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The U.S. Must Not Reward Murder |
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This is a cross-post from the Firedoglake blog.
AFL-CIO blog writer James Parks talked with Colombian trade unionists who traveled here last week to urge Congress not to pass the U.S.-Colombian Free Trade Agreement. As James relates below, Colombian trade unionists do not want Congress to reward that nation with a trade deal in a climate of fear and death that they and their union compatriots face daily.
On April 23, 2008, Jorge Gamboa was in Yarima accompanying a group of African Palm workers who were on strike to demand respect for their basic labor rights and to seek negotiations with their employer. Two individuals targeted Gamboa, one of them holding a revolver. Gamboa was fortunately able to disarm the individual before any shots were fired. The striking workers then apprehended the two assailants and turned them over to the police.
Instead of arresting the two men, the police put them in a truck and drove them to the highway, where they were released. At no point did the police question or arrest the perpetrators. In fact, they assisted them in their escape.
That’s what the life of a union leader is like in today’s Colombia. You could be killed at any moment and chances are not much will be done about it. Murders of union leaders often go unpunished because the murderers most likely are members of paramilitary groups with close ties to the government, Gamboa says.
Gamboa, the president of the National Petroleum Workers Union, is one of seven Colombian union leaders who visited the United States last week to lobby against the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA). He says 85 members of his union have been murdered and 400 have gone underground. The murders have killed a father or mother of some 650 children in his union alone. He says last week, workers uncovered a plot to kill his union’s general secretary and a union vice president was threatened. A Colombian labor scholar says trade unionists in Colombia face genocide.
Gamboa traveled to Washington, D.C., to make sure Congress “realizes what’s really going on” in Colombia. In meetings on Capitol Hill, he and his colleagues told lawmakers that despite claims by the Bush administration and Colombia’s President Alvaro Uribe that progress has been made in stemming the violence against union members, the reality is that violence has increased against labor leaders in Colombia.
More than 2,500 trade union members have been killed in Colombia since 1986, including 39 murdered in 2007 and another 24 killed so far in 2008—a rate of more than one a week. Yet, the Colombian government has obtained convictions in few cases and has done little to stop the bloodshed or guarantee worker and human rights in the country.
Another 6,500 union members have been threatened, attacked, kidnapped, tortured or harassed in the same period. Of the seven visiting unionists, at least four have received threats recently. But their resolve is strong. Speaking at a reception Wednesday in their honor at the AFL-CIO headquarters, Luís Alfonso Velásquez Rico, from the Unitary Workers Center (CUT), said:
Don’t think of us as victims. The political map in South America is changing, and the workers are on the right side of history—and together with trade unionists from the United States, they will prevail.
As horrendous as the violence is, the Uribe government is making the situation worse by promoting an anti-union culture throughout the country, says Ivan Toro Lopez, a member of the executive committee of the National Association of Bank Workers (ASEB).
Business and government have joined with Uribe to deny the right to strike, to organize, to bargain collectively. Multinational companies are taking advantage of that culture.
Lopez says Colombia’s trade unions are strongly opposed to the FTA because they already have experience with what passes for free trade through other agreements and the social and economic effects have been disastrous.
Alba Lucía Campaz, president of the Hospital Workers Union of the Hospital Universitario del Valle, says the deal would lower the standards of living for workers in both countries. She points to the privatization of nearly every major industry in Colombia, including schools, as an indication that workers’ rights are being ignored in the nation’s economy.
The seven leaders say they received a “positive” response from lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Lopez says some were “very convinced.” He says the workers tried to give opponents of the deal more facts to strengthen their arguments.
In February, a delegation of AFL-CIO union leaders went on a two-day, fact-finding trip to meet with leaders of major Colombian unions to hear first hand the dangers and challenges faced by Colombian trade unionists. They also met with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, telling him the U.S. union movement cannot support the U.S.-Colombia FTA until real progress is made to protect the lives and rights of trade union members. United Steelworkers (USW) associate general counsel Dan Kovalik took part and describes the meeting with Uribe.
Uribe [claimed] the three unionists killed near Saravena in 2004 were in fact guerrillas linked to the guerrilla group ELN. I disagreed with the president, pointing out that his own attorney general had concluded, after investigation, that this claim was not true, and that the 18th Brigade had actually planted weapons on the unionists after the fact to make it look like they were insurgents killed in a gun battle. In response, Uribe said he had gone to Saravena personally and that members of the community had assured him the three killed were in fact members of the ELN.
So, based on hearsay, without any proof, and in defiance of his own attorney general’s conclusions, the president clings to the contention that these individuals were “terrorists.”
Sadly, this was not a slip of the tongue by Uribe. Indeed, he has made such dangerous statements before. Consider what he told Colombia’s leading newspaper El Tiempo. In discussing two trade unionists killed last year, he said they were killed because one of the men was a “terrorist.” Again, there was never any proof for this assertion.
And, indeed, human rights groups, and the U.N. High Commission for Human Rights as well, have debunked any theory of union-guerrilla collaboration, and are unanimous in the conclusion that unionists in Colombia are being killed, not because they have any illegal affiliations, but precisely because they are unionists.
By a 224–195 vote in April, the House removed the 90-day deadline under the Fast Track trade-promotion authority for an up-or-down vote on the U.S.-Colombia FTA. The vote will delay consideration of the deal indefinitely, probably until after Bush leaves office in January. In fact, Bush told reporters the deal is dead unless House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) schedules a vote.
But we can’t take anything for granted. We need to make sure lawmakers know the United States should not reward murder. Send a message to Congress now by clicking here.
4 Comments
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I thought we had declared war on terrorists everywhere. So why is the U.S. government supporting Uribe who has links to the terrorists in Columbia who kill labor organizers?
This goes way beyond simple hypocrisy. This is collusion with terrorism and mass murder. In many countries, people are prosecuted for this kind of thing.
Maybe we ought to look into that possibility.
Bob Simpson
The BobboSphere
Clearly, Bush’s doctrine that predicated the ultimatum, “If they are not with us, then they are with them” applies only to foreign enemies; never to domestic ones. A fox is obviously guarding the henhouse on our domestic front. That fox has turned a blind eye toward some rosters that selectively sellout hens to the chicken hawk, and eggs to the viper, all from the same coupe.
Hypocrisy is an understatement. It’s much more sinister than that, I fear. Such a noble cause is the eradication of evil that we would pursue it at the expense of abandoning all the things that we know are good, right, just, and worthy. If we truly represent the last stand of good in the world, and we are willing to sacrifice liberty (good) to pursue oppression (evil); then, evil has already won.
Shall we call it treason? To avoid the abuses of English law (including executions by Henry VIII of England, for those who criticized his repeated marriages), treason was specifically defined in the United States Constitution. The only crime so defined. Article Three of the United States Constitution, Section 3, delineates treason as follows:
Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.
So, giving aid and comfort to the enemy in a time of war is treason. What else should a detailed plan to entangle America by adhering to foreign countries well known for aiding and comforting terrorists (with whom we are at worldwide war) be called, if not aid to an enemy? What should an agenda being implemented, via treaties and free-trade agreements, that totally erase the sovereignty of this Nation and replace our constitutional republic with international capitalism be known, if not by treason?
How we can continue allowing our government to permit various International Corporations to define for the President which countries should be subjected to the Trading with the Enemies Act and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act rather than having its own citizens defining them is unconscionable! Both of these Acts are in need of updating as badly as the National Labor Relations Act. All of which are now inter-related as a result of modern globalization.
The suspension of habious corpus, illegal surveillance of citizens, and the torture of prisoners are some of the best tactics that the most successful dictators throughout history have devised at controlling their subjects. These tactics worked wonderfully for Hitler, Julius Caesar, Mussolini, Mao se Tung, Genghis Khan, Stalin, Attila the Hun, and many more. Now, history is forced to add George Bush to that distinguished list of leaders. How fitting that he received the endorsements of religious organizations that enjoy the public perception of having the moral high ground? It reminds me of the Sanhedrin’s endorsement of Barabbas over Jesus. Reward the guilty and punish the innocent.
“I am concerned for the security of our great nation, not so much because of any threat from without, but because of the insidious forces working from within.” — General Douglas MacArthur
How can Republicans, explicitly, and Democrats, complicity, resolve to protect the Constitution of the United States utilizing a strategy that attacks and makes void the very principles contained in it? Where are the keepers of Democracy while Lady Liberty is being raped? Democrats hold her down while Republicans consummate the crime. Both are worthy of indictment, since Pelosi has taken impeachment of Bush and Cheney “off the table.”
Democracy will not be destroyed with a bang from tyrants of some far away lands. It will be destroyed with a whimper from the masses of basically good people that willingly do nothing to protect it.
Evil persists when good men do nothing. Are you going to do nothing, again today, or is today the day you make up your mind to say enough is enough? Why not make this Memorial Day worth remembering?!?
For the April 17 AFLCIO blog titled, “Flower Worker Mother’s Day Card Shows You Care About Rights of All Mothers” I entered what I saw on my trip to the area of Colombia. There was another scene I found more recently. While not directly related to union activity, in my opinion it shows what labor is against. It illustrates how easy it is for laws, including labor laws and laws to protect the people, to be ignored with impunity and government support. I was in the small town of Tabio, North of Bogota. A beautiful town with tile roof buildings and cobblestone streets, except for one ugly structure near the town square. It features metal poles and roof rising above a block wall with hardened cement oozing from between the blocks instead of being neatly pointed. From a residential street a half bock away, noise amplified by the stadium design, of screaming children and bouncing balls shattered the neighborhood, evening bouncing off the houses across the street assailing you with the noise from both sides. A remark about it at the local Internet café prompted a lady who has lived in the town for 14 years to tell me the story. The structure was built 3 years ago without planning commission approval. It breaks laws for proximity to a hospital and a public park. A distinguished looking man of about 70 in the place then added that he watched the CAR (acronym for a government agency in charge of noise) registered the sound significantly above legal level. But it took 2 years for them to act on it. The town mayor was told to lower the roof, enclose the stadium and insulate it. A person at the Internet shop overheard our conversation and pointed me to a web site for the contract for the work.
http://www.contratos.gov.co/puc/
There I found the document showing payment of over 48 million pesos (about $25,000) just to lower the roof. The older man resident told me the actual work probably cost between $5,000 and $8,000. That meant that $17,000 to $20,000 most likely went to corruption. The man told me 50% was normal. But there is still more than a 12-foot opening between the wall and the roof and I asked if they actually did the work. “Oh yes, it was much higher before.” Basically the mayor re-opened the stadium with it even being more noisy than before. It seemed to me that if the work had been done correctly then materials would have been purchased giving business to a company that employs people and more men would have been hired to do the work giving them income. Instead it is possible the money went into political pockets.
As I was about to leave they told me there was more and introduced me to another person. That person showed me a copy of a document that took the CAR seven months to issue. It told the town mayor to cease all activities in the facility until they could access if all the work had been done properly. Three residents of town said, the mayor completely ignored the legal order. And in the over 2 months no agency has done anything to enforce the law.
“Why doesn’t the mayor obey the law?” I asked. That got me nothing more than a shoulder shrug.
This seemed incredible and unbelievable. For the heck of it I casually mentioned the building, noise and the story I heard in the Internet shop to a young police officer standing near the bank in town. He said he had heard of the order to stop using the facility but the mayor said not to enforce it because the kids needed a place to play. I questioned about the residents who had to listen to the noise and the fact that the place is illegal. I again received a shoulder shrug and the comment of, “The mayor is my boss.”
I have heard comments from others about their workplace and what could be considered American OSHA violations. A frequent comment was, “Yes, we have a law, but no one pays does anything and I could loose my job for complaining.”
GZP Interesting info. Reminds me of a speech given in December 2003 by President Uribe at the police graduation., (translated to English here) He said, “Everyone from peasants to city dwellers must be heard and their demands must be promptly answered in order for them to trust our efforts. The country’s soldiers and police must persuade the public about the goodness of their work.”
Unfortunately as pointed out in the article and by GZP that does not seem to be the case. There is lots of talking the talk, but limited walking the walk it seems. This is not necessarily the fault of President Uribe who has made some strides, however the country suffers from one of the most unequal divisions of wealth in the world. Report after report shows how the President has failed to motivate the elite to help. Instead they do everything to further the disparity between rich and poor including keeping labor wages low. Part of the plan in this is corruption and use of a military force that can do their bidding without dirtying the hands of the government. That later would be the paramilitary that was started by the wealthy and has been linked to the Colombian government on many levels. In a report by former Ambassador to Colombia, Myles R.R. Frechette, he notes how Colombia has failed to live up to its end of the bargain in contributing to Plan Colombia (that has already cost the USA over $5 billion without significantly reducing cocaine).
Colombia has also failed in two other parts - of strengthening the judiciary system (Colombia’s judiciary department is under staffed and under funded) and in fighting corruption (report after report including those by the US State Department sight corruption as a continuing major problem) but that the Colombian elite have not contributed their share with the burden of the improvements mostly falling on the poor. A report by the Center for Strategic and International studies states, “Studies show that Colombia’s tax system remains inefficient and distortive and that reducing distortions and broadening the system’s base would be important to incite more private investment while protecting revenue collection.”
But a major problem is that despite some improvements the country has still failed to strengthen its key institutions and because of that backsliding is easily possible. Reports from many sources site impunity for some as well as the weak and hindered judicial system as a continuing major problem that adversely affects human rights in the country including workers. And helps keep the rich getting richer. That in itself does not help create a viable market for American goods. Collusion between government forces and paramilitary or emerging groups (usually composed for so-called demobilized paramilitary) continues. US government reports as well as others show that extrajudicial killings by Colombian security forces are increasing. The report mentioned above also states, “former paramilitaries continue to exercise political power at local levels and, as criminal elements, pose a challenge to the rule of law in Colombia.”
The Organization of American States (OAS) as well as other reliable sources state that to become a more stable country that Colombia must still strengthen its basic institutions (especially the judicial), curb corruption and reduce the influence of both old and new terrorists groups in the rural areas.
Frechette noted that Colombia has a history of not making progress, especially on human rights, unless basically threatened by a reduction in international funds. The majority of people (especially the workers) in both Colombia and the USA will benefit by giving Colombia more time to become a good trading partner for the USA.