Update from Canada

FROM Avi Chomsky
Mar 25 (2 days ago)

Jose Julio finishes the Canada portion of his tour today, returning to Boston for one night and taking off for Arkansas-Los Angeles-DC tomorrow. Here's a summary of how things went in Canada from Garry:

It has been an amazing week in New Brunswick and here in Halifax. Jose Julio did a live interview on CBC radio yeserday morning and both Halifax dailies interviewed him and published articles. He met with NSP for two hours and they were cautiously positive about moving ahead with some sort of code of conduct and continuing discussions around these issues. The public event last night at Dalhousie University was fantastic! We had about 70 people turn out and the response was electric. Jose Julio also had a breakfast meeting with MP Alexa McDonaugh, who is the NDP's foeign affairs critic in Ottawa. She has been one of the driving forcing behind a parliamentary bill that will hold Canadian companies responsible under Canadian law for engaging in practices overseas that would be considered illegal in Canada. She is really progressive and a wonderful person. She suggested that an NDP member of the provincial government go on the delegation and will help us try to facilitate it. The NDP is the number two party in Nova Scotia and just might win the next provincial election, which is terrifying for NSP because the company was only privatized about nine years ago and if anyone is going to reverse that process because of public discontent with the company it will be the NDP. We also got lots of interest in the delegation at the public event from members of different unions. I have a feeling you might have a whole bunch of Canadians on your delegation.

Jose Julio will be flying back to Boston this afternoon. It has been a great week and I think he is really happy with the way things have gone. People were really taken with Jose Julio and we had some at the public event last night ask if we can post updates from the rest of his tour (in the US) on ARSN's website so they will know what is happening.



Avi----------------------------------------
North Shore Colombia Solidarity Committee: http://home.comcast.net/~nscolombia/

Salem Gazette on Jose Julio

Mine boggling: City, company called to condemn human rights violations
By Dinah Cardin/ dcardin@cnc.com
Friday, March 24, 2006 - Updated: 11:56 AM EST

José Julio Perez, accompanied by Avi Chomsky, speaks to Salem State College students about Colombian villagers displaced by coal-mining interests. (Staff photo by John Harvey)


Wiping away tears, caused possibly by the biting wind he’s not used to, but more likely by stirred emotions, José Julio Pérez stood on Blaney Street Monday morning, staring out at the black pile of coal delivered to Salem Harbor Station. "The misfortune of La Guajira," he said, referring to the region in Columbia where he lives.

With the cooperation of the government, the region is being systematically wiped off the map by the owners of the world’s largest open-pit coal mine.

"It’s very sad," he continued, through an interpreter, "to see what benefits some people, brings harm to many others."

The Cerrej��ona Norte mine was a joint venture between the Exxon Corporation and the Colombian government. When Exxon first came into the region in 1976, those in his village of Tabaco were told they would be able to keep their land, said Pérez. Then, 20 years later, "a sea of suffering" came to them.

According to an unnamed spokesperson at the Salem Harbor Station power plant, only about one ship a year delivers coal from the Cerrej��ine.

Karl Neddenien of Dominion Energy, the Virginia-based owners of the Salem plant, says the last time it received a delivery from the Cerrej��ine was sometime in 2005. The plant has been increasing the use of coal from South America in general, however, since last January.

The "Coal Americas" journal of April 2005 reports that Dominion has plans to significantly increase its use of Colombian coal, specifically. South America yields low-sulfur coal and Dominion, said Neddenien, is committed to reducing emissions at its power stations. The Salem plant made the conversion to low-sulfur coal last fall.

Asked if it angers him to see Salem and its residents benefiting from his misfortune, Pérez said, "I feel some sadness, but it’s not the fault of the people here. [It is] the economic powers and our government."

Being heard

Pérez has the attention of Avi Chomsky, Salem State professor of history and Latin Studies, and the daughter of MIT professor and political activist Noam Chomsky. She is his key U.S. contact as he embarks on a month-long tour that will take him across this country, spreading the sad message of his people.

Chomsky says, according to Department of Energy statistics, one third to half of Salem Harbor Station’s coal came from Columbia during the 1990s. When a power plant is sold, however, there is a period when they don’t have to report such statistics, she said, and the plant has been sold several times in the last few years.

"We’re not trying to make the plant look bad," said Chomsky, who came to Salem State in 1997 from Bates College in Maine. "We’re not asking that they stop buying Columbian coal. We’re listening for them to make a statement for those whose lives are being ruined because of the coal production."

Communities surrounding the Cerrej��ine have been subject to constant noise and dust from blasting, loss of farmland, and contamination of the river that was their main source of water.

According to Pérez, the environmental problems are causing people in his region to suffer respiratory and skin diseases, all so the mine can continue producing 84,000 tons of coal daily, at a price of $50 per ton.

Everyone was "bought" along the way, he said, referring to lawyers, judges and community leaders.

Some peasants were bought out by Exxon, but others refused to leave. Two thousand soldiers rousted 300 families living in Tabaco, destroying it completely in August of 2001 to make way for the expansion of the mine.

Last May, a delegation of 45 people from several South American countries visited the region and observed coal dust blowing from the trains traveling 150 kilometers from the mine to Puerto Bolivar, the peninsula near Venezuela from which ships bring the coal to U.S. destinations, including Salem.

While the less expensive, low-sulfur coal may be more environmentally friendly and could translate to more cheaply produced energy, it could also be linked to the death squads that massacred 12 indigenous Way?ving near the port owned by the Cerrej��ine, as well as the execution of labor union leaders.

Chomsky is heading up a group to follow the coal route in Columbia this August, a trip arranged through the grassroots organization "Witness for Peace."

She hopes Pérez’ talk about the other side of globalization at the First Church next month, as well as his appearance at Salem State College on Earth Day, will drum up interest in the 12-day trip to Columbia.

There, the group will meet with human-rights activists, trade unionists and members of Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities, as well as others affected by coal production in Columbia.

Hitting home

In our own living rooms, Salem Access TV has aired "What’s the Cost of Salem’s Coal? The Destruction of Tabaco." Still, said Chomsky, Salem residents have a "low level of awareness" of the city’s connection to human rights violations taking place in the northeastern part of Columbia, both against mine workers and those who live there.

Since 2002, some Salem residents have been involved in bringing the case of the village of Tabaco to the public eye, creating international pressure on the mine to relocate the village’s former residents.

In June of that year, the Salem City Council passed a resolution recognizing that Exxon bulldozed the village and that, in May 2002, the Colombian Supreme Court granted the villagers’ request for relocation and reconstruction of their town.

The resolution recognized a series of visits by Colombians who had sought the support of Salem residents. The document asked that any mine expansion be conducted peacefully, and that the villagers be accorded basic human rights.

"As a community hosting a coal-powered facility, we condemn violations of human rights by all actors involved in Columbia’s conflict," read the resolution, including guerilla groups, military interests and U.S. defense contractors.

The resolution was sent to the president of Columbia and the country’s minister of the interior, as well as the Exxon Mobil Corporation. It was sponsored by Salem resident Claudia Chuber, a native of Colombia, who was a city councilor at the time.

"We weren’t advocating that they not buy the coal." she said. "We were just saying the natives were being exploited."

When passed by municipalities, such documents are not able to change much nationally, especially in another country, according to Chuber.

"It was pretty symbolic," she said, "but I was happy it was passed."

In 2006, authorities in Columbia have refused to enforce their own Supreme Court’s decision, and the displaced villagers remain with relatives or in neighboring countries. Pérez maintains the owners of the mine are eyeing other nearby villages for demolition.

Salem’s City Council is again looking into the issue, scheduling some time with Pérez to meet with the its Subcommittee on Public Health, Safety and the Environment next month. They are also considering a similar resolution to the one passed in the summer of 2002.

Councilor Thomas Furey remembers signing the resolution and calls Pérez a "profile in courage."

"The power plant is the goose that laid the golden egg and we need it to stay in Salem," he said. "It’s so critical that we have it, but we need to send a message that products in Columbia shouldn’t be on the backs of the workers."

Furey said he is strongly in favor of continuing such a resolution, and of voicing a policy of zero tolerance for accepting Colombian products as long as the mistreatment continues.

Meeting of the mine

The North Shore Columbia Solidarity Committee formed to further educate people here about the human rights violations. The group is sponsoring Pérez’ visit next month.

A part of the group’s demands is that representatives from Dominion meet with Perez while he is here. They are also looking for the company to issue a public statement about their intent to take reasonable action to help Colombian mine workers, as well as to increase efforts to seek alternative, renewable forms of energy.

Although previous owners of Salem Harbor Station have met with representatives from Colombia’s La Guajira region in the past, Dominion is just getting used to its new relationship with that country. Dominion’s Neddenien said the company "would be pleased" to meet with Pérez, but said it is not making any more promises at this point.

"I think what we need to do is talk with the gentleman and hear what he has to say," said Neddenien. "That’s what we’ve committed to so far."

A spokesperson at the plant said no one there has seen an invitation to meet with Pérez, but would be more than willing to.

A few years ago, Francisco Ramz Cuellar, president of a Colombian mining union, came to Salem. Chomsky, who has researched the history of Columbia coal mining and its tragic effects on the country today, translated into English the labor leader’s book, "The Profits of Extermination: How U.S. Corporate Power is Destroying Columbia."

In Columbia, it was published amid death threats.

Jeff Crosby, president of the North Shore Labor Council, an organization of 50 local unions from Saugus to Cape Ann, has met with Cuellar a couple of times, including once in BogotᬠD.C., Colombia’s capital.

Crosby compares the responsibility Salem Harbor Station has to the people of Columbia to that of large clothing companies that rely on sweatshop seamstresses.

"Clearly, any company that receives raw or finished materials from suppliers or vendors in other countries has a responsibility to see to it that the human rights and labor rights of workers involved in the production are protected," he said.

Crosby added that even if the plant takes only a small amount of coal from the Cerrej��ine, the plant’s owner still has a responsibility.

"If you’re going to globalize profit-making, if you’re going to globalize corporations, then you have to globalize human rights," said Crosby.

James "Red" Simpson of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers 326, with which Salem power plant workers are affiliated, was contacted by the Gazette this week, but he refused to comment.

Pérez spoke to Professor Chomsky’s World History class Monday morning, telling students that before the mine, his people lived a good life, but now can’t even afford to send their children to school.

"That was my house," he said to the class, pointing to a slide image of himself in front of bulldozed rubble. "We have nothing now. That’s because we tried to oppose the company, so we were punished by the company."

Pérez, a father of 10 children, is jeopardizing his own life by publicizing the plea of his countrymen. In the summer of 2000, he was attacked by armed security officials at the mine as he tried to film the conditions surrounding his village.

When asked about his level of danger, Perez says much has already been taken from him.

"But we feel," he said, "that we have to make ourselves heard."

* * *

José Julio Pérez will present "The Destruction of Tabaco," followed by a discussion, Sunday, April 9, 7 p.m., at First Church, 316 Essex St., and will be recognized Monday, April 10, at an Earth Day celebration at Salem State College.
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North Shore Colombia Solidarity Committee: http://home.comcast.net/~nscolombia/

Jose Julio in the Maritimes (translated from French with Google)
For original article in French: http://www.src.ca/regions/atlantique/2006/03/21/008-NB-charbon.shtml

The Maritime ones on burning coals Update Wednesday March 22, 2006, 9. 43. . The Colombian Jose Julio Perez denounces in New Brunswick and in News-Scotland abuses mining industry in its country, which supplies these coal provinces "I am here for saying that mining industry violates the human rights in Colombia", it declared. It is the message which it delivered to the minister Energy of New Brunswick, Brenda Fowlie. It asked him to make pressure on the Colombian government so that it changes the practices of its mining industry. Mrs. Fowlie promised to Mr. Perez a meeting with representatives of the company Énergie N-b.­ for the following day. Mr. Perez told that in 2001, approximately 200 soldiers and police officers invaded the village of Tobacco, in Colombia. The Perez family, like 70 others, were forced to leave their houses and their farms to allow the expansion of Cerrejon, the most significant coal mine to sky open to the world. Mr. Perez added that Tobacco does not exist any more and that expatriés were never compensated. Meanwhile, of the hundreds of trade-union representatives were assassinated in the country. The minister Brenda Fowlie From the closing of the two last coal mines of Cape-Breton, the companies Energy N-B. and Nova Scotia Power produce 16 % of their electricity with coal coming from Colombia. Last year, Energy N-B. the totality of its coal of the Carrejon mine bought at the cost of 45 million dollars. It is a coal has handsome price, but according to Mr. Perez, it is dearly paid in violation of the rights of the person. Jose Julio Perez known as was satisfied with its first day in Canada. It intends to repeat this exercise of sensitizing with Nova Scotia Power and of the members of the government of News-Scotland during next days.

A day with Jose Julio

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[colombia] A day with Jose Julio
1 message

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Avi Chomsky	Tue, Mar 21, 2006 at 2:17 PM
Reply-To: Avi Chomsky To: North Shore Colombia Solidarity Committee
Hello, Colombia list friends... Jose Julio Perez arrived Sunday night from Colombia, after many months of planning and work getting him a visa, organizing the trip, etc. He spent yesterday (Monday) in Salem, before taking off in the afternoon for Canada, where Garry Leech and the Atlantic Regional Solidarity Network have organized a week of events for him. Then he's off to Arkansas, Los Angeles, and DC before returning to spend 10 days in Salem from April 9-19. Yesterday he spoke in two classes at Salem State, and had a long interview with the Salem Gazette which is scheduled to appear this Friday. They also took a lot of pictures, both at the college and at the power plant and coal pile. Although I've heard the story of the displacement of Tabaco many times, and told it myself many times, and seen and shown the video we have on the destruction of Tabaco, talking face to face with Jose Julio, who lived through the events and lost his own home and livelihood to the mine that supplies our coal, visiting the coal pile with him, looking anew at my own slides of Tabaco through his eyes, and hearing and seeing pictures of life in the communities on the periphery of the mine today was an overwhelming experience. We have a busy schedule organized for Jose Julio in April, including several public events on the North Shore, trips to Brown, Dartmouth, and University of Southern Maine, and meetings and interviews with local officials and hopefully with the power plant. Please try to come, if you can, to one or more of the events! Sunday, April 9, 7:00, First Church in Salem Monday, April 10, 7:00, Earth Day at Salem State Friday, April 14, 7:00, The Bookstore, Gloucester And please think about coming on our delegation this summer (August 1-11) to the coal region of Colombia to see it for yourself! Finally IF YOU HAVE ANY TIME TO HELP with driving, translating, attending meetings, or just spending some time with Jose Julio while he's here in April, please let me know!! Thanks, Avi ---------------------------------------- North Shore Colombia Solidarity Committee: http://home.comcast.net/~nscolombia/

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Posted by nscolombia at 12:28 PM EST

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Jose Julio Perez visit

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[colombia] Jose Julio Perez
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Avi Chomsky	Sat, Mar 4, 2006 at 9:56 PM
Reply-To: Avi Chomsky To: North Shore Colombia Solidarity Committee
Hello, list members, I wanted to update you all on the tour we are planning for Jose Julio Perez, a representative from the community of Tabaco, an Afro-Colombian village violently displaced in 2001 by the mine that supplies coal to the Salem Harbor Power Station. Some of you may remember the visits by Armando Perez and Remedios Fajardo, back in 2002, Francisco Ruiz, in 2003, and Francisco Ramirez, in 2002 and 2004, and how powerful it has been to hear the voices of those affected by the production of the coal that we consume. Jose Julio's tour will begin on March 19, and he'll be visiting Nova Scotia (where Garry Leech, who many of you will also remember, now teaches; Nova Scotia is another major importer of Colombian coal. See www.colombiajournal.org and www.arsn.ca for more information about Colombia in general, and Canadian solidarity, respectively.); Arkansas, Los Angeles, and Washington DC, before coming to New England for 10 days from April 9-19. His schedule right now looks like this: Sun. April 9 7:00 First Church in Salem, present a showing of "The Destruction of Tabaco" Mon. April 10 7:00 Salem State College Earth Day celebration. Jose Julio will be presented with an Environmental Justice Award. Tues. April 11 Dartmouth College Wed. April 12 University of Southern Maine Thurs. April 13 Meetings with local officials in Salem Fri. April 14 Presentation of _The Profits of Extermination_ at The Bookstore, Gloucester Tues. April 18 Brown University Because the foreign-owned mine operates with virtual impunity in Colombia, Jose Julio and the other villagers who have been displaced believe that the only way to challenge the mine on its violations of human and environmental rights is through international public pressure. They are asking us, as consumers of the coal, to demand that the mine negotiate a collective relocation agreement with the villagers who have been displaced. Our campaign will continue this summer with a delegation to the coal-producing region of Colombia from August 1-11, coinciding with an international conference that Garry is organizing there. I'm eager to hear ANY ideas you might have for events, and other ways of drawing public attention to Jose Julio's message, while he is here in April. Avi ---------------------------------------- North Shore Colombia Solidarity Committee: http://home.comcast.net/~nscolombia/

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information packet for Jose Julio's tour in March-April 2006

FROM: Avi Chomsky

Friends--

I'm attaching an information packet for Jose Julio's tour in March-April 2006.

This is a work-in-progress so please let me know what you think.

So far, it is looking like the tour will shape up like this:

March 20-27 Nova Scotia

March 27-31 Arkansas

April 3-6 Wash. DC (April 5 at American)

April 7-15 Salem (April 10), Boston area, Univ. of Southern Maine (April 12), Dartmouth (week of the 10-14), other New England events TBA (Brown, Assumption, others)

This is just beginning to be put into place, so if others are interested we should talk about trying to fit them in.

Avi...

jose julio info packet.doc

"Killer Coke" Or Innocent Abroad?
Controversy over anti-union violence in Colombia has colleges banning Coca-Cola

www.businessweek.com

From: Avi Chomsky

A pretty comprehensive article about the Coke issues.

Avi

JANUARY 23, 2006

Controversy over anti-union violence in Colombia has colleges banning Coca-Cola

It's early monday morning, but Ray Rogers has the full attention of some 70 students in a Rutgers University classroom. For nearly half an hour, the 61-year-old labor activist rails against Coca-Cola Co. (), taking the beverage giant to task for allegedly turning a blind eye as eight employees of Coke bottlers in Colombia were killed and scores more were threatened or jailed on trumped-up terrorism charges over the past decade.

"The reality is that the world of Coca-Cola is a world of lies, deceptions, corruption, gross human rights and environmental abuses!" thunders Rogers, a legendary union activist who cut his teeth organizing a highly publicized campaign against textile maker J.P. Stevens & Co. in the 1970s. He slams his hand on a desk. "But this is where it's going to stop! We're going to put an end to this once and for all! How many of you will stand up against Coke?" One by one, roughly half the students lift their hands. In response to Rogers' charges, a Coke spokeswoman says the activist "has no facts to support his claims."

Despite the vast generation gap and Coke's rebuttals, Rogers' diatribes are starting to resonate on campuses from New Haven to Ann Arbor, where his "Killer Coke" campaign has become the latest cause célèbre among student activists -- "the new Nike," as one puts it. At dozens of schools, small but feisty groups of students have demonstrated against the company -- like the ones who staged a "die-in" during a 2004 Yale University speech by then-CEO Douglas N. Daft. Already, about 20 colleges in the U.S. and abroad have halted sales of Coke on campus, in part over the Colombia controversy.

In December, Rogers bagged his two biggest victories to date when New York University and the University of Michigan banished Coke. For two years, NYU student activists had demanded an independent investigation of worker conditions in Colombia. "The students felt it has been two years, and nothing's been done," says Arthur Tannenbaum, a faculty spokesman at NYU. In response, a Coke spokesperson says the company would accept an outside review, but only if the findings aren't admissible in a lawsuit filed in Miami by the International Labor Rights Fund on behalf of the slain Colombian workers -- a condition the ILRF has not accepted.

PICKING UP STEAM
Coke officials maintain that the company has been unfairly tarred by union activists who have distorted the facts about Colombia. Perpetuating "urban myth is more exciting [for activists] than knowing what the facts are," says Edward E. Potter, a longtime corporate labor lawyer who joined Coke as global labor relations director last March. Coke officials say only one of the eight workers was killed on the premises of the Coke bottling plant owned by Bebidas y Alimentos de Urabá. Also, they say, the other deaths -- which all occurred off-premises -- were byproducts of Colombia's four-decade-long civil war among leftist guerrillas, government forces, and paramilitaries, which has resulted in at least 35,000 deaths, including 2,500 trade unionists since the mid-1980s alone.

What's more, an important global coalition of labor unions has refused to support Rogers' anti-Coke crusade, which seeks reparations for the families of victims. "We have no evidence of complicity by Coke in the killing of workers," says Ron Oswald, general secretary of the International Union of Foodworkers in Geneva, whose members include tens of thousands of Coke workers worldwide. Some government and union leaders believe that the militant union leading the crusade, SINALTRAINAL, a Colombian union of food-industry workers known for its socialist views, has zeroed in on Coke as a way to get the broader issue of union violence heard around the world. "Out of one killing they built up a campaign," says Colombian Vice-President Francisco Santos Calderón. "In the end they're hurting Colombia" by making it seem like a dangerous place to do business.

Still, Rogers seems to be picking up steam. The activist says he has been contacted by students at more than 100 other colleges looking to initiate similar protests, including Washington's Georgetown University and Atlanta's Emory University, whose endowment includes large holdings of Coca-Cola stock. Rogers also believes he can score a win in Britain in the coming months when the National Union of Students, a purchasing co-op for more than 200 student unions there, debates whether to renew Coke's beverage contract.

The college deals -- collectively worth perhaps a few million dollars -- represent a negligible loss of business for the $23 billion soft-drink titan, which now generates 85% of its operating income outside the U.S. But the campaign is heating up at an awkward moment for Coca-Cola, which was recently eclipsed by PepsiCo () in market value. Plus, Coke is pinning a revival on a new marketing plan set to launch in the spring around the theme "Welcome to the Coke Side of Life." "I know the impact we're having on Coke, and I know it's getting worse," says Rogers.

Beyond bad PR, the Colombia controversy illustrates the challenges facing all multinationals that do business in unstable places. As Nike Inc. () learned in its recent sweatshop labor flap, companies are increasingly being held accountable for everything that occurs all the way through the supply chain, even when it involves independent contractors, as is the case with Coke and its Colombian bottlers. In the end, some crisis-management experts believe Coke may be able to defuse the Colombia situation only by consenting, as Nike did, to an outside review, and by taking public steps to better ensure the safety of bottling company workers in countries such as Colombia. "You just can't...say: 'They're the bottlers, we just sell the syrup,"' says Edward F. Ahnert, a former president of ExxonMobil Foundation who teaches corporate social responsibility at Southern Methodist University's business school.

BREAKING THE UNION
What has transpired in Colombia over the past decade is a matter of debate. According to union leaders from SINALTRAINAL, on whose behalf the 2001 Miami lawsuit was filed, several years of violence and killings of Coke workers intensified on Dec. 5, 1996, when a right-wing paramilitary squad showed up at the gate of the Coke bottling plant owned by Bebidas y Alimentos in Carepa, a small town in northwestern Colombia's banana-growing region. The paramilitaries shot and killed Isidro Segundo Gil, the gatekeeper and a member of the union's executive board. An hour later they kidnapped another union leader at his home and torched the union's offices.

The following day the paramilitaries returned to the plant, called workers together, and gave them until 4 p.m. to sign a statement resigning from the union on stationery the unionists claim bore the bottler's letterhead -- or else. Many union members resigned on the spot; 27 even quit their jobs and fled to other cities, fearing they would be killed if they stayed. Luis Hernán Manco, who was president of the union at the time, was summoned by the plant manager to a local tavern, where several paramilitaries warned him and other union leaders to leave town. "They said: 'If you want to live beyond today, get out of this area.' I knew they were serious," recalls Manco, now 59, who has been in hiding for nine years. For two more months, union leaders claim, the paramilitaries camped outside the front gate of the Carepa plant.

The union alleges that Coke and its local bottler were complicit in these acts. (Both companies deny the charge.) Among the claims made in the lawsuit is an alleged 1996 public statement by Ariosto Milan Mosquera, the plant manager at Carepa, that "he had given an order to the paramilitaries to carry out the task of destroying the union." (The plant's owner, Richard Kirby of Key Biscayne, Fla., denies his managers gave any such orders.) Over the intervening nine years, in addition to the eight who died, 48 others have been forced into hiding, and 65 have received death threats, SINALTRAINAL leaders say. In Bucaramanga, a midsize city in northeastern Colombia, five union members who work at the Coke plant there were jailed for six months in 1995 on terrorism charges that were later dropped for lack of evidence. They were accused of planting an explosive device in the plant, but three of them who spoke to BusinessWeek said they doubt such a device ever existed.

Union leaders insist Coke could have halted the violence by immediately -- and publicly -- repudiating the paramilitaries. "If the company had condemned the first death, there probably wouldn't have been any more," says Edgar Paez, director of international relations for SINALTRAINAL. A Coke spokesman disputes that. "Our bottlers have been quite open in condemning the violence," he says, pointing to local newspaper ads they published that denounced the violence. Paez also claims the Coca-Cola bottler financially benefited from the paramilitaries' actions, since they broke the union and allowed the bottler to replace many of its full-time employees with much cheaper part-time and temporary workers. Plant owner Kirby denies that charge and says he suffered, too: His wife's sister was kidnapped by the paramilitaries, who also burned four of his trucks and tried to coerce Kirby into selling his plant to them on the cheap, which he declined to do. "Nobody tells the paramilitaries what to do. They tell you," he says.

There's no clear path for Coke to mitigate the controversy. Nike, after its initial reluctance to engage its critics, was able to resolve the allegations that it used sweatshop labor; the sneaker giant imposed tougher workplace standards on its suppliers and invited outside groups to help monitor their compliance. In April, Coke released the results of a study by Cal Safety Compliance Corp., a Los Angeles consultant that specializes in workplace audits, which found no current instances of anti-union violence or intimidation at Coke bottling plants in Colombia. But union activists and students were unmoved, since Coke had paid for the study, and demanded that the company agree to an independent investigation of its Colombian operations. At first, Coke said yes, but the plan hit an impasse over the findings' admissibility in the ongoing lawsuit, from which Coke was dropped as a defendant by the judge in 2003. (The bottlers remain defendants.)

Activist Rogers is demanding that Coke pay reparations to the families of the slain and displaced Colombian workers, noting that the company came up with $192.5 million to settle a racial-discrimination class action in the U.S. in 2000. In Bogotá, SINALTRAINAL's Paez says each survivor should get regular payments equal to the monthly salary received by Coke's CEO. "What is a life worth?" he asks. A Coke spokeswoman responds: "We were not complicit in what happened, so it wouldn't make sense for us to pay reparations." But for Coke, resolving the legal questions and diffusing the Colombia controversy may be two different things.


By Dean Foust and Geri Smith, with Elizabeth Woyke in New York

Posted by nscolombia at 8:55 PM EST

Updated: 14 January 2006 9:07 PM EST

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CHAVEZ: INSIDE THE COUP

CHAVEZ: INSIDE THE COUP

“One of the most shocking political exposes of the 21st century”

A Film by Kim Bartley & Donnacha O’Brian Independent Irish Filmmakers who were there!

Question and Answer period with Avi Chomsky professor of Latin American Studies

Jorge Martin, from the Venezuelan grassroots organization Circulo Bolivariano

7:30 PM Thursday, November 17

Unitarian-Universalist Church

28 Mugford St. Marblehead, Mass.

Voluntary Donation: $10

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Contact: Avi Chomsky

North Shore Colombia Solidarity Committee

MIGUEL FERNANDEZ FREED

Dear friends of Cauca, life and dignity,

Miguel was freed last night.

For Spanish speakers, a message telling a bit of the story of the night is below. I'll paraphrase....

The various social organizations of Cauca went to the DAS (Administrative Security Department) headquarters in Popayán in the evening and waited there a long time. There were confrontations taking place elsewhere in the area between police and indigenous 'squatters' (an oxymoron, but you get what I mean) reclaiming land. They weren't sure what to expect. The district attorney handling his case showed up, then the mayor. Then Miguel left the building.

Here's a translation of the description of that moment in the message below, from one of Miguel's best friends, a leader of a sister campesino organization in Cauca: "The joy was tremendous. Some started to applaud, others shouted chants, the embraces began immediat ely. Tears of elation ran, confusing themselves together with the rain that fell. The embraces continued as journalists asked their questions, and Miguel responded: 'Thank you to everyone, especially the organizations.' The night was a jubilee for everyone. We felt good about all the efforts made. We felt that we won a battle -- and that the struggle continues. Miguel smiled, but looked a bit emaciated. He said that for him too it had been a dday full of anguish."

Thank you all for the actions you have taken demanding Miguel's release -- especially to all those who participated in the Consulate action in Boston.

I have asked the Cauca social organizations to send a new 'communicado'/statement as soon as possible announcing this news, sharing what they've done over recent days, and asking for renewed actions seeking Jose Vicente's release and protection against future attacks for all those who st ruggle for life and dignity. As soon as this arrives, I'll translate it for circulation among all the organizations and unions that have taken action on these cases over the last week.

Again: thank you.

Peace, Phillip Cryan

Ames, Iowa
C 515-708-2364

Hola Hermanos

Todos estabamos pendientes y sabiamos que algo a favor podia acontecer, pero teniamos nuestras dudas pues si esto ha sido un montage polìtico, cualquier cosa sucederìa. Todos llamavamos a la CUT, unos nos llamavamos a otros, el dìa no fua tranquilo. Llegaron las 7 p.m. y decidimos irnos hacia las instalaciones del DAS, alli serca nos fuimos agrupando, llegaron de todas las organizaciones, fueron ratos largos alli parados esperando, nos dieron tiempo para ponernos al dìa de los ultimos acontecimientos, esa misma noche los indigenas estaban peliando con la pilicia , havian quince heridos pero decian que todo iba bien, otros comentaron sobre la confabulaciòn del gobernador para partir el proceso del CRIC y de la ACIN, todos presagiamos momentos duros para las organizaciones, en fin nunca han sidi faciles, lo que si estamos de acuerdo es que es un tiempo neuralgico. Cada momento miramos hacia la puerta del DAS y nada, en eso llega la fiscal encargada, luego llego el Alcalde, alguien dijo la cosa se puso buena , parece que si. Efectivamente empeso el proceso, inicialmente salieron algunas cosas que Miguel tenia para poder medio vivir en esa celda, luego aparecio E. Fue una alegria inmensa, algunos empesaron aplaudir, otros a gritar consignas, los abrasos no esperaron , las lagrimas de emociòn corrieron confundiendoce con la lluvia que caia, los abrasos se repetian mientras los periodistas preguntaban y

Ariana Flores
Jobs With Justice
3353 Washington St.
Boston, MA 02130
w: 617-524-8778
c: 857-928-2677

Posted by nscolombia at 9:44 PM EST

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CHAVEZ: INSIDE THE COUP

Linda Weltner weltner@verizon.net

Please forward to any interested friends

CHAVEZ: INSIDE THE COUP

"One of the most shocking political exposes of the 21st century"

A Film by Kim Bartley & Donnacha O¿Brian Independent Irish Filmmakers who were there!

Question and Answer period with Avi Chomsky professor of Latin American Studies Jorge Martin, from the Venezuelan grassroots organization Circulo Bolivariano

7:30 PM Thursday, November 17 Unitarian-Universalist Church 28 Mugford St. Marblehead, Mass.

Voluntary Donation: $10

Action Alert, Miguel Fernandez and Jose Vicente Otero Chate detained
Reply to:
Avi Chomsky

I am forwarding an Action Alert regarding the arrest of two Cauca activists. Some of you met Miguel when he was here last fall. I spoke to him most recently on the evening of Monday the 31st, when he called me from Popayán; I was shocked to hear of his arrest the following day. Please respond TODAY with messages to those listed below!!



Avi



Dear friends,

Two very important leaders of the vibrant social movement in the southwest Colombian province of Cauca have been jailed.

José Vicente Otero Chate, a Nasa indigenous leader and former mayor of the municipality of Caldono, was detained on October 6. And Miguel Alberto Fernández Orozco, President of the CUT (United Workers' Central)-Cauca and leader of the campesino (peasant farmer) organization CIMA, was detained on November 1. These are just the latest in a series of attempts by the government to suppress the dynamic, unified social movement in Cauca, which has repeatedly mobilized tens of thousands of people in defense of their communities, lands and human rights, and against so-called "free trade" deals and paramilitary persecution. Miguel and José Vicente are recognized, well-known leaders of these efforts, and so the indigenous, campesino and Afro-Colombian social movement in Cauca sees their detention as an attack on everyone involved.

A flood of messages sent quickly to Colombian and U.S. authorities could make the difference in securing the release of Miguel and José Vicente. In addition, it would let the people who seek to suppress Cauca's social movement know that any future attacks will be met with a strong international response, which would discourage them from making such attacks.

Miguel, who has been a leader of both the campesino organization CIMA and of the regional United Workers' Central office for many years, has received a series of death threats in recent years. In 2004, he spent several months in exile in Massachusetts, as part of the (now defunct) AFL-CIO Solidarity Center protection program for threatened Colombian unionists. Since returning to Cauca, he has received renewed death threats against himself and his family on at least two occasions. The charges brought against Miguel appear to be -- incredibly -- that he invented death threats against himself.

José Vicente, the former mayor of Caldono municipality, was instrumental in carrying out a popular consultation in Cauca this past March on the Andean Free Trade Agreement that is currently under negotiation between the U.S. and Andean governments. Two months later, his home was raided by members of the Colombian Army, who planted weapons in his home, then accused him of terrorism. He was arrested on October 6.

Please read CIMA's action alert below, and send messages demanding the release of José Vicente and Miguel, and supporting the other demands listed in the alert, to:

U.S. Ambassador William Wood

Human Rights Officer Laura Kirkpatrick

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Vélez
(also: dh@presidencia.gov.co) Fax (57) 1-566-2071

The Governor of Cauca, Juan José Chaux Mosquera:
Fax (57) 2-824-3597

Please copy ("Cc.") the following addresses on the e-mails you send, so that Cauca's social organizations will know what communications the government authorities are receiving: fundcima@yahoo.com; anucurcauca@hotmail.com; cric@emtel.net.co.

Your prompt response to this case is of great importance. Even a very short, simple message helps.

Thank you for taking this small but crucial action to support the life-defending work of Cauca's social movement!

URGENT ACTION

FOR LIFE AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN CAUCA

A total crisis in the defense of human rights in Cauca province:



· irregular detentions of José Vicente Otero Chate, of the Nasa indigenous people, and Miguel Alberto Fernández Orozco, President of the CUT (United Workers' Central)-Cauca

· threats against communities and social organization workers, especially in the Macizo region

· abuses committed by the Armed Forces in repressing the "Liberation of Mother Earth" initiative promoted by indigenous people and campesinos (peasant farmers) since October 12

· irresponsible declarations by the Vice President and other provincial and national government functionaries seeking to delegitimize the movement and create divisions between the indigenous, campesino, and Afro-Colombian sectors

· an increase in paramilitary presence and actions, including the murders of youth attributed to so-called "social cleansing"



Facts


On November 1, the Administrative Security Department (DAS) detained MIGUEL ALBERTO FERNANDEZ OROZCO, a well-known union, popular movement, and campesino leader, accusing him of false threats and fraud. They had no convincing evidence and the accusations were based on anonymous testimonies, violating the right of due process.

The use of anonymous witnesses, violations of due process, and declarations made by government functionaries to the media affect the good name of the persons detained and the organizations to which they belong.



Regional context



For many years, the social movement in Cauca has carried out coordinated actions in defense of fundamental rights. Especially important, among these many actions, have been mass Mobilizations and long-distance Protest Marches, including an October 12 Mobilization and "Liberation of Mother Earth" actions since. The "Liberation of Mother Earth" actions have sought to get the Colombian government to adhere to agreements previously reached with the social organizations, and have demanded a true land reform.



The national government's attention to these activities came through the Armed Forces. Their response was characterized by the use of force, gases, and explosive weapons, which left a large number of wounded and had serious effects on human health. In responses from the President and Vice President, the governor of Cauca, and the military high command, there has been a noticeable emphasis on the attitudes and language of warfare. Through this, they seek to delegitimize the social movement and its organizations, and to generate divisions between the indigenous, campesino and Afro-Colombian sectors.



Increase of paramilitarism and persecution of youth

The so-called "Justice and Peace Law" legitimizes paramilitarism, and expands and positions paramilitarism in a number of Cauca's muncipalities. This creates anxiety in those communities -- as can be seen in the case of Silvia, where graffiti has appeared on the walls stating "We will ensure that private property is respected," in an allusion to the "Liberation of Mother Earth" land occupations. Since late September 2005, AUC [United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, the main paramilitary federation] pamphlets have been circulating in Popayán, announcing the creation of the "Cleansing Bloc" and threatening all those it labels delinquents. Another example of the increasing violence is the multiple murders of youth -- more than 20 in the last few weeks -- in poor neighborhoods in the municipalities of Popayán, Puerto Tejada and Patía. One example was the murder of ARSENIO LOPEZ DELGADO, 26 years old, who belonged to a displaced family and was a construction assistant. He was disappeared October 21, and his body was discovered the following day, lifeless and showing signs of torture.



This same situation is found in the communities of southern Cauca, such as Balboa, Patía, Mercaderes, and Florencia, and those of northern Nariño province, such as San Pablo, La Unión, San Lorenzo, and Taminango. In these areas, the AUC's "Heroes of the South" Bloc operates -- a group that supposedly demobilized last August in El Tablón (Taminango). Groups using the AUC name have proliferated in this area since: Mano Negra (Black Hand), Camisas Negras (Black Shirts), Los Hombres del Negro (The Men of Black), ONG-Organización Nueva Generación (NGO-New Generation Organization), and Bloque Macizo (Macizo Bloc). Aided by the demobilization process and protected by the Armed Forces, these groups set up roadblocks, attack travelers, extort businesspeople, and carry out threats and murders.



Threats to communities and leaders



Beginning a number of months ago, leaders and organizations have been denouncing threats against their lives and their organizing work. Government and police agencies have not responded. On Monday October 17 the Agro-environmental Association of San Pablo, in Nariño province, received a pamphlet signed by the AUC. The pamphlet stated that the social organizations CIMA (Committee for the Macizo) and ASOPATIA (Association of Alto Patía Municipalities) -- the two organizations jointly executing the [European Union-supported] Peace Laboratory of the Macizo and Alto Patía -- "are led by terrorists and leftist thugs." It advises the organizations "to remain neutral in your thoughts, and not use your organizations to conduct intelligence work or destabilize the region. We are watching every step you take."



The Cauca and Southwest Colombia Network for Life and Human Rights formed last year to assume the responsibility of gathering and sharing information on cases of human rights violation in Cauca, and to monitor those cases. In our "2004 Human Rights Report" we alerted our communities, the government, and non-governmental human rights agencies to the chaotic situation and threats faced by our communities, social organizations and leaders. We also reported on the ineffectiveness of government agencies in guaranteeing citizens' security and lives.

Taking all these circumstances into account, we, the Cauca and Southwest Colombia Network for Life and Human Rights, demand:



1. That the national and provincial government provide full guarantees for the continuation of our legitimate social activity and work defending human rights.

2. That the Ministry of the Interior and Vice President guarantee protection for the lives and integrity of the communities, organizations and leaders involved in the "Liberation of Mother Earth" actions and mobilizations, and make the necessary adjustments of protective measures provided to leaders.

3. That the government assert effective Constitutional control over its judicial, police and intelligence agencies, ensuring compliance with due process and other fundamental rights, particularly in the cases of JOSE VICENTE OTERO CHATE and MIGUEL ALBERTO FERNANDEZ OROZCO.

4. That the Attorney General provide information on its response to the recent denunciations made by social organizations regarding violations and crimes committed by AUC members.

5. That the Ministry of the Interior ensure compliance with the agreements made with social organizations in the Committee for Risk Evaluation and in the Coordination and Negotiation Working Group.


We also demand:



... that the OAS (Organization of American States) Verification Commission become involved in monitoring the AUC ceasefire and demobilization, investigating the operation of groups using the name "AUC" in Cauca and Nariño.



... that the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights make a pronouncement concerning the violations of human rights and International Humanitarian Law committed by legal and legal armed groups in Cauca and Nariño.


… that national and international human rights organizations provide solidarity, accompaniment and monitoring for each of the cases and circumstances denounced.







Please express your solidarity by sending messages and letters concerning this situation and these demands to:


Dr. Alvaro Uribe Vélez, Presidencia de la República (President)
Cra. 8 No. 7-26, Palacio de Nariño, Bogotá D.C. Fax (57) 1 566 20 71
E-mail. auribe@presidencia.gov.co, dh@presidencia.gov.co

Dr. Sabas Pretil de La Vega, Ministerio del Interior y de Justicia (Minister of the Interior and of Justice)
Avenida Jiménez No. 8-89, Bogotá D.C. Fax (57) 1 560 33 86

Dr. Mario Hernan Iguarán Aran, Fiscalía General de la Nación (Attorney General)
Diagonal 22B No. 52-01 Bogotá D.C. Fax (57) 1 570 20 00
E-mail. denuncie@fiscalia.gov.co, contacto@fiscalia.gov.co

Dr. Edgardo José Maya Villazón, Procuraduría General de la Nación (Solicitor General)
Cra. 5 No. 15-80 Bogotá D.C. Fax (57) 1 342 97 23
E-mail.reygon@procuraduria.gov.co
, anticorrupción@presidencia.gov.co, cap@procuraduria.gov.co,

Dr. Volmar Antonio Pérez Ortiz, Defensoría Nacional del Pueblo (Human Rights Ombudsman)
Fax (57) 1 640 04 91 Bogotá D.C.
E-mail. defensoria@defensoria.org.co, asuntosdefensor@defensoria.org.co

Dr. Juan José Chaux Mosquera, Gobernación del Cauca (Governor of Cauca)
Calle 4 Cra. 7 Esq. Popayán Fax (57) 2 824 35 97


Please send a copy of your message to:


fundcima@yahoo.com
anucurcauca@hotmail.com
cric@emtel.net.co



Popayán, in times of dignity and resistance, November 2, 2005

DEFENDING TRADITIONAL CORN

WITNESS FOR PEACE NEW ENGLAND FALL SPEAKER TOUR

2006

Enjoy an evening of

food for body and mind

Save the Date: In-State Tuition

M

List members, I've already sent you the flyer, and hopefully you've seen them on campus too. I just wanted to reiterate how important this event is, and urge you to attend! I really think that immigrants' rights is THE civil rights issue of our time. The in-state tuition bill will come before the state legislature in the next few weeks... Many state and community colleges have come out strongly in support, including North Shore CC, Bunker Hill CC, and Mass. College of Art. Yet too many people in our society still accept unthinkingly discriminatory and exclusionary policies towards immigrants. The forum promises to be lively and controversial... Please come, and bring your friends and your students! Avi Monday, October 17 11 am-noon (Community Time) "The Metro" (downstairs in the Campus Center) SAME STATE, SAME RATE Many Massachusetts high school students are forced to pay out-of-state tuition rates at public colleges because of their immigration status. Come hear sponsors and supporters of the Massachusetts "In-State Tuition" bill explain why Massachusetts should join other states in providing equal access to higher education for all students in the state. Speakers include: Rep. John Keenan, Salem; Pat Markunas, President, MSCA; Dalie Jimenez, office of Senator Jarrett Barrios; Cynthia Tschampl, Centro Presente/MIRA; Marcos Ortiz, Salem Harbor CDC; Carlos Saavedra, MIRA Sponsored by the Program in Latin American, Latino and Caribbean Studies and the Peace Institute. For more information, contact Avi Chomsky at 542-6389 or achomsky@salemstate.edu. ---------------------------------------- North Shore Colombia Solidarity Committee: http://home.comcast.net/~nscolombia/

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