The North Shore Colombia Solidarity Committee Blog

OFFENSIVE UNLEASHED TO EXTERMINATE SINTRAMINERCOL

from: Avi Chomsky

I forward the latest "urgent action" from Sintraminercol.

Avi

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THE COLOMBIAN GOVERNMENT AND THE MANAGEMENT OF MINERCOL, LTDA, UNLEASH OFFENSIVE TO EXTERMINATE SINTRAMINERCOL, ILLEGALLY FIRING YESENIA ECHAVARRIA ZULETA, ATTEMPTING TO EVICT THE UNION FROM ITS HEADQUARTERS AND UNJUSTIFIABLY ACCELERATING THE LIQUIDATION OF THE COMPANY.

THE UNDERSIGNED UNIONS, SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS, AND HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS DENOUNCE THE ILLEGAL FIRING OF YESENIA ECHAVARRIA ZULETA, THE ATTEMPTS TO EVICT THE UNION FROM ITS HEADQUARTERS, AND THE ILLICIT MANEUVERS TO ACCELERATE THE LIQUIDATION OF THE STATE MINING COMPANY. THE MANAGEMENT OF MINERCOL, LTDA IS CARRYING OUT THESE ACTS TO PROMOTE THE GOVERNMENTAL AND MULTINATIONAL POLICY OF EXTERMINATING THE COUNTRY’S UNIONS. WE CALL URGENTLY UPON THE SOLIDARITY OF INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL, DEMOCRATIC, AND HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS TO PREVENT THE LEGAL AND PHYSICAL DISAPPEARANCE OF UNION LEADERS IN COLOMBIA.

FACTS:

1.-The International Development Bank, working with the Canadian agencies CIDA-CERI, lawyers for various multinationals, and the government of president Alvaro Uribe Vélez, began the process of liquidation of the state mining company MINERCOL LTDA through Decree 254 of January 28, 2004, which implemented the Mining Code’s Article 317. This article was elaborated by lawyers working for the HOLCIM, CEMEX, and Ladrillera Santafé companies (the latter belonging to the family of ex-president Pastrana).

2.- This Code has caused enormous harm to Colombia’s mining sector and its national sovereignty. In addition, it called for the liquidation of the state mining company Minercol Ltda, as a legal mechanism to eliminate the union SINTRAMINERCOL. These legal steps were accompanied by a campaign of attacks, threats, violations of the collective bargaining agreement, attempts on the life of the President of the union, illegal firings, bombings of the union headquarters, suspension of security measures for members of the organization, and removal of the fuero sindical (legal protections granted to union members) from workers who have then been illegitimately fired.

3.- YESENIA ECHAVARRIA ZULETA is active in SINTRAMINERCOL, a member of the National Claims Commission of SINTRACARBON and FUNTRAENERGETICA, Coordinator of the International Network of Women and Mining, as well as belonging to the subdirectors’ board of FENASINTRAP (central zone). She was recently a witness at the PERMANENT PEOPLE’S TRIBUNAL which found several mining multinationals guilty of serious and repeated human rights violations in our territory. In spite of the legal protection she enjoyed she was illegally fired by Eduardo Arce Caicedo, representing the Minercol management which is loyal only to the Uribe government and the multinationals.

4.- This arbitrary and illegal decision by the Minercol management was carried out in the context of a continuing repression against its unionized workers and the suspension of fundamental rights and guarantees. These policies are aimed at the illegal and accelerated liquidation of the company, the forced eviction from the union headquarters, and the disappearance of our union organization. We are being targeted because of the role we have played in the defense of our national sovereignty over our country’s mineral resources, our charges against the national government, the governments of the developed countries, and the multinationals for their crimes against humanity and war crimes, and our defense of the lives of our members. Our actions contributed the re recent sovereign decisions by Danish and Dutch governments and companies to suspend the importation of Drummond coal until the case of the murders of three members of SINTRAMIENERGETICA, the union at the Drummond mine, is resolved.

All of these actions have been ordered by EDUARDO ARCE CAICEDO, Minercol’s Liquidation Manager, and MONICA P. ILLIDGE, the company’s Adminstrative Coordinator. These individuals have devoted themselves to violating the Colombian Constitution and the country’s Collective Bargaining Law. They have threatened the leaders of SINTRAMINERCOL, refused to acknowledge their own ties with the multinationals, and carried out illegal proceedings to accelerate the closing of MINERCOL Ltda.

REQUESTS

To the Colombian government: That it monitor and respect the fundamental rights of the workers affiliated with SINTRAMINERCOL. That it immediately cease the criminal persecution of our affiliates by Minercol, Ltda.’s administration, and that it immediately reinstate YESENIA ECHAVARRIA ZULETA.

To the Colombian government and the representatives of the multinationals that are exploiting Colombia’s mineral resources: That they assume responsibility for the repression and cease their policy of dismantling our union organization, which operates under the protection of the law of our so-called Social State of Law.

To the Canadian and Swiss governments, and to civil society in these countries: That they initiate a process of Truth, Justice, and Reparation that uncovers the role of these governments and their multinationals in the destruction of the social fabric of the unions, Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities, etc., who have been the victims of the acts carried out by these governments and companies, as declared by the decision of the PERMANENT PEOPLE’S TRIBUNAL recently held in Medellín.

To the Colombian Attorney General: That he investigate the “disappearance” of the files concerning the attacks on the members of the union and the union headquarters, in order to initiate an investigation into the irregularities involved in the liquidation of MINERCOL LTDA., and about the crimes committed by MONICA P. ILLIDGE and EDUARDO ARCE CAICEDO in the persecution of union members.

In spite of the numerous charges we have raised the Attorney General’s office has never carried out an investigation of these cases. The Supreme Court of Bogotá must not allow the disappearance of SINTRAMINERCOL to be carried out with impunity, when we have denounced it as a War Crime and a Crime Against Humanity.

We call upon the social organizations of the world to:

1.- Begin peaceful protests at Colombian consular and diplomatic offices demanding an end to the repression against SINTRAMINERCOL and the immediate reinstatement of YESENIA ECHAVARRIA ZULETA.

2.- Call for the suspension of importations and new contracts for importations from Multinationals and National monopolies that are implicated in the repression of social organizations in our country.

3.- We call upon the workers in these companies to carry out protest actions like strikes and demonstrations, demanding an end to the repression against SINTRAMINERCOL and the immediate reinstatement of the workers illegally fired.

4.- We call upon the governments of the United States, England, and Israel to immediately halt military aid to Colombia, whose government has been implicated in serious violations of Human Rights. This aid is used to protect the economic interests of the donors’ multinationals.

ORGANIZATIONS SUPPORTING THIS PETITION:

SINTRAMINERCOL, SINTRAMIN, FENALTRASE, FENASINTRAP, FUNTRAENERGÉTICA, CUT DIRECTIVA BOGOTA Y CUNDINAMARCA, CUT DEPARTAMENTO DE DERECHOS HUMANOS, SINTRAELECOL COSTA ATLÁNTICA, SINTRADEPARTAMENTO ANTIOQUIA, UNEB, USO, ASOCIACIÓN ECATE, NOMADESC, ACACEVA, SINTRAENTEMDICCOL, CAMPAÑA PROHIBIDO OLVIDAR, SINTRAMIENERGETICA SUBDIRECTIVA EL PASO, ORGANIZACIÓN WAYUU MUNSURAT.

Bogotá, November 22, 2006.

Please send letters to the Colombian authorities, to the multinationals, and to the embassies of Switzerland, Canada and the United States, with copies to Sintraminercol

Embajador de Canadá en Colombia.

Carrera 7 #115-33 piso 14

Telf: 57-1-6759800 Fax: 57-1- 6579912. E-mail: bgota@international.gc.ca

Embajador de Suiza en Colombia SR. Thomas Kupfer.

Carrera 9a No. 74-08 piso 11. Bogotá Colombia. Teléfono 57-1-3497230. Fax 57-1-2359803.

HOLCIM (Colombia S.A.) Calle 114 No. 9-45 Torre B piso 12 Bogotá Colombia. Teléfono (57-1) 6295558 o al Fax (57-1) 6294629.

The Chief Executive, HOLCIM, Hagenholzstrasse 85, CH-8050 Zurich, Switzerland.

CEMEX
Calle 99 No. 9 A-54 Piso 7
Teléfono: 57-1-603 9000
Fax: 57-1-646 9000

Ladrillera Santafé
Cra. 9 No. 74-08 Of 602
Teléfono: 57-1-319 0330
Fax: 57-1-2118766
E-mail: santafe@santafe.com.co

Presidencia de la República

Dr. Álvaro Uribe Vélez, Cra. 8 No..7-26, Palacio de Nariño, Santa fe de Bogotá.

Fax: (+57 1) 566.20.71 E-mail:

Vicepresidencia de la República

Dr Francisco Santos E-mail:fsantos@presidencia.gov.co

Ministro de Minas y Energía

Dr. Hernán Martínez Torres, Transversal 45 No. 26-86 Bogotá. Teléfono (57-1) 324 5262 email: minas.energia@minminas.gov.co

Presidente de Minercol Ltda. y Coordinadora Administrativa

Dr. Eduardo Arce Caicedo y Mónica P. Illidge

Cra 7 #31-10 piso 10, teléfono 57-1-3503781 e- mail: sugerencias@minercol.gov.co, webmaster@minercol.gov.co

Ministro de Protección Social.

Dr. Diego Palacio Betancourt

Carrera 13 No. 32-76 Piso 22 Bogotá D.C. Teléfono 57-1-3365066 Fax 57-1-3360182. Email: Dpalacio@minproteccionsocial.gov.co

Procuraduría General de la Nación

Dr. Edgardo José Maya Villazón. Carrera 5 No. 15-80 Bogotá. Fax: (+57 1)342.97.23. E-mail: reygon@procuraduria.gov.co anticorrupcion@presidencia.gov.co

Defensoría del Pueblo

Dr. Volmar Antonio Pérez Ortiz. Calle 55 No. 10-32 Bogotá. Fax: (+571) 640 04 91 .

E-mail:secretaria_privada@hotmail.com

Misión Permanente de Colombia ante las Naciones Unidas en Ginebra.

Chemin du Champ d'Anier 17-19, 1209 Ginebra. FAX: (+4122)791.07.87; (+4122)798.45.55. E-mail mission.colombia@ties.itu.int

Tribunal del Distrito Judicial de Bogotá, Sala Laboral

Diagonal 22B #53-02 teléfonos 57-1-4055200

SINTRAMINERCOL: Calle 32 No. 13-07, 3er piso Bogotá. Teléfono (57-1) 2456581, Fax (57-1) 5612829 e-mail: sintrami@telecom.com.co

North Shore Colombia Solidarity Committee