GM Workers Enter 4th Week on Hunger Strike with Growing International Support

By Austin Robles
WFP Colombia

Dozens of people protested in front of GM's headquarters in Detroit last week, outraged at the company's treatment of its Colombian workers. In Bogotá, 2,700 miles away, a small group of Colombian men were touched by their actions. "They've changed my perception of what I thought Americans were like," one of them told me. “They’ve never met us but they’re doing so much for us.”

Witness for Peace Colombia Team fasting in solidarity with Asotrecol   

I met Jorge my second week in Colombia. I went to meet officials at the U.S. Embassy and immediately noticed a make-shift camp outside the main entrance. Living there are 13 men who belong to the Association of Injured Workers and Ex-Workers of General Motors Colmotores (Asotrecol), and they just commemorated their protest’s anniversary.

A welder at General Motors’ South American subsidiary, Colmotores, Jorge performed manual labor at the plant until he was disabled. He underwent three surgeries and now walks with a cane in his hand and several screws in his spine. GM fired him when he could no longer work due to his workplace injuries, and paid him no medical benefits or severance.

In conversations about Jorge’s case with people in the United States, I sometimes hear that I can’t expect the same standards here that would be applied stateside. The issue in Jorge’s case is that GM didn’t even meet Colombian legal standards. The Ministry of Labor had to review workers’ medical records to ensure they incurred no workplace injuries. The Inspector on some Asotrecol members’ cases was convicted for falsifying records and has a warrant out for his arrest. Colpatria, Jorge's professional risk insurance provider, was also fined for illegally changing his medical records to reflect "common" rather than "occupational" injuries. Sadly, the falsified records do not get nullified automatically, and cases do not get reversed due to corrupt oversight, so Jorge and others in his situation have not received justice.

After one year without any sign of a resolution from GM, Jorge decided to sew his mouth shut and go on hunger strike until his case is resolved. Minutes before he put six stitches in his lips, Jorge explained his rationale to me: “Essentially GM gave us a choice: to die of hunger or to die waiting for them to solve this problem.”

The hardest part of working on Jorge’s case has been fighting for social justice against a U.S. corporation. In every country I’ve lived or traveled, locals have almost always differentiated between the U.S. people’s good nature, U.S. companies’ greed, and the U.S. government’s indifference.

It is sad to have to differentiate between U.S. entities when our ideals and behavior should be based on justice uniformly. Colombians shouldn’t have to react with surprise when people in the States stand up against injustice, even when it’s for someone we’ve never met. GM should be ashamed not just for violating Colombian law, but for not setting a standard that could improve labor conditions in Colombia. The U.S. government, which bailed out GM with $50 billion and remains one of its largest shareholders, should also be ashamed for not holding GM accountable for human rights abuses. Companies and governments are the institutions with the power to make the most noticeable impact abroad, but, in this case, have fallen far short of improving human rights conditions.

I have gone to see Jorge almost every day since he stopped eating. He no longer has the energy or optimism he used to boast, and he is worried GM will let him die before settling his small claim. Across the United States, people are starting to take notice of this case. In over 20 states, they fasted or held protests in solidarity with Jorge and Asotrecol this past Wednesday. They will hold more this Friday, not just in the U.S., but also in Brazil, Canada, and Germany.

As Jorge enters his 4th week on hunger strike, I hope that GM soon corrects its error in this case, and that it one day realizes that it can be a force for positive global change.

Labor Action Plan Monitoring Report

This is a Labor Action Plan Monitoring report done by Witness for Peace delegates and International Team this past July. It includes the on-the-ground labor reality for Colombian workers now that the Free Trade Agreement between Colombia and the U.S. has been implemented. The report includes specific recommendations and case studies  for U.S. officials, policymakers and civil society to track where labor law is not complied with and bring about effective change set out by U.S. and Colombian labor accords.

Labor Reality in Colombia

Continued Violations of the Colombian Action Plan Related to Labor Rights:

Witness For Peace July 2012 Delegation Report

August 1, 2012

Introduction:

The purpose of this report is to convey the findings and recommendations of the Witness for Peace delegation that conducted an independent investigation of labor rights in Colombia from July 20-30, 2012. Our ten-person delegation was comprised of two full-time Witness for Peace staff living in Colombia and eight delegates from the United States including trade unionists, educators, activists, and NGO workers. This delegation specifically aimed to assess the implementation of the Labor Action Plan now that the U.S. – Colombia Free Trade Agreement is in effect. Through meeting with affected groups and advocacy organizations, we found multiple and egregious violations of the plan in the areas of Cooperatives, Collective Pacts, and Violence and Impunity, as well as a lack of response to the troubling consequences of the FTA for women in Colombia. As the United States is now complicit in these labor rights violations, we ask that the U.S. Embassy do everything in its power to act on this information to remedy the continued violations of the Labor Action Plan.

I. Cooperatives

The Colombian Action Plan Related to Labor Rights intended to prohibit the misuse of subcontracting by cooperatives and temporary service agencies. Witness for Peace July 2012 delegation has found that they have been replaced by new and just as prevalent forms of intermediary employment and third party contracting. The Labor Action Plan identifies the port sector as a priority. Buenaventura illustrates the egregious labor violations of this plan. Our visit to the port provided clear examples of noncompliance with the Labor Action Plan through a variety of methods:

New forms of subcontracting

A Simplified Stock Association (SAS) is a new form of subcontracting agency that has replaced cooperatives. The port of Buenaventura and Sociedad Portuaria is especially dramatic in this regard with over 700 intermediary companies such as Simplified Stock Associations.

·        Compania Servicios Portuario Esapecializada (CSPE) is one of many SAS operated by the pro-managerial union Sintramaritimo. More and more of these “unions” are adopting subcontracting mechanisms as a means of skirting around the cooperatives. CSPE is an important example that limits workers’ rights by preventing direct contracts with corporate employers which would provide direct accountability and stability. Workers employed through CSPE have been denied their legitimate benefits and job security through their employment by a third party contractor.

·        The cooperative Coowinpropa reinvented itself as a SAS named Artica. Then it transformed itself once more into another SAS called Ecpe. However, the owner remained the same in all three forms. This not only prevented direct contracts, but it also imposed temporary employment.

Conditions on Direct Contracts

The most common demand by port workers is a direct contract relationship with the corporations.

·        Often direct contracts place conditions on workers; most commonly workers are forced to agree to not join or to withdraw from the Union Portuaria (otherwise known as a “yellow dog contract”). TECSA, in addition to employing workers through intermediaries, enforced the condition that workers not be represented by the Union Portuaria in its direct contracts with workers. Intermodal S.A.S. required that workers not be represented by the Union Portuaria and demanded that workers withdraw their complaints from the Labor Ministry. Prodeco offered workers direct contracts only if they withdrew from the union and kept their contracts secret.

Expansion of Precarious Work

According to the Labor Action Plan, temporary work arrangements are not to be used to undermine labor rights.

Workers with Intermodal S.A.S. report that even when they receive a direct contract, the duration rarely exceeds 4-6 months. These short term contracts enable a high turnover of workforce and maintain low wages, poor working conditions, meager benefits and the inability to accumulate seniority.  

The Labor Action Plan requires direct contracts and steady work for “permanent core functions.”  However, workers report that the short contracts and new intermediaries are eroding job security even in areas of core function of the port.

Proliferation of Competing Unions

The creation of competing unions undermines workers’ collective bargaining rights. Many of these unions have only a small number of members and receive preferential treatment from companies. In Buenaventura, for example, Sintramaritimo, is described by workers as a “sindicato patronal,” because it collaborates with the company to undermine negotiations. It also received resources from the mayor’s office for rent in the amount of 1,500,000 pesos.

Non-compliance

As pointed out by the previous Witness for Peace delegation in February, there is an ongoing problem with inspections.

Even though the Colombian government complied with the hiring of additional inspectors, they are not trained adequately to identify these new forms of subcontracting.  When fines are imposed they are inadequate in amount (a 56 million peso limit), they can be appealed interminably, and they do not deter corporations from repeat violations.  For large multinationals the fines are not a deterrent and for smaller companies it justifies bankruptcy and leads to reincorporation without improvement of labor conditions for workers.

In fact, of the 91 fines imposed, no fines nor any criminal sanction for anti-union violence have been carried out.  (See the list of imposed fines attached.)

Under Section III Part B, the “strategy of offering to waive fines wholly or in part when the employer agrees to create and maintain a direct employment relationship” allows the companies to get away with their violations.

In requests for clarification of Decree 2025, the Labor Ministry has exempted the very forms of labor outsourcing that are meant to be prevented by the Labor Action Plan.

Additional Concerns

We have serious additional concerns about the labor and human rights conditions at the port and in Buenaventura:

·        Ongoing death threats against union leaders

·        Blatant racism by employers of Afro-Colombian workers

·        Lack of social investment by the port companies in the community

·        The increase in sexual violence against women and child prostitution

Recommendations

·        Advocate for broader language and clearer interpretation of labor law to include all forms of third party subcontracting and outsourcing 

·        Train more labor inspectors to ensure frequency of inspection, monitoring, and follow-up

·        Promote compliance through the application of fines and criminal penalties since no fines nor any criminal sanction for anti union violence have been carried out.

·        Secure the increase in direct employment relationships without conditions that undermine “the right to organize and bargain collectively”

·        Protect threatened unionists and issue an immediate embassy denunciation of any act of violence against workers

II.  Collective Pacts

Another key issue undermining freedom of association in Colombia is the continued use of collective pacts and the lack of enforcement to prevent such pacts.

As you are aware, Section V of the Labor Action Plan provides for reforming the Criminal Code of Colombia to criminalize collective pacts that are used to undermine the right to organize. In addition, the Labor Action Plan says that the Ministry of Social Protections, now the Labor Ministry, “will implement a robust enforcement regime . . . to detect and prosecute violations.” Unfortunately, these provisions of the Labor Action Plan on collective pacts are not being fulfilled.

In collective pacts, workers are offered short-term benefits and improved working conditions in exchange for renouncing their right to join an independent labor union, effectively removing their right to organize and allowing the company to dictate all conditions of employment. Without an independent labor union to represent workers’ interests, workers cannot effectively defend their rights and enjoy full protections of the labor code.

General Motors Colombia is one company that continues to use collective pacts to the detriment of labor rights. Since 2003, GM Colombia has signed a collective pact with workers every two years, with the last one signed in January of 2012. At the signing this year, GM workers were incentivized with money to sign the pact, which explicitly prohibits them from joining an independent union. Workers were told that their continued employment was dependent on signing the pact, so in fact they had no choice but to accept the imposed conditions. The individuals who ostensibly represented the workers were not elected and instead were appointed by GM management.

The lack of independent labor representation for GM workers has exacerbated conflicts between workers and management and left many workers subject to illegal firings. For example, workers have documented systemic patterns of illegal terminations due to workplace injuries, including debilitating conditions requiring major surgery that limit mobility and employment options for workers. Company practices included the sharing of medical records from the company clinic doctors with management, who then fired workers based on this confidential information.

Both General Motors Colombia and the Ministry of Labor were complicit in the illegal firing of injured workers. In the last year, worker complaints prompted the Labor Ministry and the Procuraduría to investigate these firings and concluded that GM had violated labor law. In a follow-up investigation, workers’ medical records disappeared from company files, and the Procuraduría was not present as required by law.  Moreover, the labor inspector who signed off on the firings, as well as the GM lawyer, have been sanctioned by the Attorney General for their illegal actions.

These illegal firings led to the formation in May 2011 of the Association of Injured Workers and Ex-Workers of General Motors Colombia (ASOTRECOL). The founder of this organization, Jorge Parra, was fired two months later in retaliation for exercising his right to freedom of association. Without effective union representation, these workers have taken their grievances to the public by protesting in front of the U.S. Embassy. These workers are seeking reinstatement to jobs appropriate to their physical abilities; the right to form a labor union; and pensions for those workers too ill to resume employment based on their workplace injuries.

The continued existence of collective pacts and the systemic failure to prosecute labor violations indicates that the Labor Action Plan has not been implemented in full as required by U.S. Congress with the passage of the Colombian Free Trade Agreement. As concerned U.S. citizens who are closely monitoring the labor and human situation in Colombia, we request the U.S. Embassy to take the following actions:

§      Investigate the collective pact signed by General Motors with its workers that undermines their rights to organize

§      Press the Colombian government to prosecute those illegal actions under the new criminal code implemented as part of the Labor Action Plan

§      Resume discussions with ASOTRECOL and assist in the resolution of the labor conflict between GM and these illegally fired workers by advocating for the reinstatement of these workers, pensions for those with disabilities that prevent their employment, and the formation of an independent labor union

§      Work with the Colombian government to ensure the “robust enforcement” required by the Labor Action Plan Section V is carried out

III.  Violence Against Trade Unionists, Impunity for Offenders

            Colombia is known for having the highest rate of violence against trade union members and labor activists. While we believe that the initiatives included in the Labor Action Plan, such as broadening the definition of who is covered in the Colombian government’s protection program and the implementation of criminal justice reforms are a step in the right direction, we are still extremely concerned with the levels of impunity, violence and threats within the labor sector. In spite of the intended additions of 95 judicial police investigators and 480 new labor inspectors, there are abundant cases of union-related violence, threats, and other forms of intimidation towards union leaders.

            Even after both the Colombian and United States governments signed the Labor Action Plan in April 2011, labor leaders have been victims of over 500 death threats and 29 assassinations. One such case is that of Daniel Aguirre, the Secretary General and founder of SINALCORTEROS. Mr. Aguirre was assassinated on April 27, 2012 and to this date no justice has been served. Immediate action is necessary to solve this case and bring justice to the perpetrators since Mr. Aguirre is the first union leader to be killed since President Obama declared implementation of the free trade agreement.

            Other assassinations this year include that of Mauricio Redondo of USO, who was killed along with his wife on January 17 in Puerto Asis, Putumayo, and Alexander Gonzales Blandon of SINTRAENTEDDIMCCOL who was murdered on January 19, 2012 in Bugalagrande, Valle del Cauca. In 2011, the death of SINALTRAINAL member John Fredy Carmona, whose body was discovered on December 9 in Medellin, and the paramilitary attack of SINALTRAINAL Executive Committee Member Juan Carlos Galvis on November 9 have not been sufficiently investigated.

            We are concerned that these deaths will only be further additions to the backlog of cases that have perpetuated impunity in Colombian society. Such cases include Luciano Romero of SINALTRAINAL, who was stabbed to death in 2005. In fact, in SINALTRAINAL’s thirty years of existence, 24 union members have been killed, 2 disappeared, 14 imprisoned, 80 death threats received, 49 forcibly displaced, 6 exiled, and several attacked. These acts of violence against unionists are met with widespread impunity: of the 2,886 trade unionists murdered since 1986 less than 10 percent have led to a conviction. The impunity rate remains intolerable even for violence that has occurred after the passage of the Labor Action Plan.

            The continued persecution of trade unionists and labor activists is further amplified considering the fact that only 3.9% of the Colombian workforce is unionized. Death threats are another method used by re-armed paramilitary units, who in some cases cooperate with multinationals, to inculcate fear among union leaders and labor activists. The very same week that the FTA went into effect, the following labor union leaders and their families’ received death threats:

·        Jhon Jairo Castro of Union Portuaria (Port Workers’ Union)

·        Johnnson Torres Ortis of SINALCORTEROS

·        Rene Morales Silva of SINTRAINAGRO

This year, leaders of SINTRAEMCALI were threatened by the paramilitary group the Black Eagles. SINTRAINAGRO has received 13 death threats and union member Henry Diaz was disappeared.  

            Given the alarming rates of persistent threats and acts of violence, we have noticed that the implementations of the protection programs and judicial reforms delineated in the Labor Action Plan have not been achieved.  It is imperative that the Colombian government, with the support of the United States, ensures their compliance with the specific programs and initiatives outlined in the Labor Action Plan.

IV.  The Omission of Women's Voices in the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement

The concerns of Colombian women were not taken into consideration with the development and passage of the FTA, either through a government study or listening to the case of the women's movement.  Without the inclusion of specific protections for women, the FTA cannot stand as a just document.  The obligation to reduce discrimination against women is present in the Colombian Constitution as well as various international humanitarian agreements, but is absent from the FTA.  Discrimination based on gender is rampant in Colombia, and has worsened during the past five years of free trade negotiation.  According to a 2007 NGO report, the salary gap between men and women holding the same position was 14.28%.  According to the women's division of the Central Unitario de Trabajadores (CUT), the rate has doubled to 28.9% today.  Additionally, the increased economic inequality and instability caused by the FTA forces more people (especially women) to work in the precarious informal sector, without healthcare, contracts, or protection from the Labor Action Plan.

The major concerns held by women of the Sabana of Bogota during their First Popular Women's Assembly surrounded threats to the environment and the local economy. The government does not monitor the flower industry's water or soil pollution, or hold companies responsible for these negative externalities.  The displacement of food crops for monoculture and flower production has decreased agricultural job opportunities, and created precarious employment where wages are suddenly lowered or hours reduced.  Despite being hailed as one of the most unionized industries in Colombia, due to the prevalence of sindicatos patronales which are headed by the company,  the union Untraflores is alone in truly seeking to protect workers’ rights.   Furthermore, cheap agricultural imports have destroyed women's capacity to compete with their own micro-economic agricultural enterprises. 

The women most disproportionately affected by the FTA are indigenous and Afro-Colombian, as well as poor campesina women in rural areas, because of displacement by armed groups or multinational economic interests. Colombia has the highest rate of displacement in the world, and many indigenous communities are on the verge of extinction.  According to a leading indigenous organization in Cauca, more than 6,000 people have been displaced in their region this year alone.  Community leaders are concerned that this generation of children has only known violence, and child recruitment continues to be a serious problem. The ethnic rights of indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities protected by the International Labor Organization (ILO) decrees were ignored by the parties who approved the FTA without consulting either community.  

Signed:

Mary Bellman

Bethany Carson

Amanda Ciafone

Kate Dillon

Jessica Hayssen

Omar Martinez

Ruth Needleman`

Robert Winslow

Carlos Cruz, Witness For Peace International Team

Jessica Weinstein, Witness for Peace International Team

Caño Manso Reclaimed its Collective Territory, but Security Concerns Persist

By Austin Robles
WFP Colombia Team

Colombians often refer to their country as one of laws but without law enforcement. For communities engaged in the legal process of land restitution in the areas most plagued by the armed conflict, waiting for the law to be enforced takes years. One community, tired of waiting, decided to nonviolently reclaim part of their territory without aid from the Colombian government.

In memory of Walberto. Caño Manso Humanitarian Zone, exclusive to the civilian population. Protected by provisional measures of  the IACHR (Inter-American Court on Human Rights)

Residents of the Humanitarian Zone of Caño Manso, located along the Curvaradó river basin in Colombia’s northern Chocó province, have been forcibly displaced several times over the past decade, but are finally making strides in regaining access to their ancestral collective territory. Three court rulings recognized their right to land that is illegally occupied by large-scale cattle ranchers and agricultural workers. A June report issued by the Colombian Institute of Rural Development (INCODER) demarcated the territory to which they are entitled (nearly 3,000 acres) and listed the names of each illegal occupier who must vacate the land.

Despite recognizing Caño Manso residents as the rightful owners of the land, these legal entities asked the illegal occupiers to self-vacate and provided no enforcement mechanism or date for their removal. The illegal occupiers refuse to comply with the law and proclaim they will leave when forced to do so. Instead of waiting years hoping for the government to mete out justice, community members decided to reclaim their territory on their own in a simple manner: by extending the fence surrounding their Humanitarian Zone to encompass the occupied land and asking the illegal occupiers to leave. In discussions leading up to their actions, community members repeatedly stated their commitment to acting peacefully and reiterated that if the illegal occupiers acted toward them with violence, they would respond with nonviolence.

Reclaiming the Land

Between July 13th and 16th, 11 Witness for Peace delegates, along with members of partner organizations Peace Brigades International and the Interchurch Commission of Justice and Peace, accompanied Caño Manso’s residents as they nonviolently reclaimed their collective territory.

The Humanitarian Zone encompassed a five-acre plot, and community members decided to increase it to eight by extending the perimeter. One group of residents expanded the barbed-wire fence marking their territory, closing it off to the illegal occupiers. Another group approached to home of the illegal occupiers and requested they leave. Those in the house first declared that they would leave, but later refused to go. Soon after, Colonel Javier Alberto Vallejos Delgado, commander of the Army’s 17th Brigade (responsible for security in the region), spread false reports on the radio. He claimed that Caño Manso, assisted by internationals, was kidnapping people in Curvaradó.

The situation escalated as the administrator of the lands, a few workers, and several unknown people entered the home. Both the Army and the Police, which had promised not to let anyone enter the Humanitarian Zone, let them in. The Army and the Police then promised that it would frisk anyone entering or leaving the Zone, but broke that promise as well, showing no regard for the security of the civilian community members. Another radio transmission hit the airwaves as a local representative (whose legitimacy is under question) told listeners that internationals were facilitating a land grab in Caño Manso.

As the security situation got more intense, we got word that representatives from the Office of the Attorney General planned to come and mediate the dispute. The next morning they arrived in a helicopter and held meetings with community members and the illegal occupiers. They also recognized the community members’ right to the land, pointing to the previous court ruling and the INCODER report, but stopped short of ordering the occupiers to leave. Their presence raised the profile of the community members’ struggle and de-escalated the security risks, but still did not resolve the issue of the occupiers.

On the morning of the 16th, before Witness for Peace was due to leave, community members decided to remove the illegal occupiers’ cattle from their collective territory. The animals, which include hundreds of cows and water buffalo, have trampled and destroyed the community’s food crops, and their massive weight ruins the quality of the arable land. Around 6:00am, we woke up and accompanied community members as they chased the animals off their land.

Setting Regional Precedent

Though the Witness for Peace delegates left, Peace Brigades International and the Interchurch Commission of Justice and Peace are maintaining a permanent presence in Caño Manso to ensure community members do not face repercussions for their actions in the paramilitary-controlled region.

After our departure, we learned that officials from the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Agriculture met with community members and the illegal occupiers and came to several understandings:
1) the community acted within its rights in reclaiming its territory, but agreed not expand further without permission from the government;
2) the Army would maintain a permanent presence around the Zone’s perimeter to guarantee security;
3) the government agreed to name an inspector to handle similar displacement and restitution cases along the Curvaradó and Jiguamiandó River basins.

Caño Manso’s recovery of its ancestral land sets a regional and legal precedent, and its importance can not be stressed enough. Still, several problems persist. The illegal occupiers have not been evicted and reiterated that they would not leave until forced to do so. Community members’ security remains at risk from illegal armed actors. One member of the military, when approached by a community resident about security concerns, stated that the illegal occupiers “won’t kill anyone here; they’ll kill you somewhere else.” Until their security and right to land are guaranteed by the government, residents of Caño Manso Humanitarian Zone remain at risk.

Record Deportations Tear Families Apart

By Moravia de la O
International Team - Mexico
Witness for Peace

Last year a record 393,000 immigrants have been deported by the Obama Administration. That means that since President Obama took office, there have been over 1 million immigrants deported.

The US government credits the high number of deportations to the growing implementation of its Secure Communities program. Launched in early 2008, Secure Communities is a highly problematic program which extends the reach of ICE officials into local and state jails. For jurisdictions that are part of Secure Communities, every person who is arrested has their fingerprints run through an immigration database.

Although the program is supposed to prioritize “dangerous” criminals, an overwhelming majority of those deported because of Secure Communities are not serious offenders. And this is not the only problem with the program. By giving local police immigration duties, there is more incentive for police to racially profile and arrest people they suspect of being undocumented. In addition, this discourages people from reporting crimes to the authorities for fear of being deported. Secure Communities is in fact making communities less safe.

More and more, those deported are people who have spent significant amounts of time in the US. They leave spouses and children behind without knowing how and when they will be able to see them. When deportation figures are released, it is hard to not be startled by the high numbers. It is even harder to not be angered when you start to think about how many families have had their entire lives interrupted and affected by the deportation of a loved one.

Often those deported return to communities and countries that they hardly know. Carlos Ruiz knows what it feels like to be unable to see your family and have to start a new life in a foreign place. This summer, we chronicled his story and that of other return migrants. Their stories show the high human cost of the United States’ immigration policy.

Transforming Guilt and Shame into Action and Community

By Jeanine Legato
Witness for Peace International Team - Colombia

We were in our hotel in Cali, Colombia debriefing the days events of a barbeque and charla with the parents of Jhonny Silva Aranguren and Katherine Soto. Over the course of the afternoon, we’d eaten grilled meat and plantains and swung contentedly in hammocks. Then we settled down to the business of hearing the circumstances of Jhonny and Katherine’s murders by the
Colombian military; Jhonny had been gunned down during a peaceful protest at his school, Universidad de Valle. Katherine, also a Valle student, was shot by a military official while crossing a bridge en route to a weekend beach get-away.

Already half-way through the delegation, we’d seen many times how the over 8
billion dollars in U.S aid to Colombia over the last 11 years, used mostly by the military and police, has contributed to the death of countless innocent civilians. We knew that Jhonny and Katherine’s murders and those of many like them remain in impunity and that the U.S
continues to fund the ever-increasing militarization of Colombia anyway.

So when James, a first-time delegate, spoke up in the hotel room about how discouraged he felt, we all could sympathize.

“A lot of you speak really eloquently about feeling energized by the activists we’ve met. I just feel helpless. I feel like there is so much to be changed and that I can’t really make an impact.”

I joined the Colombia International team two months ago. One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned in this short while is that most activists never knew they had it in them. They were forced to react to the extraordinary circumstances of victimhood. They are like Katherine’s
mother Julieta, who the International Team visited at the Valle campus at last weekend’s National Congress for Territory, Land, and Sovereignty. Julieta was installing a memory gallery for the Valle students lost to the Colombian armed conflict. She was ecstatic; so many people
were coming by to remember her daughter. It occurred to us how much courage it took for Julieta to return to a place so filled with her daughter’s memory, to repeatedly face the fact of Katherine’s murder even though the silence of impunity insists as if nothing ever happened
at all.

Not all victims become activists, or all delegates. But I think that those that do are moved
by a terrible and endless inadequacy in the face of “making just” such a loss as phenomenal as the loss of one’s daughter to senseless violence. Or, like James’ experience, a haunting moment when a parents’ frank plea to do something about the impunity of a child’s case leaves
them feeling ashamed and unable.

What I don’t think James realized at the time was that his feelings of shame were power.
Sometimes it’s more what we don’t do when we could have that actually motivates
us to get active, to have “moral courage”--in the sense of this excerpt from J.N Figgis--the next time around:

“Ask yourself for one moment what your feelings have been on the eve of some act involving courage..what has happened to you? If it has really called forth courage, has it not felt something like this? I cannot do this...All of me will be gone if I do this, and I cling to myself.

And then supposing the Spirit has conquered and you have done this impossible thing, do you find afterwards that you posess yourself in a sense that you never had before. That there is more of you?...So it is throughout life...”

What about you? Has a commitment to peace and justice ever come out of a memory of a time when you witnessed and failed to act as you wish you had? Were you ever empowered by the feeling of inadequacy in the face of a great injustice?

Upper Midwest Speaker Tour on Migration Hits the Ground Running

By John Pegg
Board of Directors, Witness for Peace Upper Midwest Region

Nancy Garcia, Administrator of the Center for the Orientation of Migrants in Oaxaca (COMI), along with Mexico-based WFP staffer Moravia de la O arrived this weekend to begin their month-long speaker tour in the WFP Upper Midwest region. Their arrival prompted a kick-off conference on immigration Sunday evening in Minneapolis. Nancy expressed interest in having a conversation with other Latinos on this side of the border who were working on immigration issues. As a result, we hosted a panel including three Latino community leaders from the Twin Cities. One had strong experience in economic development through forming a cooperative marketplace for Latino entrepreneurs. Another works as a community organizer, helping immigrants work together to claim their power and take collective responsibility for their lives. The third was a recent college graduate who works with young people and their families to gain access to higher education.

Following their presentations and a group discussion, we enjoyed an excellent Oaxacan dinner prepared by a local chef who recently migrated here and gathered around tables for small group conversations. After dinner we enjoyed a one-act play produced by a St. Paul Latino social theater company called Teatro del Pueblo. Then we closed with an update on how the legal system affects migrants in Minnesota by the Executive Director of the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota. Moravia said that she thought it was a great opportunity to plug into the immigration reform movement those who had not been actively involved so far. Nancy felt that she learned a lot about what the immigrant experience was like for people once they made it to the U.S. She never realized that migration across Mexico wasn’t the only challenge and that people here still had many difficulties and barriers to overcome before they could achieve what they all were looking for by migrating to the U.S. It was a great opportunity for cross-border dialogue and a highly informative and inspirational gathering to begin our tour!

On Monday we kicked into high gear with three presentations by Nancy on two campuses, Macalester College in St. Paul, and the University of Minnesota main campus in Minneapolis. We premiered the Witness for Peace Mexico-based International Team’s outstanding short new video on the roots of migration with a showing of “Perils of Migration,” which features Nancy and her work at COMI. The video was created in collaboration with volunteer documentarian Kate Fenner.

Small Victory in the Struggle Against Dole, Thousands Still Waiting for Justice

By Brooke Denmark
International Team - Nicaragua

Last Thursday there was a rare excitement in the air when we met with the group of former banana plantation workers camped outside the Nicaraguan National Assembly. For almost 20 years, workers suffering from medical conditions due to their exposure to a dangerous pesticide popularly known as Nemagon have been struggling to receive compensation from large corporations such as Dole. On August 11, representatives of a U.S.-based law firm, Provost Umphrey, announced that they had reached a settlement with Dole for 3,153 workers affected by the chemical. The details of the settlement have not yet been announced.

ASONEF members' protest community in front of the Nicaraguan National Assembly from 2004-2010

Despite celebrating this small victory, large questions remain unanswered. An estimated 17,000 workers were affected by the toxin. The fates of the thousands of unrepresented workers remain unclear. Dole has said that this is not a precedent decision or admittance of guilt. The Dole spokesperson who announced the settlement stated,

“Dole Food Company reiterates that there was no harm through exposure nor proof that supports there were damages to health, but in order to fulfill our social responsibility, we have taken this monumental step, but it should not be interpreted as the basis for an economic model for other groups still claiming settlements.”

But how monumental is this step really if only a fraction of those affected will benefit?

The President of ASONEF, the Association of Ex-Banana Workers Affected by Nemagon, Altagracia del Socorro Solis Navas, is one of the thousands of workers still waiting for an answer. She worked on banana plantations for 11 years. The effects of the pesticides began to set in by her 6th year. Today she suffers from long-term effects of the pesticide such as kidney problems and skin cancer. Solis is hopeful about the settlement announcement with some workers, but remarked,

“We are all the same, we worked together and need to be paid, not just one of us, but all of us worked. If we had known that the transnational corporations were using this poison, we would not have worked there. They didn't provide us with protection or warn us that this poison was deadly.”


The ASONEF board members, July 2010

The pesticides did not only harm workers that had direct contact. The next generation is also feeling the effects. In Chinandega, where many of the banana plantations were located, during the 1990s children began to be born with deformities and studies showed alarmingly high rates of chemicals found in breast milk.

The son of Leonardo Ernesto Gonzalez Herrera, another member of ASONEF, was born after Leonardo was exposed to the chemicals. He was born with brain damage that continues to affect his daily life as an adult. None of the settlements so far have addressed the long-term damage done to other generations or the environment.

ASONEF board members in front of one of the houses recently
constructed for them by the Nicaraguan government, August 2011

Solis raised another important concern about the recent settlement: the speed in which it will reach workers in grave condition. She warned that over the years many of her colleagues have already died waiting for a response from the transnational corporations, some before even reaching the age of fifty. “They died without anything but hope,” Solis warns.

Please call Dole today to pressure the corporation to provide compensation to everyone suffering the effects of Nemagon:

David A. DeLorenzo
, President, Director and Chief Executive Officer
David H. Murdock
, Chairman of the Board

 


Phone:818-879-6600 
Fax: 818-879-6615

Martha Receives a New Death Threat

By Jeanine Legato
International Team - Colombia

At 9:30 in the evening of August 23rd, Martha Giraldo, Technical Secretary of the Movement of Victims of State Crimes (MOVICE) in the Valle de Cauca province, received a death threat via text message from a well-known paramilitary group, the Black Eagles:

"You will die, you communists, you concealed FARC supporters...We are the Black Eagles, a new generation, in a three day alliance to exterminate you."

Martha has received numerous death threats since becoming vocal about the 2006 extrajudicial killing of her father by the Colombian military, and she has reason to take them seriously; her father was murdered by the military, who falsely claimed he was a guerrilla fighter to justify his murder, a common military tactic known to civilians in Colombia as the "False Positive."

Martha's uncle, a witness to her father's murder, barely survived after he was shot in the head in the city of Cali in 2009. In response to threats made toward Martha in 2010, and, in admittance of the risk Martha faces as a representative of victims of human rights violations, Martha was granted security protection measures by the Ministry of the Interior in 2009.
Despite increased security measures for Martha, the Black Eagles and other paramilitary groups remain at large and continue to terrorize civilians in an environment of impunity.

Since former president Alvaro Uribe's official demobilization of paramilitary groups, subsequent evolutions of these groups, or, "new generations" have appeared, using the same death squad tactics as their predecessors. A statement released by MOVICE and the human rights community of Valle de Cauca in response to the death threat echoes this fact:

"We want to be clear that in the report made to (Colombian government) officials, we, the victims of these threats, included the phone numbers of those who threatened us, yet the authorities seem to consider it unimportant information, despite its obvious relevance to us. These same officials, in meetings with social and human rights organizations have promised professionalism in their investigations, yet their investigations never result in finding of the authors of these death threats."

On August 17th, a Witness for Peace delegation of U.S. citizens met with Martha and other MOVICE members. When asked if accountability for paramilitary crime had improved under new president Juan Manuel Santos she responded, "Under Santos the methods of operation have changed some but the [paramilitary] violence has not changed."

Such was the case shared by Sandra Lara, whose husband was murdered by the military after being lured away from his community under the false ploy of getting a paying job. Sandra's case was closed by the prosecutor's office in August without resolution.

Given the failure of the Colombian government to redress the rights of victims as well as the ongoing context of extrajudicial military killings, Martha and Sandra now turn to Witness for Peace supporters and the international community.

Please respond to Martha and Sandra's appeal by contacting the Colombia desk at the State Department at 202-647-4173. Ask them to demand that the Colombian government investigate these death threats, punish those responsible and prosecute those responsible for the murders of MOVICE family members in Valle de Cauca.

Reports on Violence in Bajo Aguan Fail to Capture Complexity of Conflict

By the Witness for Peace International Team, Nicaragua

Early this week, several major news outlets ran stories concerning continued violence in the Bajo Aguan region of Honduras. The current Lobo administration in Honduras increased military presence in the area over the last few days following several violent attacks that left close to a dozen people dead. While it is important to draw attention to these issues, it is also increasingly difficult to rely on major news sources for accurate information on what is happening in the Aguan region, as the situation is extremely complex and politically charged.

For example, Dr. Rosemary Joyce of the University of California - Berkeley highlights some of the biases present in CNN’s coverage, such as leaving out important details and relying on questionable sources. Challenges to receiving accurate or comprehensive information are also represented in the L.A Times’ article. For example, the article mentions that the recent military deployment followed an attack by “armed gunmen” that killed security guards at the Paso Aguan Ranch. However, information gathered from human rights watch groups working in Honduras, such as Rights Action and Honduras: Human Rights, report that the Sunday attacks were initiated by security forces and resulted in the deaths of campesinos as well as employees, that there were beatings and arrests of campesinos in that community by the police on Saturday, and that this week’s incidents follow the forced eviction and burning of homes by the police in a community nearby throughout the weekend.

These inconsistencies point to the complexities of the situation in the Bajo Aguan region of Honduras. They also speak to the challenges of acquiring accurate information in such an embattled area. Most importantly, however, they raise the question of how wise U.S. funding of the Honduran military is when there continue to be reports of military human rights abuse. Through the U.S.-funded Central American Regional Security Initiative (CARSI), $13 million has already been promised to the Honduran military with the intention of combating narco-trafficking and gang-related violence. And in February, the United States agreed to give another $1.75 million to Honduras.

Without a clear idea of how this money is being spent, and knowing that military abuses continue to occur, it is imperative that U.S. funding to the Honduran military be suspended. Finally, U.S. citizens should continue pressuring the U.S. government to insist that the Honduran government investigates and prosecutes human rights violations by military and police personnel.

To get more involved, check out Witness for Peace’s upcoming delegations to Honduras and sign up for Honduras Action Alerts from Witness for Peace.

Migrant’s Dream of Reaching the U.S. Cut Short in Mexico

By Carlin Christy
International Team - Mexico

Like many other Central Americans, nineteen-year-old Julio Fernando Cardona Agustín left behind his loved ones and his home in Guatemala in search of better opportunities in the United States. Originally from a village in the eastern part of the country, Julio Fernando was indigenous Mam. His Spanish was limited, which would present an additional challenge to life in the United States as he would face the struggle of not only learning English, but also Spanish.

Upon arriving in Arriaga, Chiapas in late July, Julio Fernando joined a caravan comprised of migrants, activists for migrants’ rights, and family members whose loved ones have disappeared or lost their lives on the journey northwards. One of the caravan leaders was Catholic priest Alejandro Solalinde, who runs a migrant shelter in Ixtepec, Oaxaca. For years, he has been an outspoken critic of the abuses endured by the hundreds of thousands of Central American migrants who, pushed by poverty and political insecurity in their homelands, cross Mexico each year in hopes of reaching the United States.

Entitled “Paso a Paso Hacia la Paz” (Step by Step Toward Peace), the caravan called for an end to the abuses regularly endured by these migrants and demanded reforms to their legal status while passing through Mexico. The caravan traversed two of the routes commonly taken by Central American migrants and finished in Mexico City.

During a meeting with the Senate’s Human Rights Commission, caravan members insisted the Mexican government stop acting like policemen for the United States. Father Solalinde further criticized the government’s attitude of submission towards U.S. interests, whilst acting like “a*******” towards Central Americans. Additionally, migrants gave testimonies about the myriad of dangers they face, from organized criminal groups to local thugs, police at all levels, and even immigration officials. These abuses include theft, extortion, beatings, kidnappings, rape, forced prostitution, and murder. Not to mention the inherent dangers of riding on top of “La Bestia” (The Beast) or “El Tren de la Muerte” (The Death Train), as migrants commonly refer to the high-speed cargo trains that serve as a means of transportation northwards.

Despite these obstacles that regularly result in the injury, disappearance, and murder of migrants, on August 2nd Julio Fernando arrived safely in a migrant shelter in the state of Mexico, along with other caravan participants. The shelter, Casa San Juan Diego, is located near the train tracks in the municipality of Tultitlán. It is known as a high risk zone among migrants and has earned the nickname “the town of death.” As one local resident states, “Here they can kill any migrant, and no one says anything. Anyone of them (can be killed). Above all by police, and no one says anything at all, it’s not even investigated.”

It was perhaps with this mindset that municipal police picked up Julio Fernando as he rested in the train yard near the shelter just days after his arrival. Witnesses say he was detained by police, accused of partaking in a robbery, and taken into their custody. Hours later, Julio Fernando’s body was found near the train tracks; the victim of a severe attack that ended his life. Police deny any involvement in the murder and the case is currently under investigation.

Julio Fernando’s death deeply affected other migrants, and those who had participated with him in the Paso a Paso Hacia la Paz Caravan. In response, on Saturday, August 13th, they planned to march from the San Juan Diego shelter, to the site where his body was found.

Sadly, this act of remembrance was met with hostility from a group of around 30 people, who gathered outside the shelter and prevented the group from leaving. Claiming that migrants bring problems and violence to the community, they called for the shelter’s closure. Attempts were made to enter the building, presumably to forcibly remove the migrants and staff who were gathered inside.

Despite some local opposition to the migrants’ presence in the community, other neighbors claim that the violence comes mostly from local police, who take advantage of the migrants’ irregular status in the country.

While investigators take up the question of who and what exactly caused Julio Fernando’s death, his family in Guatemala is preparing for the burial of their loved one. Julio Fernando’s dream of working in the U.S. in order to support his grandparents and eight-month-old daughter back home will never be realized. Tragically, he is now among the thousands who have lost their lives on a forced journey to find decent work opportunities in the very country whose trade policies help to destroy any chance for economic security in Central America.

Photos courtesy of Irineo Mujica Arzate.

Today: International Day of Action in Solidarity with Honduras

By Brooke Denmark, Christine Goffredo and Riahl O'Malley
International Team - Nicaragua
Witness for Peace

In Tegucigalpa teachers, students, parents and concerned citizens are protesting a proposed law that would pave the way for the privatization of education. Honduran military and police have responded to the peaceful protests with a brutal crackdown. Many protesters have been injured and one teacher has been killed.

On Sunday two teachers, María Auxiliadora Espinoza and Wendy Méndez, were detained at a gas station after the protest had concluded. And yesterday authorities arrested Miriam Miranda, the Garifuna leader of the Fraternal Black Organization of Honduras. Miranda was subsequently released, but in the meantime President Porfirio Lobo has threatened to suspend teachers continuing to protest for up to a year.

As concerns mount, Witness for Peace and other advocacy organizations have declared today an International Day of Action in Solidarity with Honduras. You can take action by writing to your congressional representatives to demand the U.S. stop funding the military and police violence against peaceful protesters.

Currently, the Honduras military receives funding from the United States through the Central American Regional Security Initiative (CARSI), which has a budget of more than $200 million. In February, the United States government granted $1.75 million to Honduras. Tell your congressional representatives that U.S. taxpayer money must not go to a military violently repressing its citizens and abusing human rights!