Editor
26th June 2002, 20:18
Unpunished Murder Continues
No sanctions result from violence against trade unionists
The International Labour Organization (ILO) (http://www.ilo.org) has refrained from sanctioning Colombia, disappointing local trade unions which demand an international investigation of a continuing wave of murders against worker representatives in the South American country. "We hoped for an international commission of inquiry," said Domingo Tovar, a leader of Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT), which, with 700,000 members, is the largest trade union in Colombia.
Since its establishment in 1986, the CUT alone has lost more than 3500 activists by assassinations both from right-wing paramilitaries and from left-wing guerillas, 193 in just the last year. In the meantime violence and fear are so widespread that in some parts of the country fear of reprisal is so great that people would not even speak against the murder of workers, added Tovar.
Since at the beginning of 2001, 223 trade union leaders and activists have been murdered. In the last six months 86 trade unionists were victims of the violence. Just on 17th of June the trade union leader César Blanco was killed in Bucaramanga in the central eastern province Santander by unknown assailants. Blanco, who organized oil workers for the union Sindical Obrera (USO), had received numerous threats from right-wing, so-called self-defense units of the AUC prior to his death.
First published by German newspaper Junge Welt (http://www.jungewelt.de).
http://www.jungewelt.de/2002/06-25/004.php
Translated using Babelfish (http://babelfish.altavista.com), revised, edited by vox.
(Edited by Editor at 8:21 pm on June 26, 2002)
No sanctions result from violence against trade unionists
The International Labour Organization (ILO) (http://www.ilo.org) has refrained from sanctioning Colombia, disappointing local trade unions which demand an international investigation of a continuing wave of murders against worker representatives in the South American country. "We hoped for an international commission of inquiry," said Domingo Tovar, a leader of Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT), which, with 700,000 members, is the largest trade union in Colombia.
Since its establishment in 1986, the CUT alone has lost more than 3500 activists by assassinations both from right-wing paramilitaries and from left-wing guerillas, 193 in just the last year. In the meantime violence and fear are so widespread that in some parts of the country fear of reprisal is so great that people would not even speak against the murder of workers, added Tovar.
Since at the beginning of 2001, 223 trade union leaders and activists have been murdered. In the last six months 86 trade unionists were victims of the violence. Just on 17th of June the trade union leader César Blanco was killed in Bucaramanga in the central eastern province Santander by unknown assailants. Blanco, who organized oil workers for the union Sindical Obrera (USO), had received numerous threats from right-wing, so-called self-defense units of the AUC prior to his death.
First published by German newspaper Junge Welt (http://www.jungewelt.de).
http://www.jungewelt.de/2002/06-25/004.php
Translated using Babelfish (http://babelfish.altavista.com), revised, edited by vox.
(Edited by Editor at 8:21 pm on June 26, 2002)