Contrary to what major world news sources say, the war in
Colombia is about more than drugs.
So much of what the global north consumes comes from Colombia—flowers,
bananas, coffee, chocolate, gold, oil, coal, palm oil—so why do we know so
little about this country? The war
in Colombia has been raging for the last forty-eight years, which begs the
question, "why?" To get
to the heart of that question, here are four things everyone should know about
Colombia's armed conflict…
3. It is the most dangerous place for a union
organizer in the world.
Names of assassinated Coca Cola union members |
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More union members are killed in Colombia than in the rest
of the world combined. In October,
the United States and Colombia signed a Free Trade Agreement that will
ensure the
ongoing extraction of natural resources and the continued threats to the
security of union members. Over
2,500 trade unionists have been killed in Colombia in the last 20 years
and in
98% of the cases, no one was brought to justice. Human rights
organizations brought these concerns to the US
and Colombian governments before the signing of the FTA and the Labor
Action
Plan, meant to secure the rights of union workers. However, worker
rights have deteriorated. In 2011, thirty trade unionists were
murdered and four unionists have been killed thus far in 2012.