COLOMBIA:
U.S. Congress to vote on sending more troops to Colombia:
act before May 12
Demand
Drummond Coal Stop the Killing of Union Activists
NEW
Background
on The Drummond Trial
NEW
from
the Wall Street Journal
COLOMBIAN REFUGEES FACE
DEPORTATION FROM PANAMA
Paramilitaries in Colombia Threaten Coke Bottlers' Union Official
Former Coca-Cola Union Official Kidnapped in Colombia
CENTRAL AMERICA:
CENTRAL AMERICAN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT
FAIR TRADE:
Coffee
CinciNNATI
conference and Rally
GUATEMALA:
RIOS MONTT IS
BACK; CALL FOR SOLIDARITY
MEXICO:
Help Stop Evictions in Mexico
a
us senators'
AND REPRESENTATIVES' Contact Information
Colombia: Former Coca-Cola Union
President Kidnapped
For more Action Alerts regarding
Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico,
please see index at top of page.
TAKE ACTION to demand the immediate release of former Coca-Cola bottle worker and union president, Alfredo Porras Rueda!
SEND LETTERS to Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Velez, Vice
President Francisco Santos, and Minister of the Interior Fernando
Londono Hoyos ? addresses listed below.
On
December 31, 2002, Alfredo Porras Rueda was detained by the Columbian
government. In a televised statement hours later, General Jairo Duvan
Pineda, commander of the Fifth Division of the Colombian Army, accused
Rueda of being a member and ideologue of the insurgent group Ejercito
de Liberación Nacional (ELN).
Rueda worked at Coca-Cola? s bottling plant in Bucaramanga, and
was President of the local SINALTRAINAL union ? National Food Industry
Workers Union. He was forced to leave amid numerous death threats and
assassination attempts triggered by false accusations made by Coca-Cola
management against him and the food workers? union. Corporate
representatives have repeatedly accused workers of organizing with
insurgent groups simply because of workers? struggle for their rights.
Rueda was not the first Colombian Coca-Cola worker to face intense
harassment and persecution. On August 31, 2002, Adolfo de Jesus Munera
? also a Coca-Cola employee and President of the SINALTRAINAL local in
the town of Barranquilla ? was murdered. Local law enforcement
officials have still not launched an investigation into the case.
According to SINALTRAINAL? s national leadership, both instances
highlight the persecution of social activists and the criminalization
of social and labor protest. Coca-Cola and the Colombian Government
must be held responsible for these criminal partnerships.
SINALTRAINAL is asking human rights and social justice
organizations, as well as everyone in support of workers? rights, to
write the Colombian Government and demand:
- the immediate release of Alfredo Porras Rueda;
- an end to harassment and persecution of workers and union leaders;
- an investigation into Coca-Cola management? s role in the death of Adolfo de Jesus Munera.
Background to the Struggle
(See also, Murder at Coke, The Real Thing for background.)
SINALTRAINAL has been the victim of a systematic campaign of
destruction, which has included: the assassination of 14 union leaders,
half of which worked at various Coca-Cola plants; death threats; forced
displacements; the incarceration of workers and union leaders on false
charges; raids of union offices, cooperatives and union members? homes;
union de-certification; extortion and kidnapping of union members in
order to force them to renounce their right to association; and the
violation of collective agreements. In addition, hundreds of workers
have been fired from their jobs over the past decade. As a result,
SINALTRAINAL has seen its membership decrease by over fifty percent.
The Colombian state has been an accomplice to the actions of the
transnational corporations, by neither investigating nor punishing
those responsible for carrying out these crimes. It continues to
promote policies that heighten terror and poverty via the privatization
of public sector companies and the creation of ?free-trade? zones.
According to the Colombia trade union confederation, CUT,
148 unionists were killed in Columbia in 2002. Of these,
42 were leaders, including five national union presidents.
Write the Colombian Government and demand that they stop their policies of corporate militarism!
President of the Republic of Colombia Dr. Alvaro Uribe Velez Palacio de Narino Carrera 8 No. 7-26 Santafe de Bogota, Colombia auribe@presidencia.gov.co/rdh@presidencia.gov.co
Vice President of the Republic of Colombia Francisco Santos
Consejeria Presidential de Derechos Humanos Calle 7, No. 654, Piso 3
Santafe de Bogota, Colombia infprotocol@mindefensa.gov.co
Minister of the Interior and Justice Fernando Londono Hoyos
Ministerio del Interior y Justicia Palacio Echeverry, Carrera 8a, No.
8-09, Piso 2o Santafe de Bogota, Colombia mininterior@myrealbox.com
For more information, visit the following websites:
- U. S./Labor Education in the Americas Project
www.usleap.org/Colombia/ColombiaHome.html
- Coke Watch www.cokewatch.org
- ActionLA www.peacenowar.net/#colombia
Labor
Alerts is a service provided by the Campaign for Labor Rights
(Washington, DC) Information in this alert was provided by the
Colombia Solidarity Campaign (UK)
(back to top) (back to home page)
IV. Senators'
and Representatives'
IV. Contact Information:
Contacting U.S.
Representatives of any State
Rep. Michael Turner of Ohio's
3rd District
Click here to e-mail Mr.
Turner
DC Office
1740 Longworth HOB
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: 202.225.6465
Fax: 202.225.6754
Dayton Office
120 West Third Street,
Ste. 305
Dayton, Ohio 45402
Phone: 937.225.2843
Fax: 937.225.2752
Wilmington Office
15 East Main Street
Wilmington, Ohio 45177
Phone: 937.383.8931
Fax: 937.383.8910
Contacting U.S. Senators of any State
Senator Mike
DeWine of Ohio
Click here to e-mail Mr. DeWine
- Washington, D.C. Office:
140 Russell Senate Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-2315
Fax: (202) 224-6519
TDD: (202) 224-9921
- Casework Office:
Senators DeWine and Voinovich
37 West Broad Street, Suite 300
Columbus, OH 43215
Phone: (614) 469-6774
Fax: (614) 469-7419
Casework Hotline: 1-800-205-OHIO
- Xenia, Ohio Office:
100 West Main Street
2nd Floor
Xenia, OH 45385
Phone: (937) 376-3080
Fax: (937) 376-3387
- Cincinnati, Ohio Office:
312 S. Walnut St., Suite 2030
Cincinnati, OH 45202
Phone: (513) 763-8260
Fax: (513) 763-8268
- Cleveland, Ohio Office:
600 East Superior Avenue, Room 2450
Cleveland, OH 44114
Phone: (216) 522-7272
Fax: (216) 522-2239
- Columbus, Ohio Office:
37 West Broad Street, Suite 300
Columbus, OH 43215
Phone: (614) 469-5186
Fax: (614) 469-2982
- Marietta, Ohio Office:
121 Putnam Street, Suite 102
Marietta, OH 45750
Phone: (740) 373-2317
Fax: (740) 373-8689
- Toledo, Ohio Office:
420 Madison Avenue, Room 1225
Toledo, OH 43604
Phone: (419) 259-7536
Fax: (419) 259-7575
Senator George
Voinovich of Ohio
Click here to e-mail Mr. Voinovich
The Honorable George Voinovich
United States Senate
317 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-3504
DC Phone: 202-224-3353
DC Fax: 202-228-1382
District Offices:
1240 East 9th Street, Suite 2955
Cleveland, OH 44199
Phone: 216-522-7095
Fax:216-522-7097
36 East 7th Street, Room 2615
Cincinnati, OH 45202
Phone 513-684-3265
Fax: 513-684-3269
37 West Broad Street, Room 310
Columbus, OH 43215
Phone: 614-469-6697
Fax: 614-469-773
420 Madison Avnue, Room 1210
Toledo, OH 43604
Phone: 419-259-3895
Fax: 419-259-3899