TRADE UNIONISTS IN COLUMBIA

RMTnews :: december 2005 28 This morning I spoke by telephone to Hubert Ballesteros, the Deputy General Secretary of FENSUAGRO – the agricultural workers’ union in Colombia – who was in the rural town of Caldono in the south of Colombia. Yesterday, he was in the town of Popayan and in two days he will be moving on again. He never spends more than two days in one place and doesn’t go out after dark for fear of his life. “I have no choice. I have received numerous death threats and nearly 600 of our activists and members have been assassinated by the army and their allies in the paramilitaries. “I know that if I don’t live my life this way that I too will also be killed’” explains Hubert. His story is tragic, but what makes it all the more harrowing is that his situation is far from a rarity in Colombia. Indeed, since 1986 when the Colombian TUC was formed, nearly 4,000 trade unionists have been assassinated and many more have been disappeared, tortured or forced to flee their homes and jobs. Colombia is by far the most dangerous place in the world in which to be a trade unionist. SOLIDARITY In the face of this atrocious situation the British trade union movement set up Justice for Colombia (JFC); an organisation dedicated to providing much needed solidarity to Colombian trade unionists. Since its creation three years ago, JFC has gained the support of nearly every union in the UK and has run various solidarity delegations, campaigns and projects to provide urgently needed support to trade unionists in Colombia. One of the most direct ways in which British trade unionists have been able to support their Colombian counterparts, has been by going on delegations to witness first-hand the struggles of their Colombian colleagues. Not only do these delegations provide moral support, they also put pressure on the Colombian government to stop persecuting the union movement. The Colombian regime is highly conscious of its image in the UK since the British government provides Colombia with vast quantities of military aid – despite the fact that the Colombian Army murder trade unionists. JFC has assisted in the development of direct links between British unions and their Colombian counterparts and British unions have been able to implement grassroots projects which are providing much needed assistance. One such project has been the provision of assistance to the human rights department of FENSUAGRO, the agricultural workers’ union – one of the unions that have suffered most in recent years at the hands of the Colombian Army. The generosity of British trade unions has allowed FENSUAGRO to employ a human rights officer, equip them with an office and computer and create regional human rights committees made up of grass roots members. This has allowed the union to document and denounce the attacks against their members and has enabled them to run courses informing people of their basic trade union and human rights. In addition, FENSUAGRO has been able to publish campaigning materials to help with recruitment and expand its membership. Similar Justice for Colombia projects have also been established to support FECODE, the teachers’ union, and ANTHOC, the Colombian health workers’ union. END MILITARY AID British unions are also working with JFC on the ongoing campaign to end British military aid to Colombia until the Colombian military stop murdering trade union members and start respecting human rights. The campaign is of crucial importance to the Colombian unions as the majority of assassinations carried out against trade unionists there can be attributed to the Colombian army and their paramilitary allies. The British Government knows this yet continues to be the second largest provider of military assistance to Colombia in the world after the USA. British unions have also taken on a prominent role in campaigning for the safety of heavily threatened individuals within the Colombian union movement. PCS young members, for example, are undertaking a letter writing campaign to the Colombian Government demanding that the Colombian Army end their repeated threats against Nelson Prieto Ramirez and William Higuera, two young members of the health workers union ANTHOC. And Brendan Barber of the TUC recently wrote to the Colombian president insisting that the rights of Colombian trade unionists are respected during a 24-hour general strike held on October 12. Although the situation for STANDING UP FOR TRAD UNIONISTS IN THE FIRING Justice for Colombia campaigns officer Josh Feldberg reports on a country where the lives of trade unionists are constantly under threat from state-backed right-wing terrorists Columbian TUC general secretary Carlos Rodriguez addressing TUC in September