Gunmen Kill Colombian Radio Show Host (Trade-Union Member)

[DUreader]

Coca Cola Anyone? Notice the Article says how dangerous it is for journalists

but neglects to mention the much higher death rate for trade unionists.




http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3376892,00.html

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - A radio talk show host
was shot dead outside her home Tuesday in the
coastal city of Santa Marta, police said.

Relatives and friends of Zuly Esther Codina Perez,
a journalist with local radio station Rodadero de
Toledar, said they had not heard of her receiving
any death threats. There was no immediate
indication of who was behind the attack.

``We have designated a special group with the
prosecutors' office to shed light on the deplorable
death of this journalist,'' local police chief Col.
Heriberto Pardo told reporters.

Codina Perez also worked at a hospital in Santa
Marta and was a member of a trade union.

[Say_What]

1. Trade unionists face alarming resurgence in death threats and forced displ

Uribe making good on his promises? In a speech to a military audience in September he attacked unnamed human rights organizations as "politickers at the service of terrorism", and lashed out at critics of his security and social policies.

Get this, he refers to the guerrilla forces as "terrorists" and the paramilitaries are referred to as "private justice groups". (Sounds just like SmirkBoy, see second article.) Not the kind of guy Uncle Sam would have us believe he is.

<clips>

The ICFTU is gravely concerned at the recent and alarming resurgence in death threats against and forced displacement of trade unionists in Colombia. This climate of violence would appear to be related to the political context, which last week saw the failure of the referendum called by the head of state, as well as the rise of a new opposition force with the election of former trade unionist Luis Eduardo Garzon as mayor of Bogotá.

"You'll pay for the referendum's failure with your life," went the death threat made against Domingo Tovar Arrieta, a member of the National Executive Committee and Director of the Human Rights Department of the Colombian trade union confederation, CUT. Domingo received the death threat on his mobile phone on October 30. The threat is believed to be linked to a decision by the Cundinamarca administrative court in favour of Domingo and against the defence minister and the national army following Domingo's unlawful arrest on 12 February 1994.

On 22 October, the CUT office in the Department of Risaralda received death threats against 10 union leaders, defenders of human rights and members of political organisations. Accompanied by a hymn to the 'Bloque Cacique Calarca' paramilitary units, these death threats are linked directly to those sent 12 days earlier to union leaders in northern Valle who were exhorted to leave the area and give up their union activities or face death. These union leaders are now in hiding and are unable to pursue their union work.

In addition, according to the Colombian Commission of Legal Experts, early in the morning of 21 October - that is, 5 days before the elections 31 individuals were arbitrarily arrested in Arauca. Most of the victims of this mass arrest action were leaders of political organisations and political and social movements.

http://www.laborrights.org/press/ICFTU_colombia_1103.htm

---

WOLA Deplores Uribe Attack on Human Rights Defenders

Washington, September 9, 2003--Yesterday Colombian President Alvaro Uribe went on record before a military audience, attacking unnamed human rights organizations as "politickers at the service of terrorism." In a stunningly strident speech, Uribe lashed out at critics of his security and social policies, and defended the government tactics, including the granting of judicial police powers to public security forces, arbitrary detentions, and raids of civil society organizations, that have prompted strong expressions of concern from international human rights groups and the United Nations.

The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) deplores the president's statements linking human rights defenders to terrorism. The statements are indiscriminate and unjust. If the government has evidence to suggest that any particular organization is engaged in illegal activity under Colombian law, that evidence should be presented to a court of law and judged accordingly. In the absence of such judicial action, statements characterizing human rights organizations as linked to terrorism are simply irresponsible and place the lives of all Colombian human rights defenders at risk.

There can be no question that President Uribe's statements will feed international concern about his commitment to human rights. His comments are the latest in a long string of public statements made by high-ranking government officials, casting aspersions on the motives and actions of national and international human rights organizations, UN officials, judges, and even Colombian government officials who dissent from official policies. The clear conclusion is that the current Colombian government deeply misunderstands the essential role of dissent in democracy.

In his remarks, Mr. Uribe lauded the military's commitment to ending terrorism. But every credible human rights agency in Colombia and internationally continues to report evidence of ongoing collusion between sectors of the Colombian armed forces and illegal paramilitary groups, identified as terrorist organizations by the U.S. Department of State, and responsible for the majority of human rights violations in Colombia. In Mr. Uribe's speech, "terrorist" is used only in reference to insurgent guerrilla forces; the paramilitaries are referred to as "private justice groups." We beg to differ. The most important step Colombia could take to end terrorism within its borders is to investigate, prosecute and sanction all those responsible for violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, including the paramilitaries and their military allies. It is impunity, not human rights defenders, that is eroding any prospect for rule of law in Colombia.

<http://www.wola.org/Colombia/press_release_uribeattacks_eng.htm>

[Say_What]

2. September article: Opposition coalition takes shape in Colombia

<clips>

09.08.2003 (By Alfredo Castro, ANNCOL Colombia) Leaders of trade unions political organisations, the peace movement and representatives of vast sectors of Colombian civil society – including peasant farmers, students and afro-Colombian and indigenous peoples – have come together in a new coalition that may have the potential to transform the political landscape of Colombia.

A joint declaration made by the new coalition condemned the dramatic increase in repressive policies under the government of rightwing President Alvaro Uribe Velez and pledged to oppose him in the coming general strike and other campaigns.

The statement was signed at a meeting on August 1st by nine members of the Colombian Congress, the leaders of the CUT and CTC trade union federations, leaders of various individual trade unions, human rights activists and leaders of numerous political parties and progressive political coalitions such as the ‘Social and Political Front’.

In addition to pledging total support for the National General Strike this coming August 12th, the alliance promised to support the Agricultural Workers’ March on the same day, the campaign for ‘Active Abstention’ in the forthcoming referendum and to work for closer unity of all progressive forces in the run up to local and regional elections next October.

http://www.anncol.com/August_2003/0908_opposition.htm

[Judi Lynn]

3. One would believe the opposition coalition members are dead serious

after reading their statement.

(snip) The coalition has said that they their principle aims are to fight to defend public services, natural resources and national sovereignty in the face of President Uribe’s regressive legislative onslaught and increasing US intervention.


According to the statement, “The economic policies that the current government are applying are greatly reducing the quality of life of the people and are leading the nation towards ruin. The most obvious manifestations of this are the alarming levels of unemployment, poverty and social disintegration plus the destruction of the trade unions and the elimination of labour guarantees”.


It goes on to talk about the harsh measures that the government has implemented against the agricultural sector and the privatisation process that it is currently imposing on public entities such as the telecommunications company, Telecom, the state petroleum company, Ecopetrol, and the higher education service SENA.


Furthermore the coalition says that alongside of these devastating economic policies “the government of Alvaro Uribe Velez has installed the most authoritarian regime in the history of Colombia systematic violations of freedoms and civil and democratic rights and the flagrant abuses of human rights”.

Sounds so familiar, by now. Hope for their survival, for their health, and for their success.

[Say_What]

4. Bottling Coke and spilling blood

<clips>

Coca-Cola may say it's The Real Thing, but workers at Coke bottling plants in violence-torn Colombia call it the Real Dead Thing.

Just ask Juan Carlos Galvis. He's a leader of Colombia's national food workers union, which represents employees at about a dozen Coca-Cola bottling plants throughout the country.

In a federal suit Galvis filed in Miami two years ago against Atlanta-based Coke and several of its Colombian bottling partners, the union said that at least six of its leaders have been murdered since 1989 by death squads, which it claims secretly worked for local Coca-Cola plant managers.

Colombia is the murder capital of the world. A 40-year-old civil war, a decades-long government campaign against drug traffickers and an infamously brutal military have led to near anarchy and more than 35,000 deaths.

But few people realize that Colombia is an especially notorious killing field for union leaders.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/col/story/135661p-120748c.html