Colombia Urgent Action: Death Threats to Sinaltrainal

[Judi Lynn]

Colombia Urgent Action: Death Threats to Sinaltrainal
as Coca-Cola stalls on collective agreement
Report by Colombia Solidarity
Published: 11/12/09

We denounce before the national and international community that on 24 November 2009 our comrade Luis Javier Correa Suárez received a call on a mobile phone assigned to him by the protection programme of the Ministry of the Interior and justice, the call came for the mobile number 312-8160930 and a man who identified himself as Arnold Jiménez told Javier Correa “you have until the 22nd to renounce, and there won’t be another phone call”, when he asked why the man replied “you know why, don’t play games, you know what I mean” and hanged up the phone.

We also denounce that on 20 November 2009 two calls were made to Sinaltrainal’s land line, one confirming a fax and one on which a man said that he would be calling the other Sinantrainal branches to inform them of the contents of the fax. He also said that Coca Cola had relationships and influence with the Government and the sons of Alvaro Uribe, this man did not identify himself for security reasons. In a previous statement we denounced the commercial treaties between the sons of the President and the multinational.

This death threat reaches us a few days after the Inter-American Commission on human rights notified us its decision to extend precautionary measures to Sinaltrainal members and at a point when we are in a collective conflict with multinational (National Industry of Soft Drinks S. A. - Coca Cola), which does not want to sign the collective labour agreement even though we had reached an agreement to our demands during the negotiation process.

We demand from the authorities to investigate and punish the material and intellectual perpetrators of these acts and to guarantee our right and freedom of association and to protect the life and physical integrity of Sinaltrainal members and their families.

We ask the international community as much solidarity as possible to help us prevent crimes against the trade union movement and the people of Colombia

National Directorate
Sinaltrainal - Colombia

http://www.labournet.net/world/0912/colomb2.html

[Peace Patriot]

1. It is truly appalling that Colombia's putrid, violent, lawless government is the U.S.'s bestest

friend in South America.