Union leaders and peace activists in war-torn Colombia are
under constant death threats as they attempt to organize workers under the
oppressive regime. A delegation of unionists told a gathering at OPSEU head
office Feb. 17 that the recent Canada-Colombia free trade agreement could
further inflame the situation because multinational corporations always have
army and paramilitary support to exploit the working people.
"An assessment on human rights must be done before free
trade is enacted," said Yolanda Becerra Vega, leader of the Colombian
women's organization. She was one of the Colombian women nominated for the
Nobel Peace Prize for her work for peace in her country. Vega has received
death threats from paramilitary groups because she assisted families whose
members were killed by government-sanctioned paramilitary groups. "My life
goes from home to office to the poor communities where we do our work, but I
must always be accompanied by bodyguards or representatives of the
international Peace Brigades for protection," she said through a Spanish
interpreter, Yhony Munoz of Local 256. "There will be more death threats as
a result of this tour, but it is our duty to come and tell the story."
Maria del Carmen Sanchez Burgos, head of the 14,000-member
Colombian health care workers union, said privatization and threats have cut
the membership of her union in half over the last 20 years. Private health
care is now 90 per cent in Colombia, salaries have been lowered by
government decree, and the army has taken over public health care facilities
and turned them over to private companies. "The best leaders of our unions
are either dead or in exile in Canada or other countries," Burgos said.
Thirty-nine trade union leaders were killed in 2007, and 41 in 2008, an
average of one per week. "My only hope that is if I get killed someone takes
on the job," she said.
She invited Canadian union leaders to attend a national
conference of Health care workers to show international solidarity against
the wanton killing in Colombia.
OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas pledged the union's
continuing support for Colombian workers and noted that the OPSEU Solidarity
Fund has donated a grant to support their work.
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