be delivered to Colombia until the human and civil rights of its workers and other citizens are protected and the wanton murders of labor activists are stopped.
- Reprinted with permission from "LaborTalk," which appears every Monday at www.laboreducator.org. The column "Inside the AFL-CIO," can be viewed every Tuesday.
Update: According to the Colombia Monitor, March 2002 issue, on February 1, 2002, seven human rights organizations met with State Department officials and uniformly affirmed that the Colombian government had not met the human rights conditions laid out in US law. The Secretary of State is required to certify that the Colombian government is meeting human rights conditions before releasing aid to the Colombian Armed Forces. Similar restrictions were placed on the 2000-2001 package. Using a provision included in the law, President Clinton waived the human rights conditions on that package, even though the State Department acknowledged that the Colombian government had not met three of the four conditions.
This year, there is no waiver provision attached. A report issued jointly by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Washington Office on Latin America, provided extensive evidence of non-compliance and concluded that the Colombian Armed Forces were therefore not eligible for US assistance for FY2002.
The report demonstrates that members of the Armed Forces credibly alleged to have committed gross violations of human rights were not being suspended, that the Armed Forces were not cooperating with civilian judicial authorities, and that the Armed Forces continue to collaborate both by omission and commission with paramilitaries.
Yet on May 1st, Colin Powell certified that the Colombian military has met congressionally mandated human rights requirements.
- Colombia Monitor is a new bimonthly publication published by the Washington Office on Latin America (www.wola.org). It provides analysis of policy dynamics in Washington with on-the-ground monitoring of the impact of US drug control policy in the Andean region.
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