FOUR CASE STUDIES OF LABOR VIOLENCE IN COLOMBIA

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BOGOTA 003913

SIPDIS

NOFORN

STATE PLEASE PASS TO USTR
GENEVA FOR CHAMBERLIN AND DELAURENTIS
LABOR FOR ILAB

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/02/2014
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PTER ELAB SOCI CO
SUBJECT: FOUR CASE STUDIES OF LABOR VIOLENCE IN COLOMBIA

REF: A. BOGOTA 3866


B. BOGOTA 3345

C. 03 BOGOTA 5768

D. 01 BOGOTA 11005

Classified By: Ambassador William B. Wood for reasons 1.4 (b)
and (d).

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Summary
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1. (C) During a meeting with four participants in a
USDOL-funded exchange program for at-risk trade unionists, we
learned that paramilitaries had targeted at least three of
them because of their leftist political activism, rather than
their trade union membership. Carlos Rodriguez, the moderate
president of the United Workers Central (CUT),Colombia's
largest and traditionally most left-of-center labor
federation, recently confided to the Embassy that the radical
attitudes and activities of some CUT members had stained the
CUT as a whole and converted all of its members into
potential targets of paramilitary violence. Further study of
this issue is needed to discern whether or not these case
studies correlate to a larger trend. However, these case
studies do highlight the importance of considering cases of
labor violence in context, rather than assuming that
paramilitaries target trade unionists solely because of their
labor activism. End Summary.

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Context
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2. (SBU/NF) On April 2, four participants in the AFL-CIO
Solidary Center's USDOL-funded exchange program for at-risk
trade unionists visited the Embassy before their departure to
share their first-hand experiences with violence against
trade unions. In 2003, the exchange program provided
U.S.-based training and technical education to nearly 40
Colombian trade union leaders under threat. The four trade
unionists we met, who are all currently enrolled in the GOC
Ministry of Interior and Justice's (MOI/J) protection program
(ref B),were: Miguel Fernandez, United Workers Central
(CUT) regional president for Cauca department; Luis Molina,
CUT regional president for Boyaca department; Maria Eugenia
Paez, secretary general of the executive board of SINTRENAL,
a CUT-affiliated teachers union; and Nelson Quijano, regional
human rights director for the "Union Sindical Obrera" (USO),
a national oil workers union affiliated with the CUT.

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Some Targeted Because of Political Positions
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3. (C) Moderates within the CUT, led by CUT National
President Carlos Rodriguez, generally eschew strictly
political debates and instead emphasize bread-and-butter
issues such as collective bargaining, the right to strike,
and the importance of strengthening labor inspection
mechanisms. CUT leftists, however, support a
confrontational, ideological approach to their activism that
includes opposition to even centrist government policies only
tangentially related to labor rights (ref A). Fernandez, CUT
regional president in highly conflictive Cauca department,
told us local paramilitaries threatened him because he
organized opposition to the October 2003 political and
economic reform referendum, publicly criticized GOC social
policy, advocated greater GOC social investment, and
marshalled support for left-wing political candidates.
Fernandez, who recognized he was threatened because of his
political activities, stated that such activity is
part-and-parcel of labor activism.


4. (C) Paez, a high school teacher in Cucuta, Norte de
Santander department, said paramilitaries targeted her for
advocating leftist politics in the classroom. Paez told us
that although she never discussed politics with students, her
leftist leanings are well-known and consistent with labor
activism. Paez's statements indicate she was targeted
because of her politics, rather than for membership in a
trade union or for labor rights advocacy. GOC Ministry of
Defense (MOD) statistics indicate that murders of teachers
dropped 48 percent in 2003. Unionized and non-unionized
educators are still, however, threatened, attacked, and/or
forcibly displaced by both paramilitaries and leftist
guerrillas for allegedly disseminating propaganda in the
classroom (ref C).

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Others Targeted for Opposing Paramilitaries
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5. (C) Molina, CUT regional president for Boyaca department,
told us his name appeared on a list of paramilitary "military
objectives" because he organized resistance among small
merchants to paramilitary extortion attempts. Molina
insisted that paramilitaries targeted him because of his
union leadership, but also speculated that paramilitaries'
animosity toward him was probably motivated by his leftist
ideology, his efforts to organize resistance to their
depredations, and his opposition to their alleged use of
emerald mines as drug labs.

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Perceived Guerrilla Ties Lead to Violence
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6. (C) Of the four, only USO activist Quijano appears to have
been targeted strictly for his trade union affiliation.
However, he also told us that USO recently organized
activities in support of a group of peasants from Bolivar
department who have been charged with rebellion by the
Prosecutor General's Office ("Fiscalia").


7. (C/NF) CUT National President Carlos Rodriguez has
confided to Embassy officers that some of his greatest
challenges have been to help CUT members differentiate
bread-and-butter labor activism from tangential political
issues and to convince hard-core CUT leftists to abandon
tacit -- and even active -- support for guerrilla
organizations. Rodriguez explained in frustration that the
actions of some misguided CUT members had stained them all as
radical leftists and given paramilitaries an excuse to target
the CUT as a whole.

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Comment
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8. (C/NF) While these case studies do not constitute a
representative sample, they do highlight the importance of
considering contextual information in any analysis of
violence against trade unionists in Colombia. The fact that
97 percent of threatened Colombian trade unionists belong to
the CUT (ref A) indicates that violence against trade
unionists may be selective and that members of other
Colombian trade unions are largely not targeted by
paramilitaries. The propensity of some within the CUT to
correlate labor activism with political radicalism may help
to explain why the CUT is disproportionately targeted by
paramilitaries and why the CUT is widely distrusted by
private sector employers.
WOOD