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December 17, 2001 'Tis the Season to Be Killed A regional block of Colombia's right-wing paramilitary group, the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), recently sent out Christmas cards to its fighters. In a letter that accompanied the cards, the paramilitary group declared, "And with Christmas come our new projects and hopes for the next year." Unfortunately, the AUC's projects and hopes for next year will likely be the same as in years past: the slaughter of Colombian labor leaders. While the paramilitaries are sending greetings cards to their troops, it is bullets they are delivering to Colombia's trade unionists. As the year comes to a close, a record number of labor leaders were killed in 2001. Last week's murder of Aury Sara, an oil workers union leader, brought the total number of unionists assassinated so far this year to 152, compared to 128 killed in 2000.
Earlier this year, a Human Rights Watch report claimed that half of the Colombian army's active units are linked to right-wing death squads. It is these links that have caused the president of the United Steel Workers union, Leo Gerard, to openly criticize Washington's support for the Colombian Armed Forces, "We are strongly opposed to the amount of military aid being sent to the Colombian army when unionists and innocent people are being killed by the very military forces we are financing." Gerard's position stands in sharp contrast to AFL-CIO policies during the 1980's that openly supported President Reagan's military funding of Central American governments involved in the violent repression of union activities. The turnaround is also evident in the United Steel Workers union's role, along with the Washington DC-based International Labor Rights Fund, in the filing of a suit against Coca Cola in U.S. Federal Court on behalf of a Colombian union. The suit claims that Coca Cola knew about and benefited from paramilitary repression of union leaders at its Colombian bottling plants, including the murder of a unionist inside one of the plants (see, Coca Cola Accused of Using Death Squads to Target Union Leaders). Other U.S. corporations are also benefiting from the repression of unions in Colombia, especially oil and mining companies. In March 2001, employees of the Alabama-based Drummond Corporation were riding the company bus on their way to the Loma mine in northern Colombia when it was stopped by paramilitaries. Two of the workers, Valmore Locarno Rodriguez and Victor Hugo Orcasita, were removed from the bus and executed by the death squad. The two workers were the chairman and vice-chairman of the mine's union. Drummond had denied a recent request by workers that they be allowed to sleep at the mine because of paramilitary threats. The persecution of Colombia's labor leaders has made it difficult for workers to organize for better wages and working conditions. And by assassinating union leaders, the paramilitaries are silencing some of Colombia's sternest critics of the globalization process that is benefiting multinational corporations while costing thousands of Colombian workers their jobs. Almost 20 percent of the Colombian work force are currently unemployed, the highest rate in Latin America, while it is estimated that another 20 percent are underemployed. Meanwhile, right-wing death squads have made it clear that anyone attempting to alleviate the suffering of the Colombian worker during these difficult economic times will not, if Carlos Castaño gets his holiday wish, enjoy a Merry Christmas or a Happy New Year. This article originally appeared in Colombia Report, an online journal that was published by the Information Network of the Americas (INOTA).
Copyright © 2003 Colombia Journal. All rights reserved. |
With
more than 4,000 unionists killed during the past 15 years, Colombia
is by far the most dangerous country in which to fight for workers'
rights. In fact, three out of every five union leaders killed in
2000 were Colombian. The latest victim, Aury Sara, was killed by
the AUC in northern Colombia after the right-wing death squad claimed
he was affiliated with the rebel National Liberation Army (ELN).
In February 2001, the AUC declared 104 unionists to be military
targets for being "puppets of the guerrilla forces and traitors
to the country." With Sara's killing, the paramilitaries have
far exceeded the number on their announced death list.