The North Shore Colombia Solidarity Committee Blog

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Tuesday, May 29, 2007

 

Jose Julio Perez

from: Avi Chomsky

Many people on this list met Jose Julio Perez when he was on tour in the US and Canada in March 2006, and in Switzerland and Britain a few months ago.
We received news a couple of days ago that Jose Julio suffered a stroke on the evening of Friday May 25. He had just returned to Albania from Riohacha, where he was attending an event in support of Sintracarbon and its campaign for better health services from government agencies.
His family has been struggling immensely to deal with the lack of health services in the region, and their own lack of health insurance. Jose Julio is currently in a private clinic in Valledupar (about two hours away from where he lives in Albania). He initially suffered paralysis in half of his body, but he has been slowly recovering mobility and they are hopeful for a full recovery.
We are taking up a collection to try to help Jose Julio and his family through this difficult time. I can take checks or cash; or you can use a credit card to wire money directly to Jose Julio and Maria Isabel in Valledupar. Please contact me directly if you have any questions. I will await responses and wire the money that we receive to them probably next weekend.
Thank you for your support!!
Avi
achomsky@salemstate.edu

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


 
Colombian oil workers ask for support

from: Avi Chomsky
-------------------------

THE MULTINATIONAL OCCIDENTAL PETROLEUM COMPANY IGNORES THE LABOR RIGHTS OF ITS WORKERS IN COLOMBIA

THE UNDERSIGNED UNIONS, AND SOCIAL AND HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS, PROTEST THE ACTIONS OF OCCIDENTAL PETROLEUM IN THE CONTEXT OF THE CURRENT COLLECTIVE BARGAINING NEGOTIATIONS. OCCIDENTAL PETROLEUM IS THE GREATEST BENEFICIARY OF PLAN COLOMBIA, WHICH HAS ALLOWED IT TO ACCUMULATE HUGE PROFITS THROUGH REPRESSION CARRIED OUT BY THE MILITARY BATTALLION THAT SERVES IT.

FACTS:

1.- The Arauca section of the USO, to which the Occidental Petroleum workers in Colombia belong, presented a collective bargaining proposal on February 26. The modest proposal asked for the recognition of the rights of contract and temporary workers, who have been denied stable employment, just salaries, health and education benefits, etc. It addition it asked for improvements in health coverage for workers and their families, increased education benefits, union leaves, legal clarification of disciplinary procedures, etc.


2.- The atmosphere of war in Arauca has increased ever since Occidental arrived in the Department. It arrived with Battalions that “protect” its installations and have violated the human rights of the inhabitants. The war against the insurgents has intensified and civilians have become the victims of this war, as happened in the case of the bombing of Santo Domingo, where 18 people, including 8 who were children under the age of 12, were killed on December 13, 1998. On August 5, 2005, the military brigade that operates under Occidental’s auspices in Arauca assassinated union leaders Jorge Eduardo Prieto Capucero, Leonel Goneyeche and Héctor Alirio Martínez in Saravena (Arauca). Since that time the war and the repression against Occidental’s workers have worsened.


3.- In 2005 Occidental received 5,218 million dollars in profits from its petroleum operations. Its sales that year reached 15,208 million dollars. Its production costs in 2005 were 195 billion dollars, with 734 billion net profits. From 2000 to 2005 its profits reached 1,290 million dollars. Despite these colossal profits it only has 60 works on its payroll covered by the Collective Bargaining Agreement and who have the right to belong to the union. Another 300 union members risk their jobs with contractors who work for Occidental because their union rights are not legally protected.


REQUESTS


We request that the Colombian State guarantee the right to association, negotiation, and mobilization for USO members in Arauca, and the rights guaranteed by our Constitution, and the ILO agreements ratified by Colombia.


We request that Occidental Petroleum respect its workers’ rights, negotiate in good faith with the union, and guarantee human and decent conditions on the job. We request that the Department of Arauca be able to benefit from the colossal profits that the company makes from Arauca’s oil.


We request that the U.S. government suspend its Plan Colombia and withdraw the Battalion that serves only the interests of Occidental Petroleum, continually and seriously violating the human rights of the workers and the inhabitants of the region. We ask that mercenaries and paramilitaries that have worked with the “legal” and illegal forces to violate International Human Rights Law withdraw from the region.


We request that Al Gore, a major shareholder in Occidental Petroleum, insist that the company negotiate in good faith with its workers, extend the Collective Bargaining Agreement to temporary and subcontracted workers, respect the lives and personal integrity of Arauca’s inhabitants, and end Plan Colombia’s military aid that kills innocent people as a way of guaranteeing Occidental Petroleum’s profits.


To all of the workers of the world, and social and human rights organizations, we request that they initiate peaceful protests at Occidental Petroleum’s headquarters, and at U.S. consulates and embassies, demanding an end to military aid to Colombia, respect for the basic rights of the USO workers in Arauca, and that they send letters of protest to the US Congress, demanding that the Free Trade Agreement with Colombia be put on hold because of Colombia’s continuing violation of the right of association, negotiation, and the rights of unions in the country.


SIGNED BY THE FOLLOWING ORGANIZATIONS:


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


Bogotá, D.C. Mayo 20 de 2007


Please send letters to the Colombian authorities, to Occidental Petroleum, to U.S. Embassies, and to Al Gore, with copies to the USO in Arauca:



Presidencia de la República

Dr. Álvaro Uribe Vélez, Cra. 8 No..7-26, Palacio de Nariño, 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. Dr. Hernán Martínez Torres. Transversal 45 No. 26-86 Bogotá. Teléfono (57-1) 324 5262. e-mail: minas.energia@minminas.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. E- mail: Dpalacio@minproteccionsocial.gov.co


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


Embajada de E.U. en Colombia

Calle 22D-Bis #47-51 Tel. 57-1-1 3150811 e-mail AmbassadorB@state.gov


Occidental Petroleum Company, OXY

10889 Wilshire Boulevard Los Ángeles, California 90024-4201

Tel: + 1 310 2088800 Fax: + 1 310 4436977

Estados Unidos


Al Gore

2100 West End Avenue Suite # 620 Nashville, TN  37203 USA
Tel (615) 327 2227. Fax (615) 327 1323


USO Arauca

oscargar3000@yahoo.es

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



Friday, May 18, 2007

 
Amazing article on Cerrejon
sent by: Avi Chomsky
----------------------------------

Thu 19 Apr 2007

[image]
Three-story-high dumptrucks carry coal out of Cerrejón for export to Canada and other countries.

Words and photographs by Chris Arsenault
Briarpatch Magazine
May 2007

Thirteen years ago, the world turned upside-down for Miluolis Arregoces and his five children.

The family lived in Caracolí, a small farming community in Colombia’s parched La Guajira province, until bulldozers contracted by El Cerrejón, the world’s largest open-pit coal mine, demolished their home. Buttressed by a heavy police presence, mine officials confiscated land from around 30 families in Caracolí. The mine says some residents were compensated. Mr. Arregoces says he received nothing.

The mine officials “just came with trucks and said we had to leave and put our possessions in the trucks,” said Mr. Arregoces.

The family now lives in a two-room shack outside Hatonuevo, a town close to the mine. Their story isn’t unique in this neighbourhood. Hundreds of families displaced by the mine eke out a living in barrios like this. Some sell cell phone minutes on street corners, others cook massamora (a sweet thick corn beverage) and sell it for pocket change to passers-by. Without fertile land to sustain themselves, these former farmers must scrape together the cash needed to sustain their families however they can.

“Everyone is unemployed after losing their land,” Mr. Arregoces told me as we sat in front of the dilapidated shack he rents. “Life in Caracolí was very good. We had our animals, corn, yucca [a root vegetable], and nobody bothered us. This neighbourhood has lots of problems. There is no work. We are farmers—that’s what we know how to do, but we can’t do that now.”

Arregoces and his family are very far from the day-to-day lives of Canadians, but their suffering has more to do with us than we might think. Roughly 17 percent of the coal burned in Nova Scotia and 16 percent in New Brunswick comes from Colombia’s Cerrejón coal mine. New Brunswick Power imports one million tons of coal from Cerrejón each year, according to David D. Hay, CEO of NB Power Holding Corporation. Nova Scotia Power is also a major importer.

In March 2005, Nova Scotia Power spokesperson Merle MacIsaac told media outlets in Atlantic Canada that Cerrejón is, “run by large companies. They appear to run a good operation.”

“We care about the Colombians who are mining the coal we buy,” said MacIsaac.

In the last 20 years, Cerrejón has violently displaced several primarily indigenous and afro-Colombian farming communities, including Manantial, Caracolí and Tabaco.

Alexa McDonough, the NDP’s foreign affairs critic and MP for Halifax, says Nova Scotia Power has “done nothing” to investigate complaints that it is fostering human rights abuses. “We’re talking about criminally responsible conduct that has resulted in people dying,” said McDonough in March 2006. “That’s why it’s called blood coal.”

José Julio Perez is one of 700 farmers to have been displaced from the village of Tabaco. He has since emerged as a community leader in the struggle for compensation from the mining company.

“It has been five years since we were ripped away from our friends, our community,” Perez told a 2006 conference in La Guajira. “We feel international pressure will help us receive justice.”

[image]
José Julio Perez and his family at their rented tenement near the mine.

Such international pressure has, indeed, begun to emerge against Cerrejón. In November 2006, Aviva Chomsky, professor of History and Latin American Studies at Salem State College in Massachusetts, led a fact-finding mission to northern Colombia that interviewed 61 heads of households from families displaced from Tabaco. “We heard the same story again and again,” Dr. Chomsky told Z Magazine after completing the most comprehensive research available on the Tabaco displacement.

“‘We are peasants, we are farmers,’ people told us,” said Chomsky. “‘We used to be productive people, we used to support ourselves and our families. We were not rich, but we worked our land and we provided our children with what they needed. Since the company took our town and our land, there is nothing for us to do. There is no work.’”

Canadian companies like Nova Scotia Power that purchase coal from Cerrejón deny culpability for the marginalization and displacement of villagers living on the mine’s periphery. But according to Edgar Sarmineto, Cerrejón’s Director of Land Acquisition and Community Affairs, “one hundred percent of Cerrejón’s coal is exported to Canada, the US and Europe.” Thus, growing demand from developed countries is the only factor pushing Cerrejón to expand its operations.

In 2004, to meet this growing demand, Cerrejón committed to boost its annual production capacity from 26 million to 33 million tons. This increased production will require further displacements; the mine admits that three more villages—Pantilla, Chancleta and Roche—will soon be destroyed.

Displaced Colombian farmers and their supporters argue that Canadian power companies that purchase coal from Cerrejón and refuse to speak out against human rights abuses are fueling a climate of impunity in a land already burning with it. “These stories [of displacement] raised the level of violence in a country that is demanding peace and justice,” said Rem Medios, director of Yamata Indigenous Organization, a Colombian group working in solidarity with farmers displaced by the mine.

Decades of civil war between various interests in Colombia, including international drug cartels, the American government, Marxist rebels, and reactionary land-owner-backed paramilitaries, have internally displaced three million people, according to United Nations figures.

While there is no evidence to link Cerrejón with the most notorious and violent paramilitary groups, including the United Self-Defense Forces (AUC), mine officials admit to hiring hundreds of “private vigilantes.”

“The majority of security don’t have any guns. They are just eyes in the area,” says Cerrejón’s spokesperson Edgar Sarimento, who maintains that the forces are necessary to protect the mine from leftist guerrillas and other groups.

Those “eyes” have been doing more than watching, according to Tomas Ustatie, a farmer in Roche, a village on the mine’s periphery awaiting eventual displacement.

“People from the mine come and block the rivers so we can’t get water and block the roads so we can’t get our products to market,” says 48-year-old Ustatie as he milks his cows in Roche. Two men on horseback, who don’t live in the village, watch Ustatie closely as we speak. Ustatie identifies them as vigilantes paid by the mine.

Two men on horseback, who don’t live in the village, watch Ustatie closely as we speak. Ustatie identifies them as vigilantes paid by the mine.

[image]
Tomas Ustatie poses with his cows in Roche, a village awaiting displacement. “The mine has promised to relocate us to a better village, but they haven’t done anything but bother us,” said Ustatie, as two of the mine’s ‘private vigilantes’ watch us closely.

Large-scale coal mining at Cerrejón started in 1985 as a joint venture between Exxon and Carbacoal, a corporation run by the Colombian government. A variety of factors, including privatization schemes, led the Colombian government to sell its share in November 2000. Cerrejón is now controlled by a consortium of three multi-national mining companies: BHP Billiton, AngloAmerican and Xstrata.

After leading me on an extensive two-hour tour of Cerrejón, Edgar Sarimento, a gentle La Guajira local with a shiny bald head, admits that Cerrejón has made mistakes when expropriating land from residents in Tabaco, Caracolí, and other communities. “We cannot qualify ourselves as the number one company in the world. We are improving our ways of doing things.”

Sarimento was educated in Bogotá, but unlike many from the economically depressed La Guajira, he was able to find stable employment close to home because of the mine. He now works as director of land acquisition for Cerrejón.

“We may not reconstruct things [in Tabaco] the way they were in the past,” he says. “But there are things that need to be done. It’s the direct responsibility of the mine to take action on this.”

[image]
Caption: Edgar Sarimento, director of land acquisition for Cerrejón.

In May 2002, Colombia’s Supreme Court ruled that the people displaced from Tabaco must be relocated in such a way as to be able to reconstruct their community—meaning that they needed land to farm as well as new public infrastructure to replace what had been destroyed. The edict from Colombia’s top court hasn’t been enforced, however, because the responsibility for reconstruction was placed on the municipality of Hatonuevo rather than on the mine itself.

Officials from Cerrejón claim the mine donated 57 hectares of land on which to re-build Tabaco. The mayor of Hatonuevo, however, says the municipality doesn’t have the money to reconstruct the village.

“It has been so hard for us to keep this a peaceful struggle,” said displaced farmer José Julio Perez. “But we know that the only way we will reclaim our cultural rights and our way of life is through peace. We know a lot of people are supporting us.”

In November 2006, a delegation from Sintracarbón, Colombia’s National Coal Miners’ Union that represents 4700 Cerrejón employees, met with farmers displaced by the mine and toured their current living spaces. “These communities have been reduced to the conditions that we could call the ‘living dead,’” wrote Sintracarbón’s Jairo Quiroz. “The multinational companies that exploit and loot our natural resources in the Cerrejón mine are violating the human rights of these communities.”

In a powerful example of social unionism, Sintracarbón demanded a better relocation package for former Tabaco residents and other displaced people during contract negotiations with Cerrejón. The union signed a new collective agreement with management on January 31, 2007, but concrete action for the displaced has yet to follow.

On November 14, 2006, after much pressure from activists in Atlantic Canada, New Brunswick Power CEO David D. Hay wrote a letter to Cerrejón CEO Leon Teicher, encourging the mine to “negotiate in good faith with the Union and the affected communities and conduct these negotiations openly and fairly.”

Even the editorial board of The Halifax Daily News, a generally conservative paper owned by Transcontinental Media, has jumped on the solidarity bandwagon, writing in its editorial of March 27, 2006, “There was a time when the ‘blood coal’ tag could have applied to mines in Cape Breton. If we can help to improve the conditions of mines and communities in Colombia — let’s do it.”

Chris Arsenault is a Halifax-based activist, journalist and columnist with [HERE] Magazine. Funding for this article was made possible in part by the Nova Scotia Public Interest Research Group.

To start your subscription or order this issue immediately, call (306) 525-2949 or, toll-free, 1-866-431-5777, email us, or subscribe online.
Your support keeps us publishing!

http://briarpatchmagazine.com/news/?p=422

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North Shore Colombia Solidarity Committee



Thursday, May 10, 2007

 
urgent action Colombia: to destroy union, gov of Uribe illegally fires all MINERCOL workers on May 1st

from: Sandra Vagabunda

hi everyone,
below - first in English, then in Spanish - you will find a recent urgent action by State Mining Company Union SINTRAMINERCOL. the government of Uribe has been trying for years to wipe out the union that has consistently raised the voices of Colombian communities and workers against the grave & ongoing human rights violations by foreign mining corporations in Colombia. SINTRAMINERCOL president Francisco Ramirez, who has researched & denounced the connections between oil & mining companies, paramilitary operations, Canadian public funding & human rights violations, has survived 7 assassination attempts...
please take action & pass on.
saludos solidarios!
Sandra Cuffe
Rights Action
***********************************
URGENT !!!
ILLEGAL FIRINGS OF ALL WORKERS AT THE STATE MINING COMPANY “MINERCOL LTDA.”
ON MAY 1, THE URIBE GOVERNMENT LAID OFF ALL REMAINING WORKERS AT MINERCOL.
IN HIS INTERNATIONAL TRAVELS, URIBE SAYS THAT HE PROHIBITS CRIMES AGAINST UNIONISTS, THAT HE DOES NOT PERSECUTE UNIONISTS OR DESTROY UNIONS. MEANWHILE, HE FIRES ALL OF THE REMAINING WORKERS AT THE STATE MINING COMPANY, TRYING TO SILENCE THE VOICE OF OUR UNION. WE HAVE BEEN LEADING THE CAMPAIGN TO DENOUNCE THE FOREIGN MINING COMPANIES IN COLOMBIA AS THE PERPETRATORS OF A SIGNIFICANT PART OF THE MILITARY AND PARAMILITARY VIOLENCE AGAINST THE COLOMBIAN PEOPLE. WE CALL URGENTLY FOR SOLIDARITY FROM DEMOCRATIC, HUMAN RIGHTS, AND SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS AROUND THE WORLD. DO NOT ALLOW THIS NEW CRIME BY URIBE AND HIS MULTINATIONALS TO GO UNPUNISHED.
FACTS:
1.- Today is the 11th anniversary of our struggle for national sovereignty over our mining and energy resources, against the privatization of public enterprises, for the defense of Human Rights in Colombia. The cabal made up of Colombian President Uribe and the governments and multinationals of the developed countries decided to destroy our union, in an act typical of a totalitarian government.
2.- The campaign to eliminate us began in 1996 when the Mining Code proposal stated openly that the World Bank had ordered the closure of the state mining company. Thus began a period of intense struggle on our part to avoid this development. Our goal is to preserve our natural resources for the next generations, and to defend humankind from the depredations of the criminal model of capitalism, that has used corruption and violence to loot the resources, the lives, and the future of the inhabitants of the so-called Third World. Then the Canadian governmental agency CIDA, along with the NGO CERI, the Colombian government, and the CEMEX, HOLCIM, ARGOS, and Ladrillera Santafé cement companies, developed a new Mining Code proposal, and propelled its approval. The new Mining Code forced the closure of MINERCOL Ltda., and it has created major conflicts with peasant, Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities as it has tried to bury our country’s dream of establsihing political sovereignty over its mining and energy resources.
3.- As it has carried out its campaign for national sovereignty over our mining and energy resources, SINTRAMINERCOL has been the victim of the kidnapping of two of its officials, of 7 assassination attempts against its president, of death threats and continuing harassment against the members of its executive board, of searches and a bombing of its headquarters, of all types of violations of the fundamental and labor rights of its members, and of massive and illegal layoffs.
In addition to President Uribe and the former and current Mining Ministers, two Minercol officials have been behind many of these acts: Eduardo Arce Caycedo, the official in charge of the liquidation process, and Mónica P. Illidge, the Administrative Coordinator. These two individuals have violated the Constitution and the Collective Bargaining Law. They have threatened Sintraminercol’s leaders and begun illegal proceedings to speed up the closing of Minercol Ltda.
4.- The decision to fire all of Minercol’s remaining workers, ignoring their union rights, and without permission of a labor court, violates the express prohibition laid out by the Constitutional Court, which prohibits union leaders and workers protected by union guarantees unless ILO requirements are met. It shows total disrespect for the Constitution, the law, and ILO agreements. It shows the fascist direction in which the Colombian state is moving.

REQUESTS

We request that the Colombian state guarantee the respect for the Constitutional rights of all of Sintraminercol’s members, and the immediate reinstatement of all of Minercol’s workers. We request an immediate end to the criminal persecution being carried out by state security officials and agencies.

We request that the Colombian government and the representatives of the multinationals that exploit Colombia’s mineral resources halt their policy of extermination and dismantling of union organizations, that they respect the law and our country’s Social State of Law.

We request that the governments of Canada, Mexico, the U.S., and Switzerland, as well as civil society, the Congress and Parliaments of these countries, begin a Truth, Justice, and Reparations process to uncover the roles that these governments and their multinationals have played in the destruction of the social fabric of our union, Afro-Colombian, indigenous, and other organizations that have been the victims of these governments and multinationals.
A la Fiscalía General de la Nación para que investigue la todas las violaciones a la ley penal por parte de funcionarios estatales, de multinacionales y de los grupos militares-paramilitares, que han atentado contra los afiliados y la infraestructura de SINTRAMINERCOl; para que inicie investigación sobre las irregularidades que se presentan en la liquidación de MINERCOL LTDA., sobre las conductas punibles cometidas por MONICA P. ILLIDGE Y EDUARDO ARCE CAICEDO.
We call upon Colombia’s Attorney General to investigate all violations of the law by state officials, multinationals, and the military-paramilitary groups that have attacked Sintraminercol’s infrastructure and members. We further call upon the Attorney General’s office to investigate the irregularities committed in the process of Minercol’s liquidation, and the crimes committed by Mónica P. Illidge and Eduardo Arce Caicedo.
We call upon Colombia’s Public Prosecutor to guarantee respect for the Constitution and for Sintraminercol’s members.

That social organizations all over the world:

1.- Carry out peaceful protest actions against Colombian consular and diplomatic offices demanding an end to the repression against Sintraminercol, and the immediate reinstatement of the workers who were fired.
2.- Call for the suspension of imports and new contracts with the multinationals and the Colombian monopolies that are implicated in the repression against Colombian social organizations.
3.- We call upon the workers at these companies to carry out protest actions calling for an end to the repression against Sintraminercol and the immediate reinstatement of the workers who were fired.
4.- Demand that the U.S., British and Israeli governments halt all military aid to Colombia. The Colombian government is implicated in serious human rights violations, and the aid is aimed at protecting the economic interests of the donor countries’ multinationals.
ENDORSING ORGANIZATIONS:
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, Colombia. May 2, 2007.
Please send messages to the Colombian authorities, the multinationalis, and the Embassies of Colombia, Switzerland, Mexico, Canada, and the United States, with a copy to Sintraminercol.
Ambassador of Canada en Colombia.
Carrera 7 #115-33 piso 14
Telf: 57-1-6759800 Fax: 57-1- 6579912. E-mail: bgota@international.gc.ca
Ambassador of Switzerland in 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

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. E-mail: 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

Fiscal General de la Nación.

Dr. Mario Iguaran. Diagonal 22B #52-01 Bogotá, Fax: 57-1-5702000 ext. 2017 o 2019. e-mail:

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

Permanent Mission of Colombia at the United Nations in Geneva

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

SINTRAMINERCOL: (New address) Diagonal 33 No. 13A-26, Bogotá. Phone and Fax (57-1) 5612829 e-mail: sintrami@telecom.com.co
*************************************************
URGENTE !!!
DESPEDIDOS ILEGALMENTE TODAS Y TODOS LOS TRABAJADORES DE LA ESTATAL MINERA MINERCOL LTDA.
GOBIERNO FASCISTA DE URIBE VELEZ DESPIDIO EL 1 DE MAYO AL RESTO DE LOS TRABAJADORES QUE AUN LABORABAN EN LA ENTIDAD.
MIENTRAS EN SUS VISITAS INTERNACIONALES DICE NO PERMITIR CRIMENES CONTRA SINDICALISTAS, NO PERSEGUIR A SINDICALIZADOS Y NO ACABAR SINDICATOS, DESPIDE A TODAS Y TODOS LOS TRABAJADORES QUE AUN LABORABAN EN LA ESTATAL MINERA, INTENTANDO ACALLAR LA DENUNCIA DE NUESTRA ORGANIZACIÓN SINDICAL, QUE HA SEÑALADO A LAS COMPAÑIAS MINERAS EN COLOMBIA, COMO LAS RESPONSABLES EN GRAN PARTE DE LA VIOLENCIA MILITAR-PARAMILITAR CONTRA EL PUEBLO COLOMBIANO; LLAMAMOS URGENTEMENTE A LA SOLIDARIDAD DE ORGANIZACIONES SOCIALES, DE DERECHOS HUMANOS Y DEMOCRATICAS DEL MUNDO PARA QUE ESTE NUEVO CRIMEN DE URIBE VELEZ Y SUS MULTINACIONALES NO QUEDE IMPUNE.
HECHOS:
1.- Hoy cuando cumplimos 11 años de lucha tenaz en defensa de nuestra soberanía nacional sobre los recursos minero-energéticos, la no privatización de entidades públicas, la defensa de los Derechos Humanos de las y los Colombianos, el gobierno de Uribe Vélez en contubernio con Gobiernos y Multinacionales de países desarrollados, ha decidido acabar con toda una organización sindical, en una acto de barbarie propio de estados fascistas.
2.- El primer intento se realizó en 1996 cuando de manera abierta se decía en el proyecto de Código de Minas, que el Banco Mundial ordenaba el cierre de la estatal minera, comenzó para nosotros un periodo de lucha tenaz para evitar la liquidación de la compañía estatal, la preservación de nuestros recursos naturales para las próximas generaciones y la defensa de la vida del genero humano afectado por el criminal modelo capitalista, que con corrupción y violencia saquea recursos, vidas y el futuro de los habitantes del llamado tercer mundo. Luego la agencia gubernamental Canadiense CIDA, con la ONG de multinacionales CERI, el Gobierno Colombiano y las Cementeras CEMEX, HOLCIM, ARGOS y Ladrillera Santafé, proyectaron e hicieron aprobar un nuevo Código que hoy en desarrollo de este entierra a MINERCOL Ltda. genera graves conflictos en comunidades campesinas, afrodescendientes e indígenas y pretende enterrar el sueño de esta nación, de tener una política soberana sobre sus recursos minero-energéticos.
3.- SINTRAMINERCOL en desarrollo de su política de defensa de la soberanía nacional sobre nuestros recursos mineros-energéticos, ha sido victima del secuestro de dos de sus funcionarios, de 7 atentados contra la vida del presidente del Sindicato, de amenazas de muerte, seguimientos, hostigamientos permanentes a miembros de la Junta Directiva, de la voladura de su sede sindical, atropellos de todo tipo contra los derechos fundamentales y laborales de sus afiliados, de despidos ilegales y masivos.
Además de Uribe Vélez del anterior y actual Ministro de Minas varias de estas acciones han sido tomadas por los funcionarios EDUARDO ARCE CAYCEDO y MONICA P. ILLIDGE Gerente liquidador y Coordinadora Administrativa, personajes que se han dedicado a violar la Constitución, La ley y la Convención Colectiva, que han proferido amenazas contra directivos de SINTRAMINERCOL y realizado procedimientos ilegales para acelerar el cierre de MINERCOL Ltda.
4.- La decisión de despedir a todas y todos los trabajadores sin respetar el fuero sindical, sin mediar el permiso de los jueces laborales, incluso bajo expresa prohibición por parte de la Corte Constitucional de despedir a dirigentes sindicales y personas con fuero sindical, si no se cumple los requisitos preceptuados por la OIT, es una muestra mas del total irrespeto y del desconocimiento a la Constitución, la ley, los pactos y convenios de O.I.T, y de muestra el grado de fascitizacion de la dirección del estado Colombiano.

SOLICITUDES

Al Estado Colombiano para garantice la vigencia y el respeto a los derechos Fundamentales de las y los Trabajadores afiliados a SINTRAMINERCOL, el reintegro inmediato a sus puestos de trabajo de todas y todos los trabajadores de MINERCOL LTDA, el cese inmediato a la persecución criminal por parte de funcionarios y organismos de seguridad del estado.

Al gobierno colombiano y a los representantes de las compañías multinacionales que explotan los recursos mineros en Colombia, para que cesen su política exterminio y el desmantelamiento de organizaciones sindicales, que actúan dentro del marco de la ley y el llamado estado social de derecho.

A los Gobiernos de Canadá, Méjico, E.U. y Suiza, a la sociedad civil, a los congresos o parlamentos de estos pueblos hermanos para que inicien un proceso de Verdad, Justicia y Reparación que aclare el papel de estos gobiernos y sus Multinacionales, en la destrucción del tejido social conformados por las organizaciones sindicales, afrodescendientes, indígenas etc., victimas del accionar de estos gobiernos y compañías transnacionales.

A la Fiscalía General de la Nación para que investigue la todas las violaciones a la ley penal por parte de funcionarios estatales, de multinacionales y de los grupos militares-paramilitares, que han atentado contra los afiliados y la infraestructura de SINTRAMINERCOl; para que inicie investigación sobre las irregularidades que se presentan en la liquidación de MINERCOL LTDA., sobre las conductas punibles cometidas por MONICA P. ILLIDGE Y EDUARDO ARCE CAICEDO.
Al Procurador General de la República, para que garantice la vigencia y el respeto a los Derechos fundamentales de las y los afiliados a SINTRAMINERCOL.

A las organizaciones sociales de todo el mundo a que:

1.- Inicien acciones de protesta pacífica en las delegaciones consulares y diplomáticas de Colombia exigiendo el cese de la represión contra SINTRAMINERCOL y el inmediato reintegro de todas y todos los afiliados.
2.- Impulsar decisiones de suspensión de importaciones y nuevos contratos contra las Multinacionales y los monopolios Nacionales, comprometidos con la represión a organizaciones sociales de nuestro país.
3.- A las y los Trabajadores de estas mismas empresas a que hagan acciones de protesta como paros y mítines, exigiendo el cese de la represión contra SINTRAMINERCOL y el inmediato reintegro de las y los compañeros despedidos con fuero sindical.
4.- Exijan a los gobiernos de E.U., Inglaterra e Israel el cese inmediato de la ayuda militar que estos países dan a los gobiernos colombianos, comprometidos con violación grave a Derechos Humanos y dirigida a proteger intereses económicos de Multinacionales de estas naciones.
ORGANIZACIONES QUE SUSCRIBEN:
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, D.C. Mayo 2 de 2007.
Favor enviar comunicaciones a las autoridades colombianas, a las multinacionales y a las embajadas de Colombia, Suiza, Méjico, Canadá y Estados Unidos, con copia a 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

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. E-mail: 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

Fiscal General de la Nación.

Dr. Mario Iguaran. Diagonal 22B #52-01 Bogotá, Fax: 57-1-5702000 ext. 2017 o 2019. e-mail:

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
SINTRAMINERCOL: (Nueva Dirección) Diagonal 33 No. 13A-26, Bogotá. Teléfono y Fax (57-1) 5612829 e-mail: sintrami@telecom.com.co

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North Shore Colombia Solidarity Committee

Saturday, May 05, 2007

 
Colombia coal delegation

from: Avi Chomsky


Witness for Peace New England

Delegation to Colombia

August 3-13, 2007


THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE COAL


Colombia is the largest recipient of U.S. military aid in the hemisphere, and also the country with the highest levels of official and paramilitary violence, including forced displacement, killings of journalists, trade unionists, and human rights activists.


Foreign corporations are some of the major beneficiaries of this situation, and multinational corporations control Colombia’s two largest exports, oil and coal, much of which comes back to U.S. markets. Most of the coal goes to supply power plants in Massachusetts and the southeastern U.S., including the Salem Harbor and Brayton Point power stations in Massachusetts.


Colombia’s coal comes from two of the largest open-pit coal mines in the world: El Cerrejón, begun by Exxon in the 1980s and now owned by a consortium of European-based companies, and La Loma, owned by the Alabama-based Drummond Company. Both of these mines export large quantities of coal to the United States, and both have been accused of serious human rights violations.


This delegation will follow the trail of the coal that supplies power to New England, meeting with human rights activists, trade unionists, members of Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities, and others affected by coal production in Colombia. We will explore how we as consumers can work in solidarity with communities and organizations in Colombia to hold corporations accountable for human rights.


Cost: The price of the 11-day delegation is $1350 USD. The delegation fee covers all set-up, preparation, meals, lodging, interpreters, transportation within Colombia. The fee also covers extensive reading and activist tools both before and after the delegation.


Fund-Raising: You can ask us for fund-raising materials or advice. Occasionally scholarship money becomes available.


Deadline: ASAP: Application with a non-refundable deposit of $150.


Contact: Avi Chomsky (978-542-6389); Ellen Gabin (home: 978-546-7230, work: 978-281-1548).


Witness for Peace (WFP) is a politically independent, grassroots organization of people committed to nonviolence and led by faith and conscience. Our mission is to support peace, justice, and sustainable economies in the Americas by changing US policies and corporate practices that contribute to poverty and oppression in Latin America and the Caribbean. For more info on the WFP Colombia program: www.witnessforpeace.org.

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North Shore Colombia Solidarity Committee



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