Colombia

Colombia

No Longer an untold story - Labour Youth

Introduction

Colombia is a nation that has suffered over 60 years of violence which has seen the brutal annihilation of over 4000 trade unionists and violent attacks on both the principle and practise of workers rights. With an estimated 3 million displaced peasants and international exploitation of cheap and abundant labour resulting from the union genocide; as well as the abuse of its legal, electoral and military mechanisms by the US intent on gaining a southern foothold to mobilize against other nations in South America whilst protecting its valuable oil plants Colombia has become the international equivalent of an abuse victim.

The armed actors of the state including the paramilitaries; guerrillas and the military with which there is much noted collaboration with the paramilitaries have besieged this beautiful haven and its inspired populace.

US Involvement & Plan Colombia
Since 2000 the United States has financed the Colombian Governments massive counter-drugs programme, Plan Colombia

Plan Colombia was originally conceived by President Pastrana in 1998 and is markedly different from the current plan. Initially it was intended to form a similar aid package to Colombia such as the "Marshall Plan" and focused on peace and ending violence within the context of the ongoing peace talks that Pastrana's Government was then holding with the FARC guerrillas. It defined the guerrilla movement as a component of the history of Colombia and the aim should be to identify and treat insurgents as Colombian and part of Colombia society whilst focusing on the poverty and social factors that saw the guerrillas develop. The current plan is seen as seeking to move from discussion and diplomacy to eradication of leftist guerrilla groups that have the support of the lower classes in Colombia whilst simultaneously targeting social leaders and groups that call from social reform and hindering of international plans to exploit Colombia's valuable natural resources.

However in order to secure funding from the US State Department Plan Colombia was dramatically changed to its current inception, namely, with the main focus on drug trafficking, strengthening the military and eradicating the guerrillas in the country. In 2000 78.12% of the $1.3 Billion provided went to the military (Centre for International Policy). Aerial fumigation, an element of Plan - Colombia has been hugely detrimental to Colombia and has seen the destruction of legal crops as well as adverse health effects upon those exposed. The United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has reported that in 2005 there was an 8% increase in coca cultivation. Clear evidence that aerial fumigation is not working in the country, why then does it continue, when such adverse conditions exists and no evidence of success?

Social groups in Colombia claim that the increase noted by the UNODC is to be expected and points to the ultimate ineffectiveness of the Plan in stopping the flow of drugs and addressing more important underlying issues such as providing a viable alternative for the landless and displaced working class, who turn to coca cultivation due to a lack of economic possibilities, as well as having to deal with a volatile civil conflict in the state.

So with such strikingly clear evidence of failure why then does the US continue to invest in Plan Colombia? It is easy to understand when you consider that as of 2004 Colombia is the 15th largest supplier of oil to the US with many US Oil companies operating in the region including the Bush family business and reports compiled showing that this could significantly increase when one considers that between 1986 and 1997 79 million barrels of crude oil was spilled from pipeline attacks in Colombia.

Coca Cola in Colombia

Coca-Cola is the second most widely understood word in the world, after "okay." Yet less well known than this quintessential U.S. symbol are the labor practices of the Coca-Cola Company, which claims that it "exists to benefit and refresh everyone it touches." The multinational engages in union-busting practices in Colombia and bears responsibility for some of the violence directed against workers over the last 20 years
Panamerican Beverages (Panamco), Coca-Cola's main bottler in Latin America, has been criticized for its relationship with unions. In Colombia, it has been alleged that the bottling company hired paramilitary mercenaries to assassinate union leaders. These charges have resulted in several court cases and boycott actions against The Coca-Cola Company.

July 2001:United Steelworkers of America and the International Labor Rights Fund filed suit in US court against Coca-Cola and some bottlers in Colombia on behalf of their workers. According to the plaintiffs, the companies "hired, contracted with or otherwise directed paramilitary security forces". The companies denied the charges.

April 2003: District Judge Jose E Martinez in Miami excluded The Coca-Cola Company and its Colombian unit because its bottling agreement did not give it "explicit control" over labor issues in Colombia. On September 4th, 2006, Judge Martinez dismissed the remaining claims against Panamco and Colombian bottler Bebidas y Alimentos.

Summer 2003:SINALTRAINAL trade union, which represents the majority of workers at Coca-Cola bottling plants in Colombia, called for an international boycott of Coca-Cola products. In October of that year, the Students' Union in University College, Dublin, the largest university in Ireland, controversially decided to ban the sale of Coca-Cola products (in the Student Union shops; Coca-Cola is still available from vending machines and other non-SU controlled outlets on campus) as a result. A later attempt to reverse the ban at UCD failed, and the boycott has spread to other colleges in Ireland, most notably Trinity College, Dublin and the National College of Art and Design, as well as a number of bars and restaurants. Motions in support of the boycott have been passed by the Union of Students in Ireland, which represents the 250,000 students on the island of Ireland, as well as the Teachers' Union of Ireland and the Irish National Teachers Organization and a number of other trade unions and political organizations. The boycott is opposed by some branches in the SIPTU trade union (who represent the majority of Coca-Cola workers in Ireland) and by the Coca-Cola Company themselves.

In January 2004, the New York City Fact-Finding Delegation on Coca-Cola in Colombia confirmed the workers' allegations. They found:

"To date, there have been a total of 179 major human rights violations of Coca-Cola's workers, including nine murders. Family members of union activists have been abducted and tortured. Union members have been fired for attending union meetings. The company has pressured workers to resign their union membership and contractual rights, and fired workers who refused to do so."

Most troubling to the delegation were the persistent allegations that paramilitary violence against workers was done with the knowledge of and likely under the direction of company managers. The physical access that paramilitaries have had to Coca-Cola bottling plants is impossible without company knowledge and/or tacit approval.

September 2005: Galway City Council unaimously supported a motion of solidarity with the workers in Colombia and the struggling union movement.

 

Boycott Coke Time Line
Coca Colas recent nasty history In Colombia
- 1989 Avelino Chicanoy,Pasto, Murdered by paramilitary
- 8th April 1994 Jose Elaseasarm MancoDavid, Carepa Murdered by paramilitary
- 20th April 1994 Luis Enrique Giraldo Arango Carepa Murdered by paramilitary
- 23rd April 1995 Luis Enrique Gomez Garado Carepa Murdered by paramilitaryMONTH~~1996 Public Pronoucement by plant manager,Carepa"he had given an order to the paramilitaries to carry out the task of destroying the union."
- 27th Sept 1996 SINALTRAINAL send letter to the Coca Cola Colombian HQ informing them of Mosquera's threats against the union and requesting that they intervene to prevent further human rights abuses against employees and union leaders.
- 5th December 1996 Isidro Segundo Gil, Carepa Murdered by paramilitary
- 26th December 1996 Jose Librado Herrera Osorio, Carepa Murdered by paramilitary
- 1996 5 employees imprisoned for 6 months for planting bomb that never existed, Bucaramanga
- 21st June 2001 Oscar Dario Soto Polo, Monteria Murdered by paramilitary
- June 2001 Imprisonment of workers, Bucaramanga
20th July 2001 Lawsuit filed against Coca-Cola, US District Court ,Florida
- 31st August 2002 Adolfo de Jesus Munera Lopes, Baranquilla Murdered by paramilitary
- 13th January 2003 Paramilitary forces announce plan to kill trade unionists
- 22nd August 2003 Juan Carlos Galvis, vice president of SINALTRAINAL, Barrancabermeja . Attacked
- 11th Sept 2003 SINALTRAINAL Union Leader's Son Kidnapped
- 13th November 2003 Boycott declaration by SINALTRAINAL, European Social Forum Paris,
- January 2004 Fact-finding delegation to to Colombia
- February 2004, 65 trade union leaders: Sacked
- 5th March 2004 Coke Watch report
- 9 March 2004 Imprisonment of workers, Cúcuta and Cartagena
- March 2004 Colombian judge find Coca-Cola guilty.
- 23rd March 2004 8 day hunger strike by SINALTRAINAL
- March 2004 Coke CEO prevents independent observers from inspecting bottlers in Colombia.
- 21st March 2004 Motion to end contract with Coca-Cola, NUSSL AGM
- 17 November 2004 Paramilitaries deliver threat to the HQ of the regional CUT in Bucaramanga,
- 25th November 2004 Gustavo Lindarte, Cúcuta: Hit by a firearm projectile in his left leg, above the knee.
- March 2005 Protest and motion to end contract with Coca Cola, NUSSL AGM
- April 2005 Emergency motion PASSED , NUS AGM
- 13th April 2005 A small success, Coke creates a $10 million social fund to aid /victims of the war in Colombia

 

Useful Links:

 

Latin American Solidarity Centre

 

 

Colombia Solidarity

 

 

Boycott Killer Coke Campaign