Human Trafficking: not an isolated phenomenon

by Sue Davis (WFP Mexico Program delegate)

“If you promise a girl heaven, you can take her to hell.” (Quote from a human trafficker overheard by human rights attorney Malika Saada Saar.) 

This quote took on many layers of meaning as our group encountered various human rights violations in Mexico. And who was our group? A delegation of seven members from Plymouth United Church of Christ and one Quaker from Des Moines, Iowa, embarked on a Witness for Peace experience in Mexico. The focus of our trip was the issue of human trafficking, which we found to be deeply connected to other issues of economic and social justice, both in Mexico and the United States. Our Witness for Peace facilitator, Maggie, engaged speakers and created experiences that allowed us to understand the context in which the phenomenon of human trafficking occurs and to connect personally with Mexicans and Americans fighting for justice on the frontlines.

“Tan lejos de Dios, tan cerca de Estados Unidos.” (“So far from God, so close to the U.S.”) 

Francisco Cerezo, our first speaker, quoted this phrase when he explained the cause of many human rights violations in Mexico. He was speaking from his personal experience of working for the freedom of three of his brothers, who had been illegally arrested and imprisoned in 2001.The government had trumped up charges against them of terrorism. Through the diligent efforts of their lawyer, Digna Ochoa, the youngest brother was freed after three years, and the older two after seven years of incarceration and torture. Comité Cerezo - which consists of the five Cerezo siblings as well as many collaborators - has established a center (named after the lawyer) for aiding other victims of human rights violations.  Francisco’s fourteen years of experience have led him to see how U.S. policies, especially the Mérida Initiative - meant to combat drug trafficking and organized crime - have increased human rights violations in Mexico. According to the fact sheet issued by Witness for Peace about the Mérida Initiative, aka Plan México, the 2.4 billion dollars appropriated by Congress to train Mexican state security forces and to deliver military aircraft and drug interdiction equipment have coincided with a five-fold increase in complaints of human rights violations by Mexican soldiers and federal police, including torture, rape, extrajudicial execution, arbitrary detention, and enforced disappearance. Almost none of these cases have been prosecuted. The impunity rate in Mexico is between 95 and 98%. According to Francisco Cerezo, the culture of impunity continues because an extensive network exists among businessmen, the government, and organized crime. In spite of the odds and multiple death threats, Comité Cerezo continues to document human rights violations in Mexico and to find ways to prevent them.

“I felt anger and denial.” Maru’s emotions during the four-five years that it took her to feel that she had made the right decision to return to Mexico after having lived in the United States from the age of eight through the completion of her college education in New York.

We had the opportunity to hear the personal stories of six young people who had lived in the United States with their parents but were undocumented. Either they returned to Mexico voluntarily when they recognized the limitations that their undocumented status placed on their future, or they were deported. Having spent their formative years in the U.S., all of these young people faced discrimination and red tape when they returned to Mexico. The authorities did not recognize their high school or college educations. The young people often felt anger and denial for a long time before they were able to adjust to life in Mexico. Most had to live with relatives other than their immediate family and sometimes did not feel welcomed by them. In 2013 an organization called Dream in Mexico was formed to help returnees find educational, cultural and career opportunities in their native country. In turn, our group felt anger and dismay that our country has not found a humane way to treat undocumented immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for many years and who have a lot to contribute to our society.

Did you know that Pinocchio and Little Red Riding Hood are tools to educate young children about human trafficking and the vulnerability of victims?

Our speaker, Mayra Rojas, founder and director of an organization called Infancia Común, opened our eyes to the problem of human trafficking of children in Mexico. She claimed that prevention through education is the best measure to take, since rehabilitation of the victims of human trafficking is practically impossible. The statistics of the number of people affected by the problem are not accurate because there is no collaboration among agencies. The last study in 1999 claimed 16,000-20,000 children under the age of 18 were victims, and the numbers have been trending upwards ever since. The poverty of many Mexicans has made it easy to entice them to allow trafficking because they need the money. The consumer mentality of having or needing more has invaded the culture. International laws exist to prevent human trafficking, but they need to be stronger.

120 changes were made to the Mexican constitution to accommodate NAFTA.

This astounding fact was pointed out to us during Maggie’s summary of the history of U.S.-Mexico economic relations. One of the major changes was the allowing the sale and privatization of ejidos, which are communally owned lands that had been created by breaking up the ancient haciendas and which were never intended to be confiscated or sold. In addition, on June 1^st, 1994, the day NAFTA went into effect, there was a Zapatista uprising. Among other issues they were protesting the elimination of tariffs and protections for Mexican grown corn. Now, in Mexico, the birthplace of corn and a country whose dietary staple is corn, over 35% of corn consumed is imported from the U.S. NAFTA has been devastating for small farmers. Farmers from the southern state of Oaxaca have moved north to Baja California or the U.S. to work the fields. All this migration destroys the social fabric of the country. In addition, after a perfect storm of economic conditions in Mexico in the early ‘80’s, the IMF swept in with a 7.2 billion dollar loan in 1982 and insisted that the social safety net be dismantled. This has not done much too improve the lives of the 60 million Mexicans, almost half of the population, who are living in poverty. This poverty has pushed 1 in 10 Mexicans to migrate to the U.S. 

“The drug cartels know that drugs can only be sold once, but women can be sold again and again and again,” says Teresa Ulloa, director of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women and Girls in Latin America and the Caribbean.

This was a point brought up by Gaby, the director of Casa Tochan, a shelter for refugees and migrants from Central America who either intended Mexico or the U.S. as their final destination. After 9/11 in the U.S., the closing of the U.S.-Mexican border caused a bottleneck in the flow of migrants, principally from Central America, in Mexico. Consequently, thousands of people were put at high risk due to a lack of safety nets of families and gainful employment to support them. It’s a very complex issue, but generating magnets for growth in their countries of origin and improving their educational opportunities would eliminate the need to emigrate.

In the meantime, Mexico has built steel barriers along the south-north rail tracks to obstruct the hopping of the train by migrants. The consequence of this policy is the increased number of migrants taking the entire journey through Mexico by foot along dangerous routes well known to human traffickers and drug cartels. Women who stop at a shelter near the southern border of Mexico are given contraceptive vaccinations because they most certainly will suffer rape and abuse along the way. Gaby, who runs the shelter, wants to prevent human traffickers from posing as migrants and then exploiting the residents by enticing them with false promises that lead them into lives serving the drug cartels and human traffickers, who often work in tandem. Migrants and refugees have been coerced into growing, making or transporting illegal drugs for the cartels or have been enslaved as domestic workers and sex slaves for them. The cartels have found it more lucrative to sell women for sex than to sell drugs.

Here is a common migrant worker’s story: I paid a recruiting fee of $500 to work at a meatpacking plant, I paid a visa fee of $950, (it’s actually $190), I paid my transportation costs to the U.S., I paid for my hotel room while waiting for approval from the embassy, and I paid for travel costs to the final work site.

Sarah Farr of the Center for Migrant Rights, which has two offices, one in Baltimore and one in Mexico City, related this story to us as she explained the H2 visa system of the United States to us. We discovered that H2A visa workers in the agricultural sector have a lot more protections than those that come to work on a H2B visa. The H2B visas encompass such businesses as landscaping, forestry (cutting Christmas trees), and carnivals. Unlike businesses recruiting under H2A visas, H2B companies do not have to reveal who their migrant labor recruiters are. This right to hide their recruiters was supported by JKJ Workforce, which is an American agency that recruits for carnivals and is owned by Jim Judkins in Texas. He has formed the Outdoor Amusement Business Association, which has joined forces with landscaping businesses to form a powerful lobbying group. They have prevented the strict enforcement of labor laws, such as not providing a list of their labor recruiters. Their labor recruiters are subcontractors in Mexico that often resort to fraud to line their own pockets by charging workers recruitment fees. These are prohibited both by the U.S. Dept. of Labor and the Mexican government. Over 50% of workers actually pay these illegal fees. Carnival workers often work 100 hours per week in 36-hour shifts with no time to sleep. Their pay is not commensurate with their hours because weekly flat-rate wages are permitted in H2B visas. The fair and carnival industry is the only one exempt from a minimum wage requirement. Ten carnival workers might be crowded into living in one trailer with no kitchen or bathroom. They have to cook on hotplates outdoors. As a further insult, there is no safety protection when they erect and tear down the equipment. Many have suffered great bodily injury in accidents. How can a democracy allow a powerful lobbying group to effect policy that denies basic human dignity to workers who have come here with legal documents?

“Mexico is a clandestine cemetery. There are mass graves everywhere.” (Quote from Araceli Rodriguez)

Araceli Rodriguez came to talk to our group about her son Luis Angel, a federal policeman, who was disappeared at the age of 23 on November 16, 2009. He and six other federal policemen and one civilian were disappeared on their way to Hidalgo, Michoacán, where the policemen were commissioned to occupy the building of the municipal director because his life was being threatened. At 3:00 on November 16 they were kidnapped by the cartel Michoacán, which is now known as the Caballeros Templarios (Knights Templar). The government didn’t know that the seven men were missing until 6 days after the kidnapping. Araceli went directly to the government office to inform the officials that the policemen were missing and to ask about the welfare of her son. Armed men in the office took her and threw her out on the street. The government didn’t have any information about the missing 7 people. 

Thus began Araceli’s quest to find justice for her son. Besides the perpetrators of the kidnappings and killings who have been convicted, three levels of government, (state, federal, county), were complicit in this case, but no one has been charged criminally or civilly. Araceli is still pushing to try them in court and says that she’ll never give up. A major problem is the distrust of the police and government officials because you don’t know if you’re actually talking to someone involved in organized crime or to someone who is trustworthy. Corruption is prevalent at all levels of government and police.

Drug trafficking and human trafficking have contributed to the ubiquitous corruption and high rate of impunity. The drug cartels have stocked up on weapons and have the means to pursue human trafficking and organ trafficking. By way of human trafficking, the cartels have kidnapped victims to manufacture the drugs and to transport them. Thousands of Mexicans who are disappeared probably are not dead. The authorities know this because they are part of the cartels themselves. Of course, it is not to their advantage to have this exposed.

How does a community function when 30-40% of its families have migrating members?

The answer to this question is an organization called CAFAMI in San Francisco Tetlanohcan in the state of Tlaxcala. CAFAMI is a local organization that, primarily through theater and community projects, seeks to mitigate the phenomenon of migration and its impact on women and families. The consequences of migration are separated families and women searching for employment and having total responsibility for raising their families. Often the grandparents are in charge of raising their grandchildren. CAFAMI has striven to reduce the negative effects of migration by encouraging leadership among the women of the community and giving them the opportunity to develop their rights as citizens. CAFAMI is a place where women can reflect on the social impact of migration on their personal lives and on community life. The women reconstruct their identities through dancing, singing, acting, and cooking. An advantage of the group’s theatrical and cultural activities is their ability to travel to the U.S. to present their heritage. Once there, they can visit their relatives who have immigrated to the U.S. The Mexican government has mostly ignored the effects and causes of migration. To counter the government’s inaction, CAFAMI has joined 3 other organizations as a collective voice known as Colectiva sin Fronteras to work together to push for stronger laws protecting migrants and their families.

“There are boys who want to grow up to be traffickers, but there are no girls who want to grow up to be prostitutes.” (Quote from Emilio Muñoz)

How can it be that there are boys who want to grow up to be traffickers? According to Emilio Muñoz, the director of the Center for Human Rights and Local Development "Fray Julian Garcés" in Tlaxcala, there are entire family trafficking networks operating today that began with the grandfather and that have been maintained by subsequent generations. The adolescent boys in these families actually aspire to be traffickers. The role of the young men in trafficking families is to put psychological pressure on vulnerable young women by first showing up in a poor village in an expensive car. He claims to be in love with a young woman and shows her photos of the expensive houses he owns. He showers her with gifts and constantly sends her text messages. He claims that the girl is the woman of his dreams and that he wants to marry her. He even meets the girl’s family and impresses them by organizing birthday parties for family members and by bringing them food. Consequently, the family is convinced to allow the union of the trafficker and the young girl to go forward. After the wedding, he moves her to his community. Upon their return, his next step is to get her pregnant. The girl’s child or children stay in the trafficker’s home and are cared for by his female relatives.  The children’s lot in life is to continue the trafficking network of the family.

Since 1990, a common theme has been for the trafficker to move with his “wife” to a city, often in the U.S. and most commonly to New York. Once in the city, the trafficker invents an economic crisis and convinces the girl that the only way to get out of the situation is for her to become a prostitute. To protect her “husband’s” life, she will sacrifice whatever is necessary. This is a cultural expectation. If she refuses to become a prostitute, the trafficker threatens her child, her family or even her younger sister by capturing her and forcing her into prostitution. The women stay in prostitution for 10-15 years. They have up to 30 clients per day. They are able to work every day of the week because the traffickers give them medication to stop their menses.

Of course, there have to be clients or consumers to complete the human trafficking cycle. The current trend of neo-liberal thought promotes accumulation of capital. Trafficking has commercialized women’s bodies, which can be sold repeatedly to bring in money. People look at the victims’ bodies as a market. The consumers of the market are willing to spend money on prostitution of these trafficked women. According to Emilio Muñoz, everything has become a marketable item: Mexicans’ bodies, Mexican land, their water and air. For Mexicans, these things are not commodities but are considered sacred and a source of life.

As Fast-Track Gathers Steam in Washington, Colombian Leaders Speak Out Against Three Years of Free Trade

By Julia Duranti, Witness for Peace Colombia

While the U.S. Senate gears up for a final vote following Tuesday’s temporary setback on  Fast-Track Trade Promotion Authority for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)—the U.S.’s largest and most secretive Free Trade deal to date—today  the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement turned three years old. All of its original critiques, particularly regarding labor and human rights concerns, continue to be relevant for Colombia and current TPP negotiations. The Witness for Peace Colombia team sat down with Colombian human rights defenders to get their thoughts on three years of Free Trade with the U.S., now Colombia’s largest trading partner. Their responses highlight the importance of continuing to oppose the TPP as a deal that’s bad for workers, communities and the environment in the U.S. and abroad. Fast-Track's fate will likely be determined in the House of Representatives. If you haven't already, click here to tell your Representatives to vote no on Fast-Track and oppose the TPP.

Gerardo Cajamarca, Union Leader with Sinaltrainal who has asylum in the U.S. due to paramilitary threats against his life:

“The effects of Free Trade and the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement were felt well before the final agreement was implemented. They weren’t agreements; they were impositions. And these impositions have made Free Trade a process of war, extermination and genocide against the working class. Over the last 20 years during which the Free Trade Agreement was being negotiated, 3,000 unionists in Colombia were murdered, and that this continues to happen daily in Colombia. But it’s not just unionists. Afro-Colombians, small-scale farmers and indigenous communities are also being assassinated and displaced. It’s said that Colombia has the second highest rate of displacement in the world, right? And why is that? It is the result of imposing Free Trade Agreements. We do not accept these agreements and we view them as illegitimate. “

These realities are even clearer in the city of Buenaventura, Colombia’s largest port and unofficial capital of its Pacific coast that has seen major changes due to plans to increase port capacity and infrastructure since Colombia has signed onto Free Trade Agreements with the U.S., Canada, the Pacific Alliance regional trading block, South Korea, and the European Union. Leaders discuss unfettered port expansion and related tourist development projects, accompanied by increasingly precarious labor conditions and displacement.

Jhon Jairo Castro Balanta, President of Buenaventura Portworkers Union:

“Labor rights have been impacted by a lack of follow-through from both sides: in this case the Colombian and the U.S. government, who only demanded that Colombia comply with certain measures because the U.S. wanted to ratify the Free Trade Agreement. But as soon as the FTA was approved pressure to comply with the Labor Action Plan has disappeared. We’ve seen exploitative subcontracting practices increase and there are no protections for us. In a triumph for noncompliance, we have a really weak Ministry of Labor, which didn’t hire the number of labor inspectors that it was supposed to hire in order to combat labor informality in a number of sectors, not just the ports.

Our situation is made worse by the proliferation of private port authorities. We have at least five now…there’s no control over this expansion, and we ask: How can they allow more ports to be built when they can’t even manage to protect basic labor rights of their workers? If they’re going to build more ports, let’s look first at working conditions. And it’s not only affected us as workers, but as a community. With this issue of port expansion they’re building warehouses everywhere and we think this is related to the “relocation” of people that live in waterfront neighborhoods. We don’t see any mechanisms that guarantee respect for us as workers or as a community.”

Danelly Bantu, a community organizer with Black Community Processes (PCN) in Buenaventura, echoed concerns regarding the social, cultural and community impacts of Free Trade on Buenaventura.

“The issue isn’t just labor rights; it’s also about our fundamental rights to identity, land, organizing and participating in our communities. Port expansion is the main cause of territorial displacement, and it’s carried out in different ways. For example, there’s some neighborhoods that were built entirely by the residents, who’ve lived there for more than 80 years, and all of a sudden overnight someone claiming to be the owner of that land appears with false papers, everything fabricated, saying they are the real owners of that neighborhood—and it turns out that the neighborhood is within the areas the government has identified in their studies as areas for port expansion, completely ignoring the community already there.  

In the waterfront area that includes the Neighborhoods Won from the Sea, they want to build a touristic boardwalk. It’s a touristic complement to large port companies that want all their new investors from China, Ecuador, Panama to have tourist destinations to visit, and so all the people that live along the water need to leave. [The government] is claiming that the area is high risk [for tsunamis and natural disasters], but we ask, how is it that the area is high-risk for the people that have lived there for more than 150 years, but not for the large hotels and condos that they’re projecting to build there? So we know it’s just an excuse to displace people to make room for megaprojects, and this is happening everywhere: all over the island and the mainland, and we don’t know where we’re going to live. Land is a huge issue here and we don’t have anywhere to go, because wherever [port companies] want to store a container the people there have to leave.”

Coca Cola Workers on Hunger Strike

Coca Cola workers affiliated with the Sinaltrainal union are currently gathering in the center of Bogotá to protest unjust working conditions and serious human rights violations. The protest occurs shortly after the four year anniversary of the Labor Action Plan, a document intended to better labor rights in the country but that has not been upheld. Unionists across different sectors of the Colombian workforce continue to risk their lives as they demand justice. The original article in Spanish can be found here.

URGENT SOLIDARITY WITH THE COCA COLA WORKERS. As of 2PM on April 13, 2015, workers who are members of Sinaltrainal and are at the service of this multinational company, have declared a Hunger Strike in the Bolivar Plaza of Bogotá, demanding that the Colombian authorities call a national roundtable with participation from Sinaltrainal and Coca Cola to solve the following cases:

In Barrancabermeja, Coca Cola contracted Carelis Cadavid, the wife of the renowned paramilitary boss Wilfred Martínez, alias “Gavilán”, orchestrator of the attack against Coca Cola's infrastructure who threatened, displaced, and falsely accused Sinaltrainal leaders. Due to those accusations, the Attorney General opened an investigation into conspiracies to commit crimes and, presumably, terrorism.

Miguel Ángel García Barbosa, worked for Coca Cola in Barrancabermeja and had a warrant out for his arrest for belonging to the criminal gang “Los Canoeros” and being tasked with following Sinaltrainal leaders. Coca Cola refuses to resettle threatened workers who were displaced with their families to other cities, but instead forces them to work in the same sites where they received the threats, putting their lives at risk.

In Bucaramanga, Coca Cola assembled Privada Visa security as anti-riot forces who wore shields and practiced military maneuvers to face the union protest and intimidate workers. The company's militaristic policy was also seen in an incident at the Medellín plant, where armored cars and tanks from the National Police entered to suppress subcontracted workers who were protesting against workplace pressures and dangers and the firing of one of their coworkers who was affiliated with Sinaltrainal. The situation resulted in the firing of every unionized worker.

More than thirty workers have been falsely accused and prosecuted for criminal accusations by Coca Cola. The company, who improperly uses the law and manipulates circumstances, executes their anti-union strategy against workers who denounce, protest, and reclaim their rights. They have asked judges to revoke the status and make certain branches of Sinaltrainal illegal.

Amcor, Eficacia, Proservis, FL Colombia S.A.S., Sodexo, Atemcon, and Imbera are all companies Coca Cola uses as a facade to subcontract over 70% of their workers. Whoever unionizes is fired or their memberships are declared illegal through judicial processes. Other workers were brought together under Coca Cola's direction and pressured to renounce the union. Such was the case in Cali's plant on August 6, 2014. Coca Cola notoriously violates union freedoms.

Risking our lives, Coca Cola published banners and photographs of workers and their families, stigmatizing our protest as barbaric and accusing us of supposed damage to private property.

In Bogotá, Coca Cola was penalized for contaminating the Capellanía wetlands. They refused to pay the Capital District $46 billion pesos (almost $20 million USD) for sewage and water utilities. Furthermore they have appropriated water sources in Capellanía limestone quarry.

At the start of this year, Coca Cola began operating in the bottling plant they installed in Tocancipá where they consume 1,680,000 cubic meters of water, a figure which represents 68.5% of the municipality's needs. This means that the multinational company is literally sucking water away from the citizens of Tocanipá. Because Coca Cola needs to guarantee water for their production, they have announced the excavation of wells 800 meters deep, without caring about the harm it will cause.

This bottling plant will function with approximately 150 workers and will leave hundreds of other workers, who worked in the Fontibón plant in Bogotá until its closing, without employment and support.

Coca Cola does not guarantee health nor safety in the workplace. Hundreds of laborers are sick from poor working conditions and others have been killed, flattened by machinery or distribution trucks. Many have suffered workplace accidents, like Simón Vega Henao, who is now disabled and has had to declare a hunger strike for Coca Cola to respond to his health needs. Coca Cola removes Sinaltrainal leaders from their labor force and refuses to comply with reinstating them, as has been ordered by judges.

Coca Cola violates the Collective Bargaining Agreement, denying union permits and obstructing union freedoms.

We are the victims of 12 assassinations, unjust imprisonment, 68 death threats, attacks against the lives of workers and their families, 54 displacements, and various exiles after surviving attacks and escaping kidnapping. Paramilitaries entered the Carepa Plant and forced workers to renounce Sinaltrainal, later burning the union's headquarters and stealing belongings and files. On February 8, 1999, the magazine “Cambio” reported on meetings held between officials of Coca Cola's bottling plants and paramilitary commanders. However, to date, the [paramilitary] beneficiaries of the Justice and Peace Law have not indicated how deep this multinational company's involvement in the Colombian conflict is.

For the Life and Liberty of the Union, Coca Cola Workers are on a Hunger Strike

SINALTRAINAL Representing

Colombia, April 13-17, 2015.

Port Workers Union in Urabá denounce intimidation of unionists and other Labor Action Plan violations

By the Port Workers Union of Colombia

Apartadó, Colombia

December 29, 2014

Cargoban workers demand labor justice

The actions that Cargoban S.A. took against its workers between November 25-December 20, 2014 is an example of the worst of anti-union tactics, which, as usual, hide systematic violations of the most basic labor rights.

Cargoban S.A. is the major logistical port operator in the Urabá region, employing approximately 500 workers. It is owned by Marino Rendón Prado and Miriam Hernandez Osorio and contracts its services to international banana companies: Banacol, Uniban, Conservas del Monte, Banafrut, Corrugados del Darien, Olinsa, Aduanimex and Sara Palma.

On November 25 a group of workers employed by Cargoban S.A. that are also members of the Port Workers Union presented a list of grievances. Highlights include:

1. Shifts of up to 96 consecutive hours with no breaks, no rest and no opportunity to return to their homes, for the workers that labor loading and unloading ships anchored in the Gulf of Urabá.
2. A refusal to pay overtime, nights, holiday and Sunday pay and the negation of mandatory compensated rest and vacations.
3. Temporary contracts for a period of 13 weeks continually renewed for 15 years or more, in violation of laws that mandate after the third renewal such contracts cannot be given for a period of less than one year.
4. Retaining the copy of the work contracts that should be shared with the workers.
5. Hiding internal workplace regulations and excluding workers from knowing their rights, in violation of Constitutional Court Sentence No. C-934-04. The law considers that relevant workplace regulations and policies must be distributed via pamphlets that allow them to be read in full, as many companies do, and not posted in miniscule print on a single poster.
6. Low to absurdly low salaries.
7. The second application of a collective pact made in violation of legal requirements and carried out with an absence of formal reporting, no workers assembly, no election of negotiators, no approval of the conditions set forth in the pact and no formal documentation initiating and finalizing the negotiation. The company simply demanded workers sign the agreement without even having read it.

It is easy to imagine the vulnerability of workers that never received a copy of their work contracts, have never read the workplace regulations and who have temporary contracts of 13 weeks.

Cargoban S.A. responded to the modest list of grievances filed by workers on November 25 by firing union members Harold Peña, Ariel Ballesteros, Euclides Moreno, José Núñez, Jesús Córdoba and Hermes Cuadrado, ignoring the relevant forums for negotiation, union leadership and the Claims Commission of which they are a part.

Workplace and anti-union pressure continues, but workers are determined to resist these attacks. The illegality of Cargoban S.A.'s decisions could be subject to serious sanctions and damage the companies to whom Cargoban S.A. contracts its services. Workers directly employed by Uniban and Banacol urge Cargoban workers to keep their morale high.

The Port Workers Union requests accompaniment and solidarity from regional, national and international organizations to urge Cargoban S.A. to cease their attacks on union rights and to respect basic labor rights. Urabá needs employers that respect human dignity and dignified work.

Direct negotiations around the list of grievances will begin on January 14 and conclude on February 2. We hope to arrive at a civil agreement that dignifies working conditions in the ports.

Declaración de la caravana por la paz y la democrácia en Colombia / Statement from the Caravan for Peace and Democracy in Colombia

Feliz día internacional de l@s trabajadores! Hoy concluye nuestra serie de blog enfocada en el comercio. Queremos agradecer a tod@s su participación y atención a estos temas importantes, y compartir un último post antes de irnos a observar la marcha del Primero de Mayo en Bogotá.

Del 21 a 1 de mayo, el sindicato nacional de trabajadores del sector agroalimentario de Colombia, SINALTRAINAL, coordinó una delegación internacional que visitó cuatro regiones del país. Delegad@s de siete países se reunieron con organizaciones comunitarias, sindicatos, defensores de derechos humanos y entidades del gobierno colombiano con el fin de examinar los impactos de las políticas del estado y de los multinacionales en el pueblo colombiano.

Aquí se puede encontrar sus conclusiones y su declaración política, que tocan temas de la militarización, la violencia contra defensores de derechos humanos y sindicalistas, la impunidad, los derechos de las víctimas y los impactos humanos y medioambientales de la falta de regulación de prácticas empresariales.

En solidaridad,
Equipo de APP Colombia


Happy International Workers Day! Today concludes our Trade Blog Series. We want to thank everyone for your participation and attention to these important issues, and share one last post before we head out to observe the May Day March in Bogotá. 

From April 21-May 1, Colombia's national Food Service Worker's Union, SINALTRAINAL, coordinated an international delegation that visited four different regions of the country. Delegates from seven countries met with community organizations, unions, human rights defenders and Colombian government entities to examine the impacts of both government and multinational policies on Colombian civil society.

Their conclusions and final statement, which touches on militarization, violence against unionists and human rights defenders, impunity, victims´ rights, and environmental and human impacts of largely-unregulated corporate practices, can be read here.

In solidarity,
WfP Colombia Team

“Enséñame a organizar”: Enfrentando las políticas neoliberales a nivel nacional e internacional

Por Celeste Larkin, Chicago Religious Leadership Network

Llevo tres años viviendo en Chicago y, en este tiempo, la ciudad ha vivido muchos cambios en su economía municipal. El gobierno local, a cargo del alcalde Rahm Emanuel, ha cerrado docenas de clínicas que prestaban servicios de salud mental a personas de bajos recursos necesitados de estos servicios; ha cerrado 54 colegios públicos, en donde un 90% de los estudiantes afectados son afrodescendientes, que se encuentran en barrios donde se ha visto un aumento de escuelas charter, las cuales son de gestión privada y la mayoría no cuentan con sindicatos; y ha consignado cerca de 55 millones de dólares para un estadio de baloncesto privado en el campus de la DePaul University (una universidad privada) como “parte de la visión más grande de Emanuel” para establecer un distrito de entretenimiento, que incluirá un nuevo hotel con 1.200 habitaciones en el centro de convenciones.

Estos son algunos de los eventos actuales que demuestran un cambio en la política pública hacia la austeridad a través de recortes en proyectos públicos y garantías de seguridad social. Nuestro gobierno municipal busca depender más de financiamiento privado favoreciendo las prioridades de la clase económica élite, afirmando que esta estrategia “levantará todos los barcos”, asegurará que la economía crezca y promoverá las formas de desarrollo que los especuladores económicos quieren ver. Pero los demás no lo creemos.

Las manifestaciones contra el cierre de los colegios desencadenaron la ira y las movilizaciones nacionales, y miles de personas tomaron las calles de Chicago en protesta. Activistas y líderes sindicales continúan trabajando contra las medidas de austeridad propuestas para los colegios públicos y las pensiones de los trabajadores. Los ciudadanos de Chicago montaron campamentos de 24 horas frente a las clínicas de salud mental que se esperaba cerrarían y permanecieron allí por meses hasta que los funcionarios municipales finalizaron los planes que iban a afectar a nuestros amigos y vecinos necesitados de estos servicios vitales. Después de bastantes protestas públicas la ciudad y la Universidad DePaul decidieron suspender el plan de invertir millones de dólares de fondos públicos en el estadio privado, aunque estos fondos se redistribuyeron a proyectos de construcción de hoteles de lujo en la misma zona.

Todos los días, voy a trabajar con la experiencia local del neoliberalismo, un término económico que describe las políticas económicas que promueven la desregulación, la privatización, el comercio libre y menos gastos públicos. Paso mi jornada laboral con la Red de Liderazgo Religioso de Chicago (Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America, o CRLN) en solidaridad con las comunidades a lo largo de todo el hemisferio que enfrentan el mismo paradigma: Haya personas luchando contra tomas de territorio para fincas de cultivo de palma africana, para el derecho al agua potable frente a las concesiones mineras, o luchando para una buena educación pública para todos los niños, las comunidades se niegan a someterse a estas olas de privatización y siguen movilizándose, a veces en gran escala.

Hace poco asistí a la Conferencia Labor Notes de 2014 y escuché a trabajadores de todas partes del mundo mientras hablaban de su lucha para la dignidad y esfuerzos para construir movimientos. Uno de los talleres trató sobre estrategias creativas para aumentar y apoyar nuestro trabajo organizativo; el presentador, Ricardo Levins Morales, quien fuera un artista de la ciudad de Minneapolis, Minnesota; nos compartió una cita que él reinventó para hacerla menos condescendiente y más empoderadora. Esta idea de recuperar el dicho define el trabajo que va delante de nosotros: para redefinir nuestro concepto de lo posible, tenemos que rechazar las ideas jerárquicas de “libertad” y empezar a organizar de forma radical y crear nuestras propias soluciones:

"Si me das un pescado, me has alimentado por un día. Si me enseñas a pescar, entonces me has alimentado hasta que el río se contamine o se toma las orillas para proyectos de desarrollo. Pero si me enseñas a organizar, con cualquier reto puedo unirme con mis compañeros y nos creamos nuestra propia solución". – Ricardo Levins Morales

“Teach me to organize:” confronting neoliberal economics at home and abroad

Celeste Larkin, Chicago Religious Leadership Network

I’ve lived in Chicago for the past three years and, in that time, we’ve seen many changes to our local economy. The city, led by Mayor Rahm Emanuel has closed dozens of mental health clinics that served low-income people in need of services; closed 54 public schools, where 90% of students affected were black and in neighborhoods that happen to be seeing a spike in privately managed, mostly non-union charter schools; and promised about $55 million toward a private basketball arena on DePaul’s campus (a private university), as “part of Emanuel's bigger vision to establish an entertainment district, including a new, 1,200-room hotel at the convention center.”

These are just some of the current events that demonstrate a shift in public policy toward austerity cuts to public projects and social safety nets. Our local government seeks to further rely on private funds and the priorities of the economic elite, claiming this will “lift all boats,” grow the economy, and spur the kind of development the profiteers want to see. But the rest of us aren't buying it.

Protests against the school closings sparked rage and mobilizations nation-wide with thousands taking to the streets of Chicago in protest. Activists and union leaders are still working against the austerity measures being proposed for public schools and workers’ pensions. Chicagoans set up 24-hour camps outside of mental health clinics slated for closure and stayed there for months until city officials finalized their austerity plans for our friends and neighbors in need of these vital services. After much public outcry and protest, the city and DePaul decided to scratch the plan to pour millions of public dollars into the private sports stadium, though the money was redirected to the construction of high-end hotels in that area.

So I go into work every day with the background of local experience of neoliberalism, a term used to describe economic policies that promote deregulation, privatization, free trade and reduced government spending. I then spend my hours working at the Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America (CRLN) in solidarity with communities across the hemisphere struggling at the hands of the same paradigm. But whether folks are struggling against land grabs for African Palm plantations, for the right to clean water in the face of mining concessions, or for decent public education for all children, communities are refusing to take these trends of privatization sitting down and are mobilizing on sometimes massive scales.

Recently, I was at the 2014 Labor Notes Conference hearing workers from all over the world talk about their struggles for dignity and movement building. One workshop dealt with creative strategies that can enhance and deepen our organizing work. The presenter, Ricardo Levins Morales, is an artist from Minneapolis, Minnesota. He shared with us a quote that he re-invented to make less patronizing and more empowering. His reclaiming of this truism defines our work ahead: to recreate our idea of what’s possible, refuse the top-down notions of “freedom” and to begin radically organizing and fashioning our own solutions: 

"If you give me a fish you have fed me for a day. If you teach me to fish then you have fed me until the river is contaminated or the shoreline seized for development. But if you teach me to organize then whatever the challenge I can join together with my peers and we will fashion our own solution."

Interview with a Nicaraguan Free Trade Zone Worker

By WfP Nicaragua Team

“What I would like and what I hope for (my country) is that in every Free Trade Zone there be a union and that workers would not be mistreated and would be paid a just salary. But that can’t be so one has to continue working like always because that can’t be.” -Free Trade Zone Worker, Nicaragua 

This quote comes from a meeting between a Witness for Peace delegation and a Nicaraguan Free Trade Zone worker, recorded (with interpretation). The delegation came to Nicaragua to learn about the Central American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) and how it has affected the lives of our Nicaraguan partners. The speaker shared with the group the challenges she has faced working for many years in the Free Trade Zone textile factories that CAFTA helped to propagate. When she began working, she suffered a lot of verbal abuse at her job. She had bosses who screamed and threw things at her. She was obligated to work overtime and didn’t receive adequate medical care or sick leave. 

The most recent factory she worked at was quite different. Despite the owner's attempts to fire workers who were trying to form a union, workers were successful in gathering enough signatures so that is the factory had to recognize them. The union has made big changes in the factory. Our speaker had access to a medical clinic, better safety equipment, and a subsidy for food and transportation; she was not required to work overtime; and, most importantly, had someone to go to if she had any kind of problem.

Working in a factory with a union, she told the group, is not common in her region. Anyone who is found organizing a union will be fired and added to a list shared among all of the Free Trade Zones of people not to hire. Even her daughter who saw the benefits the unionized factory brought her mother is afraid to sign demands for a union in her factory for fear of getting caught. She needs the job.

Nicaragua is supposedly a CAFTA success story. Its GDP is rising steadily and the enforcement of the labor section of CAFTA has been celebrated. When talking to workers, however, we often hear a different story. Many of the workers, often single mothers, are grateful for the jobs created by these factories. The unfortunate truth is that in a development model such as that of CAFTA, where those at the negotiating table are the most powerful corporations, profits are given more value than just salaries and healthy work environments.

Witness for Peace has seen similar situations play out in the other countries in which we work. Since the signing of the bilateral trade agreement with Colombia, violence against union workers has increased making Colombia one of the most dangerous countries in the world for a union member. Mexican workers have seen a decrease in real wages since the signing of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA.)

Today negotiations are happening behind closed doors for the biggest free trade agreement yet. The Transpacific Partnership (TPP) will include 12 nations and the consequences will be catastrophic for workers across the globe. We know what Free Trade Agreements have done to workers. While corporate profit trumps workers rights, these agreements will not benefit workers. Take action to demand that the TPP come out from behind from closed doors, and that workers have a seat at the negotiating table. Audio from the “Labor Radio” program from KBOO Radio in Portland.

The Impact of the TPP, Part One / El Impacto del TPP, Primera Parte

Español abajo

Josh Wise, Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition

For nearly five years now, government bureaucrats and lobbyists on both sides of the Pacific Ocean have been negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in secret. Despite claims from the United States Trade Representative (USTR), Michael Froman, that this is going to be a “high-level” agreement that will create lots of jobs, everything we've learned through leaks to the public (which essentially amount to negotiators committing treason just to tell us what our government is proposing) shows that the TPP is poised to become yet another extension of the same failed trade policy and negotiating process that gave us NAFTA, CAFTA and a whole host of other agreements that have accelerated the race to the bottom for labor, environmental and human rights standards. Only this time, it's on a much larger scale.

Free trade advocates point to David Ricardo's theory of comparative advantage as the basis for eliminating trade restrictions. The idea is that if we eliminate government protections for industries, then countries will have to focus on producing what they are most efficient at and everyone pays a lower price for goods while profits are higher because of the efficiency. The reality is that the agreements that have been negotiated so far have been far from free, or even specifically about trade. Instead, what they have amounted to is a host of deregulation, and protections for investors (otherwise known as multinational corporations), which have limited the ability of governments to act in their public interest, whether in terms of labor standards, the environment or public health. This has boosted corporate profits immensely, but has resulted in a race to the bottom for the rest of us in terms of global living standards.

Why is it this way?
Well, it's really inevitable given the way we do trade negotiations. USTR is technically a diplomat, and as such, can keep trade negotiations classified. However, if you lobby the executive branch, you can get appointed as a “cleared adviser” to the negotiations, meaning you can see and influence the proposals. The TPP has more than 600 cleared advisers, many of whom represent major corporations. International treaties, of course, override all conflicting federal and local laws. So what we're left with is a system of lawmaking in which the lobbyists write the laws behind closed doors. It's no surprise then, that the final agreements disproportionately benefit the very same multinational corporations who wrote them.

What are the results?
The North American Free Trade Agreement has been in effect for 20 years as of 2014, and therefore provides the most data to analyze. Since NAFTA was enacted, the US has lost more than 1 million jobs to low-wage labor. And it’s not just low-skilled work that’s going abroad. The auto industry, medical device and chemical manufacturing and even research and development jobs are crossing the border to maquiladoras, where the average manufacturing wage is $2.50 an hour, and labor and environmental regulations are either non-existent or not enforced. Many “low-skilled” jobs, such as those in the textile industry, have long since left, as subsequent World Trade Organization and bi-lateral agreements have sent that work where the wages are even lower, such as Central America and Southeast Asia. The TPP includes Vietnam, where independent unions are illegal, and $2.50 is the average daily wage. The job loss, however, hasn’t just affected the US. Subsidized grain exports have displaced more than 2 million Mexican farm workers (fueling immigration and the drug trade) and millions of acres of land have been expropriated for mining and extractive industries.

Part Two, to be published tomorrow, will delve more into the impact of the TPP and talk about what we as citizens can do to stop it.

El Impacto del TPP

Josh Wise, Coalición por el Comercio Justo de Minnesota

Las negociaciones secretas del Acuerdo Estrategico Trans-Pacifico de la Asociacion Economica o, Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) han seguido efectuándose por más de cuatro años. Según las afirmaciones dadas por el Representante Comercial de Estados Unidos (USTR), Michael Froman, el TPP sería un acuerdo “de alto nivel” dando pie a la creación de nuevos trabajos y por ende oportunidades laborales. Sin embargo, toda la información que hemos recibido mediante información que se ha filtrado al público (significando un acto de traición por parte de algunos participantes con el propósito de informarnos lo que propone nuestro propio gobierno) indica que el TPP está a punto de convertirse en otra extensión más del mismo proceso fallido de negociaciones de la política del comercio; los cuales han resultado en muchos otros acuerdos que han acelerado la “carrera hacia el abismo” en cuanto de las normas laborales, ambientales y de derechos humanos. Pero esta vez, en una escala mayor.

Los defensores del comercio libre utilizan la teoría de ventaja comparativa del economista David Ricardo como base teórica para la eliminación de las restricciones del comercio. La idea es que, si eliminamos la protección del estado para ciertas industrias, los países tendrían que enfocarse en la producción de artículos que resulten más eficaces, por consiguiente, todo el mundo pagaría precios más bajos para productos y las ganancias resultarían más grandes por la eficiencia. Sin embargo, la realidad es que los acuerdos actuales se alejan del ideal de “libertad comercial”, perdiendo los hilos conductores y yendo más allá del manejo del comercio. Al contrario, se ha introducido una gran cantidad de desregulación y protecciones para los inversionistas (la mayoría de éstos son corporaciones multinacionales), las cuales han limitado la capacidad de los gobiernos para actuar en favor de los intereses públicos en temas como normas laborales, medioambientales y de salud pública. Es cierto que han resultado en grandes ganancias corporativas, pero a la vez se ha venido generando ésta carrera hacia el abismo para los demás, sobretodo teniendo un impacto en el nivel de vida global.

Por qué es así?
En realidad, estos resultados son inevitables considerando como hacemos las negociaciones sobre el comercio. Según la definición oficial de su cargo, el USTR Froman es un diplomático, y, por esta razón puede mantener en secreto el contenido de las negociaciones sobre el comercio. Sin embargo, si alguien pide a la sección ejecutiva del gobierno, puede conseguir el título de “consejero autorizado” para las negociaciones, lo que significa que se puede ver y ejercer influencia sobre las propuestas. El TPP tiene más de 600 de estos “consejeros autorizados” y muchos de ellos representan corporaciones grandes. Además, los tratados internacionales se anteponen a todas las leyes nacionales y locales – dejándonos con un sistema de creación de leyes en el cual los grupos de presión (lobbyists) escriben las leyes detrás de puertas, por tanto, no deberían sorprender. Entonces, los acuerdos finales benefician desproporcionalmente a las mismas corporaciones multinacionales que los escriben.

Cuáles son los resultados?
El Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte (TLCAN) cumplió 20 años de vigencia este año, y por ser el acuerdo con mayor longevidad, tiene la mayor cantidad de datos para analizar. Desde que se estableció el TLCAN, los EEUU han perdido más de 1 millón de puestos de trabajo a sitios extranjeros de salario bajo. Y el trabajo no especializado no es el único que va para el exterior. Trabajo de la industria automóvil, de fabricación medica y química, y hasta investigación y desarrollo sigue cruzando la frontera a las maquiladoras, donde el salario promedio es $2,50 por una hora, y las normas laborales y ambientales o no existen o no se aplican. Mucho más trabajo no especializado, como el de la industria textil, desapareció hace mucho tiempo, porque los acuerdos bilaterales y los de la Organización Mundial del Comercio han controlado éste trabajo hasta donde el salario es aún más bajo, en regiones como Centroamérica y el Sudeste de Asia. El TPP incluye a Vietnam, donde los sindicatos independientes son ilegales y, $2,50 es el salario promedio diario. Entonces, la pérdida del trabajo no es solamente un tema de EEUU; las exportaciones subvencionadas de granos han causado el desplazamiento a más de 2 millones de campesinos y trabajadores mexicanos (contribuyendo a la inmigración y el tráfico de drogas) y millones de acres de tierra han sido expropiados para usos y explotación minera y de industrias extractivas.

La segunda parte de este post se publicará mañana, éste explorará más a fondo el impacto del TPP y discutirá que podremos hacer nosotros como ciudadanos para detenerlo.

The Human Face (and Price) of Trade

The Witness blog series is back!

This month, Witness for Peace, in close collaboration with coalition partners in the United States and partners on the ground in Colombia, Nicaragua, Honduras and Mexico, is hosting our second annual blog series – this one focused on the changing system of international trade and its effects on communities both small and large.

When most people hear the word “trade,” their eyes already start to glaze over, visions of tariffs and collective bargaining agreements dancing in their hands. This is understandable – at first, trade doesn’t exactly seem like the most exciting topic, tied up as it is with broader issues of economics, national sovereignty, imports/exports and labor rights. However, trade has implications that reach far beyond the entrances to ports and meeting halls – really, if you’ve ever bought anything or had a job, trade has affected you in some way. Over the course of the next month, we’ll be using this space on the Witness blog to explore the many ways trade changes lives, livelihoods and environments, from small-scale farmers in the U.S. Midwest to port workers in the Colombian city of Buenaventura.

The topics of free trade, unions, workers’ rights and economic policy have become increasingly important throughout the Americas since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) went into effect in 1994, creating a trade bloc between the U.S., Canada and Mexico, and opening the door for subsequent economic policies and practices that prioritized corporations and multinational companies over unions and workers themselves. Since then, such agreements have spread across the region, with the U.S. signing free trade accords with countries including Chile, Peru, Colombia and the majority of Central America.

Though supporters in governments and the business world insist that such agreements help boost competition and encourage sales, the truth is that the few individuals and corporations at the top are those that truly profit, while laborers, farmers and small businesses see few of the benefits and are often left worse off than they were before the agreement took effect. Such agreements lead to lower prices on imported goods that  leave local businesses unable to compete without incurring significant losses; allow much greater influence for multinational corporations; facilitate widespread third-party contracting; and encourage extensive outsourcing in a "race to the bottom." These effects are well-documented, and some communities are refusing to simply accept them as inevitable. Last August, Colombia’s farmers began a national strike that quickly spread across the country and reached the largest cities, primarily as a response to the negative effects the U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement, signed in 2011, had on their communities and their livelihoods.

Well-researched critiques and comprehensive analyses of such agreements are now more important than ever, with the U.S. on the verge of signing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would become the most far-reaching trade agreement in the hemisphere and grant a staggering amount of rights and privileges to corporations and business interests, potentially even overriding national sovereignty and laws in some cases. Through this blog series, we will examine the effects and lessons learned from current trade agreements and labor practices throughout the Americas, and hope to shed some light on the potential regional and global impact of the TPP as well as bring more attention to what’s happening in our own backyards and in thousands of other cities and towns across the continents.

Check back here every weekday for bilingual posts highlighting some of the effects free trade agreements and changes in trade and labor policy have had on individuals and communities throughout the Americas, and how some of our writers have seen those changes reflected in their own lives and the lives of others. Feel free to take a look at our 2013 Drug War blog series as well.

Labor Activists Mendoza and Galvis Under Attack

by Jessye Weinstein
WFP Colombia Team

Two trade union leaders in Barrancabermeja’s Coca Cola plant —William Mendoza, President of the local chapter of the Food Industry Workers Union (SINALTRAINAL) and Juan Carlos Galvis, member of SINALTRAINAL’s National Executive Board—are facing false accusations of terrorism. Barrancabermeja is a paramilitary stronghold, and understanding that paramilitaries are largely responsible for the systematic killing of unionists in Colombia, Mendoza and Galvis are sure that a prison sentence in the parapolitical climate of Barrancabermeja would mean imminent death.

The accusation against these two men of having taken part in placing a bomb in a Coca Cola plant in 1998 was brought by three demobilized paramilitary leaders responsible for hundreds of assassinations. These paramilitary leaders took advantage of the 2005 “Justice and Peace” demobilization law to simultaneously exchange their “testimony” against Mendoza and Galvis for varying degrees of amnesty, while continuing their same campaign of terror towards union leaders that they had waged before demobilizing. Although the charge was leveled in 2008, it is only now being activated, coinciding rather perfectly with the implementation of the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement. Many see this as hardly a coincidence.

In order for the trade agreement to enter into effect, a Labor Action Plan (LAP) was signed by Obama and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos in April 2011 with the intention of improving labor conditions in Colombia before the implementation of a binding economic treaty.  Although the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement went into effect on May 15, the LAP never met many of its stated goals, now leaving little leverage for improving labor conditions. In fact, the history of FTAs in other countries   even suggests that the passage of FTAs can be met with a dramatic upsurge in violence against unionists as state energy ceases to be placed in efforts that give a pretty face to the labor situation during negotiations. One example can be seen in the significant rise of violence in Guatemala since the implementation of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) in 2006: no trade unionists were murdered in 2006; four were murdered in 2007, then nine in 2008, and 16 in 2009.

Relating this back to the Mendoza and Galvis case, it is interesting to note that although the charge was leveled in 2008, nothing became of the case during all the years of FTA negotiations until the eve of implemetation.  William’s analysis is simple: “Now that they’ve finalized the Free Trade Agreement, they want to finish off SINALTRAINAL. The government now wants to use the judicial process against Juan Carlos and me. They want to send us to prison where we will be assassinated, and in that way strike a blow against SINALTRAINAL…They couldn’t kill us, so they are now trying to frame us.”

Mendoza’s words situate his personal experiences within the context of living in the country still internationally recognized as the most lethal nation in the world for trade unionists. We must not allow the false accusations coming from paramilitary leaders, nor the false rhetoric coming from our government ensuring compliance with the Labor Action Plan, to mask the reality of the labor situation in Colombia and threaten the lives of labor leaders.

Contact your Congressional representatives and members of the Congressional Monitoring Group on Labor Rights in Colombia to express your concern about this case.

Members on the House Congressional Monitoring Group:

Howard Berman,              202-225-4695    
Rosa DeLauro,             202-225-3661    
Keith Ellison,             202-225-4755    
Sam Farr,                     202-225-2861    
Steny Hoyer,             202-225-4131    
James McGovern,            202-225-6101    
Michel Michaud,             202-225-6306    
George Miller,             202-225-2095    
Sander Levin,             202-225-4961    
Nancy Pelosi,             202-225-4965

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.