In Colombia, labor organizers run enormous personal risk. Over a billion in US taxpayer dollars are being used to support the Colombian government, focusing on training and strengthening the Colombian military, which has a horrendous human rights record towards labor. Armed paramilitary forces, aligned with the Colombian military, engage in a murderous campaign against trade unionists. This campaign of violence has killed almost 4,000 Colombian unionists since 1986. Three of every five unionists killed in the world are Colombian, and 152 Colombian unionists were killed in 2001.

Colombian Government Links to the Paramilitary

According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), the vast majority of trade union murders are the committed by either the Colombian state itself -- e.g. army, police and DAS (security department) -- or its indirect agents, the right-wing paramilitaries. According to the Colombian Committee of Jurists (CCJ), "[i]n the case of the paramilitaries, one cannot underestimate the collaboration of government forces." The ILO notes that the official Colombian military has in some cases created paramilitary units to carry out assassinations. The U.S. State Department, the UN High Commission on Human Rights, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch are among the organizations who have documented that the official Colombian military remains linked closely with paramilitaries and collaborates in the atrocities.

Institutional Opposition to Labor Rights in Colombia

According to the CCJ, violence against unionists principally flows from institutional opposition to the exercise of labor rights in Colombia. As the CCJ explains, union activity in Colombia is considered by the government and private employers to be "subversive activity" because it challenges corporate profits. Particularly targeted are local and national trade union leaders, especially those who denounce human rights abuses. Many times, the murder of leaders and rank-and-file unionists coincides with labor negotiations.

US Training for Anti-Labor Campaigns

Currently, US funding for the Colombian military and police make it the 3rd largest recipient of U.S. military aid in the world. In addition to such aid, the U.S. government has trained over 10,000 of Colombia's military troops at the School of the Americas (SOA) in Fort Benning, Georgia. SOA training manuals that the Pentagon was forced to turn over show that the SOA encouraged troops to torture and murder those who do "union organizing and recruiting," pass out "propaganda in favor of the interests of the workers," and "sympathize with demonstrators or strikes." The US is not only funding an army with an atrocious human rights record toward labor organizing, it is also covertly encouraging abuses to be committed.

American Corporate Ties to the Violence

Multinational corporations in Colombia include British Petroleum (BP), Occidental Oil, Drummond Coal, and Coca-Cola. Over the years, US companies in Colombia have respected their rights to profit over workers' rights to organize. In so doing, several companies have maintained open relations with murderous death squads as part of a program to intimidate trade union leaders. In several cases workers were subjected to torture, kidnapping, and/or unlawful detention in order to encourage them to cease their trade union activities. Coca Cola is currently being sued in federal court for its role in such violent attacks on labor and other large corporations are being investigated.

Courtesy of the National Mobilization on Colombia