Cristiano Mayta: Tengo el cargo de secretario de exteriores del sindicato SINATREL (Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de Embotelladora Arca Continental Lindley), también soy militante de la organización política Izquierda Socialista Perú.

¡Lucha y Resiste!: ¿Cuándo se va a comenzar la huelga?

Cristiano Mayta: el 20 de octubre a las 7am hora peruana, del presente año recién empezamos

¡Lucha y Resiste!: ¿Por qué se van a hacer la huelga?

Cristiano Mayta: Por que la empresa no quiere dar solución a nuestro pliego de reclamos 2021-2022, llevamos en reuniones ya casi como 7 meses, pero sin resultados, la empresa aduce q no puede atender el pliego de forma integral por que fue afectado por la pandemia, esto no es tan cierto, porque durante toda la pandemia trabajamos normal, fruto de ello genero utilidades en el año 2020.

¡Lucha y Resiste!:¿En cuantas ciudades o plantas embotelladoras entraran la huelga?

Cristiano Mayta: La empresa donde laboramos se llama Arca Continental Lindley que se dedica a embotellar Coca Cola, Inka Cola, Sprite, Fanta y otros. tiene 5 plantas embotelladoras en el Perú, los trabajadores de estas 5 plantas entramos en huelga indefinida.

¡Lucha y Resiste!: ¿Que significa una huelga nacional infinida?

Cristiano Mayta: Significa que dejamos de trabajar por tiempo indefinido (hasta que solucione el pliego de reclamos)

¡Lucha y Resiste!: ¿Como podemos apoyar su lucha, la Huelga?

Cristiano Mayta: Desde hace dos meses estamos haciendo protestas virtuales y ahora presenciales, pedimos su apoyo difundiendo en las redes sociales, estas protestas las pueden encontrar en el Facebook de GLORIOSO SINATREL, con este mismo nombre en Twitter.

Quiero pedirles su apoyo incondicional con esta medida de lucha que vamos a empezar el día 20 de octubre 2021. Pueden apoyarnos de diferentes formas como: difundiendo por las redes sociales nuestras protestas que serán publicadas, enviando un pronunciamiento escrito o tal vez un pequeño video de 60 segundos en respaldo y solidaridad a nuestra institución SINATREL PERU en entra en esta huelga nacional indefinida que empezaremos.

Saludos sindicales a todos y todas.

Que viva la clase trabajadora del mundo.

#Peru #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #CocaCola

Cristiano Mayta: I am the International Secretary of the union SINATREL at a Coca-Cola bottling plant. I am also a member of an organization called Socialist Left of Peru (Izquierda Socialista Perú).

Fight Back!: When is the strike set to begin?

Mayta: At 7 a.m. in the morning of October 20 this year.

Fight Back!: Why is your union going on strike?

Mayta: Because the company does want to offer a solution to our list of demands for 2021-22. We have been meeting for the past seven months with zero results. The company claims they cannot meet our demands because of the pandemic. We do not believe this, because all throughout the pandemic we worked like normal and still generated profits for them.

Fight Back!: At how many different plants will the strike take place?

Mayta: The company we work at is called Arca Continental Lindley and it bottles for Coca Cola, Inka Cola, Sprite, Fanta and others. It has five bottling plants in Perú and the workers at these five bottling plants will be on indefinite strike.

Fight Back!: What does an indefinite strike mean?

Mayta: It just means that we are stopping production, withholding our labor power for an undefined time until the company brings solutions to our demands.

Fight Back!: How can we support your struggle, your strike?

Mayta: It has been two straight months that we have put on virtual protests and others in person. We ask that you share on social media our protests and statements from Facebook and Twitter from the page called GLORIOSO SINATREL PERU.

I want to ask you for the unconditional support in the method of struggle for our strike that starts October 20. Aside from the social media shares, send us written statements of solidarity from your organization or union, and or a short video with a solidarity message for the workers and our union SINATREL PERU. A big working-class thank you.

Long Live The Workers of the World!

#Peru #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #CocaCola

In response to the wave of worker activity, many companies have begun to offer hazard pay, increased time-off benefits and new safety measures. Warehouse and distribution workers on the frontlines have been leading workplace actions and winning demands. Workers at Great Lakes Coca-Cola Distribution Inc., which operates in several Midwestern states, are fighting for better sick-time policies, hazard pay, assistance for childcare and other policies to keep workers safe.

Teamsters Local 344, which represents Great Lakes Coca-Cola workers in Wisconsin, says the company continues to discipline employees who call out due to COVID-19, and has not fulfilled information requests regarding safety measures the company is taking to protect employees.

Secretary-Treasurer Bill Carroll said the company has “yet to provide any useful response as to what measures they are taking to reduce the risk of our members getting or spreading infection.” Teamsters Local 727 in Illinois also blasted Great Lakes Coca-Cola, calling them a “greedy, anti-worker corporate bully,” saying the company “once again picked profit over people.”

Coca-Cola's leading competitor, Pepsico, is one of many companies that has provided an increase in pay and benefits to employees since the wave of worker activity began. Teamsters are asking Great Lakes Coca-Cola to match competitors who have provided up to a 20% hazard pay bonus and improved safety measures, but so far Great Lakes Coca-Cola has not done so. Instead of offering hazard pay, Great Lakes Coca-Cola proposed a weekly lump sum bonus of $100 if workers show up consistently and do not call in sick.

“This misguided policy would incentivize employees to come to work sick, which contradicts the recommendations put out by government and health authorities,” said Local 344 Business Agent Kevin Schwerdtfeger.

Teamsters are taking the fight beyond the warehouse and going public, asking supporters to call Great Lakes Coca-Cola management at 847-653-0784 and tell them to prioritize worker safety over profits.

#MilwaukeeWI #Healthcare #Teamsters #strike #CocaCola #Wisconsin

The Revolutionary Council of Trade Unions – National Democratic Front of the Philippines – Southern Tagalog (RCTU-NDFP-ST) salutes the workers under the Unyon ng Manggagawa Driver, Forklift Operator, at Picker (UMDFP-IND) of the Coca Cola Bottlers Philippines, Inc. Sta. Rosa Plant for a victorious strike launched in May 2013. The collective action that was directed at the heart of the capitalist’s interests has once again proven that workers are indeed the decisive force in production.

As the memorandum of agreement nears implementation this October, the RCTU-NDFP-ST reminds and urges workers to fearlessly fight the worsening working conditions under the US-Aquino regime, take back the power of strikes, and track the revolutionary road that will bring them genuine victory in the fight for a society without capitalist oppression.

On 20 May 2013, workers under the UMDFP-IND decisively took their anger to the streets outside the CCBPI-Sta. Rosa plant and declared a strike after months of trying to negotiate with transnational Coca Cola.

Members reached a resolution to launch the strike via strike voting after the Department of Labor and Employment Office of the Secretary blatantly reversed the previous decision released by DoLE-region 4A Med Arbiter Tongzon regarding the workers’ right to certification election abreast their regularization.

The strike that lasted for three days brought workers from other factories and other sectors together to call for the immediate recognition of the previously released decision from Tongzon.

Taking back what is rightfully theirs, the workers paralyzed the factory and ceased, for that particular moment, the capitalist’s seemingly endless acquiring of surplus value from the workers’ labor. For three days, the striking workers, with the support of workers from other factories and unions, have temporarily reversed their economic and social status — forcing the capitalist to bow down and heed the workers’ calls. For this particular moment, workers become the masters, and the capitalist becomes their slave.

Coca Cola lost more than an estimated cost of 100 million pesos during the three-day strike, which left them with no other choice but to face the workers and settle with a set of agreements including the regularization of the workers under UMDFP. Based on a series of talks during the past 4 months, the capitalist has promised to fully implement the decisions based on the memorandum of agreement on 6 October.

In the whole region and even the whole country, the victorious strike of the UMDFP-IND truly sets a new development in the long been oppressed trade union sector. The fight for job security, which has become a crucial struggle for the working class, has now reached a new level, at which we can truly say that there is still hope through our unified ranks and determination.

While it is just right to acknowledge the power of strikes in giving workers economic and political power, there is great necessity in recognizing its momentary effect. Following their brief rise from oppression, workers return to their usual places in production and once again become modern day slaves who trade their labor for measly alms. At the end of the day, they have been able to lessen the capitalist’s rate of exploitation through better working conditions, but remain abused because of the latter’s natural interests in expanding their capital.

RCTU-NDFP-ST calls on all Coca Cola workers, as well as other workers from other factories, to continue the fight for regularization and right to union, escalate their struggle from economic to politically motivated actions, and aim their strength at the heart of the capitalists’ interests not only by intensifying the strike movement, but most importantly, through leading the national democratic revolution that will end all forms of capitalist oppression.

#Philippines #CocaCola #RevolutionaryCouncilOfTradeUnions #laborStrike #UnyonNgManggagawa #Asia

Behind closed doors, Uribe spoke about how he brought prosperity and peace to the Colombian people by combating violent militias. The opposite is in fact true. Uribe supported right-wing militia groups connected to the Colombian military and which were also partially funded by U.S. corporations like Drummond Coal, Chiquita Banana and Coca-Cola. The so-called AUC (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia) terrorize the countryside, carrying out gruesome attacks against poor farmers and driving them off their land. Colombia now has the largest displaced population in the world, more than even Iraq, where the U.S. occupation is wreaking havoc. Over 4 million rural Colombians are crowding into towns and cities with no work and few prospects. Many Colombian farmers are fleeing over the borders into neighboring countries like Venezuela.

In addition, Uribe left office on the heels of the ‘false positives, scandal, where dozens of Colombian military officers were caught kidnapping low-income young men from the cities, executing them in the countryside and claiming they were members of the powerful Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebel group killed in combat. The current President Santos was Uribe’s Minister of Defense overseeing the military officers who carried out the systematic murders of close to 3000 civilians.

Outside Zion Bank’s conference, student protester Emily Lacock explained, “Uribe deserves to know that people recognize his crimes and will not silence their outrage.” While passing out flyers detailing Uribe's criminal record, the protesters chanted, “Plan Colombia is a scam! Death squads sent by Uncle Sam!”

“I think it’s atrocious that the U.S. can masquerade Uribe as a 'hero',” said protester Kristen Lambert. Kristen continued, “During Uribe’s presidency, Colombia’s human rights record was the worst in our hemisphere and people suffered more overwhelming poverty while he supposedly improved the economy.”

The sharp divisions in the U.S. were felt on the street that day. As bankers rushed into the Marriott Hotel to hear Uribe's lies, many of the hotel's staff took an interest in the activities on the outside. There were local construction workers and carpenters’ union members who stopped to chat about the situation in Colombia. The union workers were upset to hear how their Colombian counterparts were being murdered at a rate of one a week.

The Revolutionary Students Union (RSU), affiliated with the Students for a Democratic Society, organized the protest as part of the movement against U.S. intervention and war in Colombia. A RSU leader said, “Even in Utah, Uribe will be held accountable for waging a dirty war against the poor farmers and working people of Colombia. We oppose the U.S.-led counter-insurgency war and say no to the Colombia Free Trade Agreement. By speaking out against America's lackeys like Uribe, we cut through the deafening silence that holds so many captive while expressing the solidarity with those who are facing the brunt force of the U.S. empire.”

#SaltLakeCityUT #AntiwarMovement #Colombia #Uribe #CocaCola #AlvaroUribe #Drummond #ChiquitaBrands #AutodefensasUnidasDeColombia #AUC #RevolutionaryStudentUnion #deathSquads #Americas

Cardona dijo, “La campaña mundial en contra de la Coca Cola ha logrado reducir la cantidad de lideres sindicales asesinados por parte de los escuadrones de la muerte en Colombia, pero esta multinacional norteamericana y el presidente Uribe han adicionado nuevas tácticas. Ahora Uribe falsamente detiene y encarcela a los sindicalistas y los acusa de terrorismo o cualquier otra actividad criminal. Los lideres sindicales que ahora mismo están en la cárcel, tienen muchas dificultades para seguir luchando por los derechos de los trabajadores. Encarcelar sindicalistas y lideres del movimiento social es parte del Plan Colombia, el Plan de Guerra de los Estados Unidos contra nuestro país.”

John Lugo del Comité de Acción por Colombia de Connecticut hablo después explicando la historia del movimiento popular en Colombia y el impacto negativo de la intervención norteamericana – especialmente la creciente intervención militar.

Lugo dijo, “los Estados Unidos han estado envueltos en la guerra civil colombiana desde los sesenta cuando la CIA aconsejaba al gobierno colombiano en el montaje de los primeros grupos paramilitares. Muchas veces el movimiento popular han tratado la vía de la paz para lograr el cambio social, como por ejemplo en los 80's y 90's cuando la Unión Patriótica – un partido político legal de izquierda – gano cientos de miles de votos en las elecciones. Escuadrones de la muerte conectados con el ejercito colombiano mataron cerca de 4000 miembros de este partido político, muertos que hiban desde candidatos presidenciales, concejales a miembros de base. La esperanza para un cambio social por la paz fue exterminado. En los anos recientes el gobierno colombiano ha ido perdiendo control de la situación y la insurgencia rebelde ha crecido, entonces la intervención militar norteamericana se ha incrementado.”

Meredith Aby del Comité Antiguerra de Minnesota hablo sobre la intervención norteamericana en Colombia, “El Plan Colombia es un plan para la guerra, un plan para la miseria, la pobreza y a la vez un plan para la muerte. El Plan Colombia fue presentado por los demócratas Clinton y Gore. Como parte de la guerra contra el terrorismo, Bush ha incrementado la ayuda militar a Colombia, utilizando el dinero de nuestros impuestos para proteger los oleoductos de la compañía Occidental, metiendo 1200 boinas verdes como consejeros militares. Ahora mismo tres personas de la inteligencia de los Estados Unidos han sido capturados y son retenidos por el movimiento revolucionario colombiano-FARC-EP. Es evidente el envolvimiento de los Estados Unidos en la guerra civil colombiana.”

Construyendo la Lucha

La reunión resumió las lecciones aprendidas, se discutió como avanzar en el liderato de las campanas en las universidades, los sindicatos y las comunidades. Katie Williams de la Campana del Boicot contra la Coca Cola en la Universidad de De Paul, anunció una victoria, la administración de la Universidad había escrito una carta al Consorcio de Derechos de los Trabajadores para que se iniciara una investigación en contra de los crímenes cometidos contra los trabajadores de la Coca Cola en Colombia. Esto llevara a una investigación y a un proceso de reporte que la Unión de Estudiantes en contra de las Maquiladoras y la Red de Acción sobre Colombia – CAN, por sus letras en ingles- fueron claves en comenzarlas.

Katie Williams dijo, “La Universidad de DePaul debe seguir sus principios de fe católicos y actuar de esa manera. La Universidad tomo una posición moral y accedió a la investigación de la Coca Cola. Esperamos que esto lleve a que se termine el contrato exclusivo de la Coca Cola con nuestra Universidad. Nosotros queremos cambiar la situación de derechos humanos que sufren los sindicalistas en Colombia.”

Otro panelista fue, Fred Gomez de la Universidad Northeastern de Illinois y dijo que los activistas estudiantiles necesitan dos cosas, paciencia y persistencia. El contó como un pequeño grupo de activistas de su Universidad lograron recoger mas de 500 firmas en una petición de CAN y además logro el apoyo de mas de 18 grupos estudiantiles, todo esto después de varios meses de duro trabajo. La administración de su Universidad les aconsejó que le escribieran al Acta de Libertad de Información Requerida para obtener una copia del contrato con la Coca Cola. Después, su campana de boicot a la Coca Cola se acerco al gobierno estudiantil pidiéndoles una resolución de apoyo a sus esfuerzos. Ellos han creado un gran movimiento de apoyo en su lugar de estudio, que incluye clase trabajadora, personas de países oprimidos y estudiantes inmigrantes.

Gomez dijo, “Nosotros sacamos mesas de información todas las semanas y lo hacemos activamente, mientras una persona esta sentada al lado de la mesa, los otros compañeros van por los corredores y la cafetería recogiendo firmas y explicando la situación tan terrible que se sufre en Colombia gracias a nuestros impuestos y la ventaja que toman de ello las compañías norteamericanas.”

Varios grupos que organizan la Campana de Boicot contra Coca Cola han explorado nuevas formas de trabajo y han conectado este tema con temas que conciernen a ciertos grupos oprimidos. En la Universidad del Norte de Arizona, Geronimo Vasquez reporto, “Los estudiantes y la comunidad organizaron una marcha desde la Universidad hasta la alcaldía de la ciudad de Flagstaff y obstruyeron una de las intersecciones mas concurridas durante la hora de mas trafico. Liderados por varias jóvenes universitarias los manifestantes repartieron volantes a los conductores y fueron bien recibidos.”

Geronimo también explico otro aspecto de su trabajo, “el otro éxito es la presentación de la situacion de los lideres sindicales colombianos y el boicot a la Coca Cola a las reservaciones indígenas Navajos y Hopis. Por que hay un movimiento de padres de familia que están preocupados por los efectos de la Coca Cola en la caries dental y otros problemas de salud en los niños indígenas. Además que algunas escuelas han prohibido la venta de Coca Cola por razones de salud es fácil hablar con ellos sobre el ataque de la Coca Cola a los derechos de los trabajadores colombianos. Al mismo tiempo también los podemos educar sobre el Plan Colombia y el abuso de las multinacionales petroleras sobre los indígenas colombianos.”

En la ciudad de New York, el Comité de Acción con Colombia organizo un foro con irlandeses nativos y irlandeses norteamericanos en el punto de los tres irlandeses que son prisioneros del gobierno colombiano. El caso se pone en la mira de la lucha irlandesa anticolonial que han dado por cientos de anos. The Colombian Three, como se les llama, han estado prisioneros por 4 anos, rodeados por cientos de prisioneros paramilitares, mientras al mismo tiempo el proceso en contra de ellos y sin evidencias sigue adelante. Los tres son acusados de ayudar a las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia -FARC-EP . Lo cierto era que ellos habían viajado a Colombia a estudiar el proceso de paz – luego este fue terminado por el gobierno de Pastrana. Ahora estos tres son rehenes del gobierno paramilitar.

Conor McGrady de New York y que fue uno de los participantes en la conferencia dijo: “nosotros planeamos regar la noticia sobre el boicot a la Coca Cola en solidaridad con los sindicalistas colombianos atravez de los bares irlandeses de la cuidad de New York.”

En Missoula, Montana, Scott Nicholson de la Comunidad en Acción por Justicia de las Americas, explico como la comunidad y los activistas estudiantiles marcharon alrededor de la universidad y dentro de las oficinas de la administración con un ataúd. Esto representando a los lideres sindicales muertos por la Coca Cola. Esta acción en la cual participaron 50 personas fue seguida por una reunión donde el Vicepresidente de la universidad Bob Duringuer dijo: “yo no me puedo dar el lujo de preocuparme sobre los derechos humanos.”

En la ciudad de Milwaukee, el grupo COMPA que organiza en la comunidad y en la Universidad, crearon varios eventos musicales y artísticos que sobresaltaban el boicot a la Coca Cola.

La reunión de la Red de Acción por Colombia – CAN, desarrollo un plan de trabajo para aumentar el boicot a la Coca Cola y la construcción de un movimiento de protesta contra el Plan Colombia. CAN creo un volante con la consigna de: “Desde Bagdad hasta Bogota: no a la guerra por petróleo,” que los activistas distribuyeron en todas las manifestaciones en contra de la guerra que se dieron en marzo 20.

Un día de Acción Nacional

Los diferentes grupos que conforman a CAN van a salir en un día de acción nacional el 15 de abril, el día de los impuestos. En este día los activistas sobre Colombia o los que apoyan la causa colombiana van a pedir que los dólares de los impuestos no se utilicen en el Plan Colombia y también resaltaran en como multinacionales como la Coca Cola operan fuera de la ley en Colombia .

CAN también se sumo al Día Internacional de Acción por los Pueblo Indígenas que se dio en marzo 11 con protestas y eventos desde Arizona hasta Latinoamérica y Africa.

Finalmente CAN esta organizando una delegación de solidaridad a Colombia, la cual será recibida por la USO, el sindicato de los trabajadores petroleros colombianos, y REINICIAR – organización de derechos humanos basada en bogota. La delegación se reunirá con el sindicato de la Coca Cola – SINALTRAINAL. La delegación también viajara e investigara algunos lugares afectados por las fumigaciones de los cultivos ilícitos y también estudiara la situación de derechos humanos de los sindicatos y organizaciones campesinas.

#MadisonWI #AntiwarMovement #StudentMovement #Labor #News #Colombia #CocaCola #LaRedDeAcciónSobreColombia #UnDíaDeAcciónNacional #Americas

Meredith Aby of Fight Back! interviewed members of a delegation to Colombia: Marty Hoerth, Tsione Wolde-Michael and Erika Zurawski.

Community Action for Justice in the Americas and the Colombia Action Network organized a delegation of student and community activists from Montana and Minnesota that traveled to Colombia in June. The delegation met with human rights organizations, labor unions and campesino (peasant) groups to investigate the true effects of U.S. military aid to Colombia.

Paramilitary death squads murder an average of two to three Colombian trade unionists every week. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International document that U.S. military aid, called Plan Colombia, funds the repressive Colombian military and right-wing paramilitary death squads. The U.S. has spent over $3.5 billion since 2000 to fund Plan Colombia.

Fight Back!: What did you see during your trip?

Erika Zurawski: U.S. military aid to Colombia just went up again, renewing $742 million in military aid. As a result, political repression by paramilitary death squads and the Colombian Army has risen dramatically. In the city of Tamé, 85 people were already assassinated from January to May 2005. The situation is deteriorating. Colombians directly relate this to U.S. military aid.

While we were in Tamé, we heard the testimonies of around 50 people with the courage to denounce the massacres of the people in their city. Some of these testimonies were made at a public meeting where paramilitaries were present. The people of Tamé, like the rest of Colombia, are dedicated to resisting oppression and to working towards positive change.

Fight Back!: What is the current situation for the Coca-Cola workers’ union, SINALTRAINAL?

Tsione Wolde-Michael: Coke’s new move is to use psychological tactics in addition to physical ones to dissuade Colombians from joining the union. Company representatives scare workers’ families into signing ‘voluntary agreements’ to resign from their jobs. The Coke psychologists say if the father or mother does not resign, they will get no compensation from Coca-Cola. If the workers resign then Coca-Cola takes no responsibility in lawsuits for job layoffs or if they are murdered.

Nine SINALTRAINAL trade unionists have been killed by Coca-Cola death squads. Local vice president William Mendoza specifically credited the Coca-Cola boycott with protecting them and helping them keep their jobs. Because of the Coke boycott, Mendoza receives a call once a month from the U.S. Embassy to see if he’s alive. In 2003, when eleven Coca-Cola plants were closed, pressure from the Coke boycott forced the company to relocate the union workers instead of throwing them on the street. The international boycott has helped keep the Coca-Cola workers’ union alive.

Fight Back!: Under Plan Colombia, the U.S. government purchases chemical poisons for the Colombian government’s aerial spraying in the countryside. What is the impact that you saw of U.S.-sponsored fumigation in Colombia?

Tsione Wolde-Michael: The fumigation is interesting when you look at it in the context of the ‘war on drugs.’ Our U.S. tax dollars are supposed to be spent to help fight the drug war and coca production. We see that fumigation kills the coca, yes, but it also kills legal crops and animals. People are sprayed too!

In the end, even people growing legal crops are forced to grow coca. The reason is, when you grow a legal crop and the government sprays you, you do not have your crops to sustain yourself, and your animals are dying off, and your family members are sick. You either get up to move, which is sometimes what the government wants so they can get your land, or you begin to grow coca. Campesinos decide to grow coca because it will eventually grow in the polluted soil and it has a guaranteed income.

In Santo Domingo, helicopters fly in to come pick up coca. Whereas farmers who grow legal crops take a three-hour mule ride followed by a two-hour boat ride to get their crops to market. It just is not worth it to take that trip. Conveniently, it is great for U.S. policy because it looks like Bush is trying to stop drugs, when in fact all the money is going to the paramilitaries and military. Fumigation forcibly displaces people and creates opportunities for U.S. corporations to exploit the land and resources.

The ‘war on drugs’ is really about securing U.S. interests and having another puppet government that is strategically placed next to Venezuela and near Bolivia. By controlling Colombia, the U.S. is trying to prevent the full realization of the Bolivarian process – the unity of South American countries against U.S. imperialism.

Fight Back!: You met with many social organizations who are fighting for economic and political rights in Colombia. What dangers do they face from the right-wing government of President Uribé?

Marty Hoerth: Social organization leaders face warrants and arrest. While the police do not immediately act upon them, the warrants limit the movement and organizing of those leaders.

We witnessed this with the campesino leader Álvaro Manzano. We were supposed to accompany him back to his hometown. Previously, he had been arrested, detained and forced to sign a confession that he was a guerilla fighter. The government used this signed paper as ‘evidence’ of rebel activity and further targeted his fellow activists. He escaped from the secret police, the DAS, and went to Bogotá. Eventually he needed to return home, so he took a bus to meet us in Barrancabermeja but only a block from the bus station he was arrested again by the DAS. He was with a member of our U.S. delegation. Fortunately, two weeks later Álvaro was released without charges due to a lack of evidence.

Many leaders have these arrest warrants out for them and can be imprisoned at any time. Three years ago the government had arrest warrants out for six activists on the board of directors of the Cimitarra River Valley Peasants Association, now it is sixty.

Fight Back!: What connections do you see between the U.S. occupation in Iraq and the U.S. intervention in Colombia? What connections do Colombians make between these two areas of U.S. foreign policy?

Erika Zurawski: Colombia, like Iraq, is an oil-rich and occupied country. The difference is that the U.S. is more able to hide their involvement in Colombia because their government bows to U.S. interests. The U.S. cannot hide their involvement, however, from the Colombian people, who say that policies in Colombia are made by the U.S. State Department. Colombians do not choose to displace themselves and give their land to multinational corporations.

Colombia is a land occupied by soldiers and paramilitaries, and those fighting for the people of Colombia are labeled as terrorists and are the targets of assassinations, disappearances and death threats. In Iraq, the U.S. is trying to secure the same government compliance as in Colombia. Though U.S. presence in Iraq is visible now, without the resistance forces that continue to fight against the occupation, a sovereign Iraq will disappear under neo-liberal oppression, as in Colombia.

Colombians understand that resistance to U.S. occupation in Iraq is resistance to U.S.-led oppression in Colombia. A victory by the resistance in Iraq will be a victory to the people in Colombia because it will be a blow to the U.S. agenda of war and terror. Just as Colombians who fight for justice are not terrorists, neither are the Iraqis. Alirio Joreda, a former local president of USO, said, “We admire the strength of the resistance of the Iraqi people in defense of their national sovereignty and will continue to carry out actions in support of them.”

#UnitedStates #Interview #Colombia #Interviews #ColombiaActionNetwork #PlanColombia #CocaCola #SINALTRAINAL #Americas

Chicago, IL – Students boycotting Coca-Cola have won another victory. At Chicago’s DePaul University on July 7, university administrators from across the U.S. agreed to an independent investigation of the murder of nine Colombian trade unionists who worked at Coca-Cola.

Coca-Cola uses death squads to break the Coca-Cola workers’ union – SINALTRAINAL – in Colombia. In India, Coca-Cola has been illegally polluting the water and land of poor peasant farmers.

The students came to DePaul to protest Coca-Cola and meet with administrators from the University of California system, DePaul University, University of Illinois, Duke University, Ohio State and others. These schools are questioning multi-million dollar contracts, most of them exclusive, with Coca-Cola.

Some colleges have already banned Coke products – for example, the College of DuPage and Lake Forest College in Illinois, New Jersey’s Rutgers University and Carleton College in Minnesota.

Coca-Cola is growing more worried and hiring more public relations people to combat the spreading student movement to Boycott Coke.

The University of Michigan, represented at the July 7 negotiations by an administrator and a student, decided in June to set a timeline for Coke to agree to an independent investigation and to take corrective action on both the Coca-Cola murders in Colombia and the pollution of water and farmers lands in India.

At the meeting, University of Michigan’s Clara Hardie announced, “I represent the Student Coalition To Cut The Coca-Cola Contract. We are 5,000 students of 20 student groups, ranging from environmental to human rights groups that have been working on the campaign for over seven months now.”

Colombian trade unionist Luis Adolfo Cardona said, “Twenty-five Colombia solidarity activists and students protested outside while Coca-Cola met with administrators and a few students. Coca-Cola does not want me, as a survivor of kidnapping by a Coca-Cola death squad to be in the same room, telling the truth about the crimes of their multi-national corporation. The students took a principled position.”

Ben Meyer of DePaul Students Coalition Against Coca-Cola reports, “The student representatives all stood up and walked out at 9:30 a.m. We said we were willing to return to the meeting if our demands were met and gave the group an hour to make a decision.”

Ben continued, “A little over an hour later a group of representatives from the commission came down to get us and told us that Coca-Cola was no longer part of the group that would decide on the methodology and logistics for an investigation. Instead, the group, which has been dubbed a ‘working group,’ will consist of students and administrators with advisors who have experience with labor investigations. Needless to say, this was a major victory for us. We returned to the meeting and continued to press our other points.”

Luis Adolfo Cardona said, “The Universities’ Working Group committed to meeting with representatives of my union, SINALTRAINAL, and with representatives from community and peasants groups in India on Aug. 9. Coca-Cola will have to change its policies not only in Colombia, but other parts of the world. The students are doing a very, very good job of campaigning for justice for the oppressed communities and workers of the world!”

Students will continue to press the Coca-Cola Boycott on campuses across the U.S. and Coca-Cola will continue to backpedal and to try to shift blame for the Colombian trade unionists’ deaths on to others. Students will struggle to broaden the scope of the investigation and seek redress for the victims of Coca-Cola death squads, especially victims in the union SINALTRAINAL. Coca-Cola will seek to limit the investigation to current conditions inside the plants where SINALTRAINAL is no longer allowed.

The Colombia Action Network launched the Coca-Cola Boycott here in the U.S. over three years ago, during the time when Coca-Cola death squads were active. Students across the U.S. have taken up the campaign and made it their own, kicking Coke off campus and publicizing the plight of workers and peasants in Colombia and India. The student organizing and activism on campus is the key to winning victories in the ongoing Campaign to Boycott Killer Coke.

#ChicagoIL #News #Colombia #CocaCola #SINALTRAINAL

Dan Kovalik of the United Steel Workers of America stated, “This past year alone, over 90 trade unionists lost their lives at the hands of Colombian military-run death squads.” Unfortunately, under Bush’s Department of Labor, the AFL-CIO solidarity program is being closed down, putting more Colombian trade unionists in harm’s way.

The keynote speaker at the Colombia Action Network (CAN) conference was Javier Correa, president of the Colombian food and beverage workers’ union SINALTRAINAL and leader of the worldwide Campaign to Boycott Coca-Cola. He spoke about the continuing struggle of his union and the great success of the Coke Boycott campaign. Javier Correa, himself a target of the right-wing paramilitary death squads, spoke about the nine trade unionists murdered by Coca-Cola’s death squads. Correa asked the Colombia solidarity activists, especially the students, to “continue to press their campaigns to kick Killer Coke off campus and support the Colombian workers.” [ See Fight Back! interview]

During the Coca-Cola Boycott panel, 50 people listened as Colombian trade unionist Luis Adolfo Cardona told his chilling tale of escape and survival from the clutches of a Coca-Cola death squad. SINALTRAINAL’s lead union negotiator, Isidro Gil, was shot dead at the Coca-Cola plant and the union hall was burned down that night. The same death squad came into the bottling plant, forcing all the Coke workers to sign letters resigning from the union. Coca-Cola refuses to accept responsibility for the nine murders or to recognize the crimes of its bottling company officials.

Luis Adolfo Cardona said, “We hold the Coca-Cola Company responsible for its crimes and condemn the destruction of our union through murder and intimidation. Plan Colombia, what we Colombians call Plan Washington, is George Bush’s plan for poverty and death in our country. Over $3.5 billion in U.S. tax dollars has been used to suppress unions, peasant groups and indigenous people so U.S. companies can take oil, coal, emeralds and other natural resources from our country. We need your help to build a movement to stop Plan Colombia.”

While many attending the CAN Conference lead local efforts in the Campaign to Boycott Coca-Cola, activists are launching a new campaign by the Colombia Action Network: “From Baghdad to Bogotá: No Blood for Oil!” Meredith Aby of the CAN says, “The U.S. government and big business corporations have one and the same agenda in Colombia – to dominate the country politically and militarily so as to pillage the natural resources, especially oil. Bush and big oil companies act like pirates; they sail in, take what rightfully belongs to the Colombian people and leave nothing but death and destruction behind them. The CAN makes the links between U.S. war and occupation in Iraq and in Colombia. We know the war on drugs is phony, that the ‘war on terrorism’ is just another excuse to expand the U.S. oil empire. The U.S. is losing hearts and minds both in Iraq and in Colombia, as well as here at home. Bush’s military adventures are failing and we must act now to stop Plan Colombia before it is too late.”

Dan Kovalik of the United Steel Workers of America spoke on the lawsuit filed in federal court against Occidental Petroleum and its ugly practices in Colombia. “Occidental Oil is the direct beneficiary of $99 million in taxpayer money to protect an oil pipeline in Arauca. There the U.S. advisors and soldiers train the 18th Brigade of the Colombian Army. The 18th Brigade gunned down three unarmed trade unionists on Aug. 5, 2004, just six months ago. This is what U.S. tax money is supporting. These are the supposed ‘anti-terror techniques’ in practice.”

Jhony Meneses, of the Taxi Drivers’ Union in Cartegena, Colombia, explained about U.S. military intervention and oil. “The U.S. military received $99 million from the U.S. Congress to patrol an oil pipeline that is largely used by Occidental Petroleum. In this area of Colombia, near Arauca, the unions, the peasant groups and the ordinary citizens have seen paramilitary death squads move in and force anyone opposed to the policies of Occidental Petroleum or the Colombian government flee the area or be murdered. First come the Colombian military with their U.S. advisors, and they tell the people, you better leave or the paramilitaries who follow us will ‘take care of you.’ Then the union and community leaders must make a difficult choice, stand their ground and possibly die, or abandon everything they have worked for.”

Meneses continued, “Of course this is all legal because no one in the military is held responsible to the laws – under the ‘War on Terrorism,’ anyone opposed to President Uribe’s policies is a suspect. Conservative politicians and the press label trade union leaders as ‘terrorists.’ So anyone demanding trade union rights or advocating for the environment or indigenous people asserting their sovereignty over their land is a ‘terrorist threat.’ This is the meaning of promoting American democracy in Colombia under Plan Colombia.”

The CAN Conference also hosted a unique panel entitled, “No blood for oil!” There was one bright light in the discussions about oil and politics. The Consul General of Venezuela, Martin Sanchez, spoke about the importance of oil to the whole of Venezuelan society. He said, “The Venezuelan government under President Chavez has restructured the national oil industry to benefit the Venezuelan people. The reforms eliminate whole layers of bosses and corrupt officials who did no work, but were being paid. The anti-corruption reforms allow Venezuela to use the savings and the profits from oil to build a new society that benefits working people. The Venezuelan government for the first time can invest in education, healthcare and infrastructure, to benefit all Venezuelans, not just the wealthy.”

Suzanne Adely of the Arab American Action Network spoke about U.S. war and occupation in the Middle East. Many participants said it was the most powerful speech they have heard concerning oil and the U.S. occupation of Iraq. She defended the right of the Iraqi people to resist occupation. Ms. Adely explained, “The outcome of the elections were predetermined in the sense that the new regime could only do the bidding of Bush and the Pentagon, given the ongoing U.S. military occupation and the failing attempt to put down the insurgency.”

She spoke about the unity of the Iraqi people in opposition to British and U.S. forces and the support of the Arab masses for the resistance. Ms. Adely related the Palestinian struggle for self-determination and the liberation of all of Palestine to the desires of people everywhere for freedom from colonialism and empire.

The conference then moved into workshops covering topics such as how to kick killer Coke off campus, organizing delegations to Colombia or to the World Youth Festival in Venezuela, how to organize and stop Plan Colombia, work against the ruinous Free Trade Agreements of Bush and the regional resistance to U.S. empire in Latin America.

One workshop dealt with the formation of a National Committee to Free Ricardo Palmera, the FARC leader now imprisoned and on trial in the U.S. The Colombian speakers at the Conference insisted that Ricardo Palmera’s trial was a bad precedent for all Colombians and activists and liberation fighters around the world. They emphasized the need for the CAN to take up this campaign and oppose the U.S. extradition of any Colombians for trial in the U.S. The Colombians underlined in the workshop that U.S. solidarity activists must oppose any extraditions, because it undermines the sovereignty and self-determination of Colombia.

The final morning of the CAN Conference took up resolutions supporting the Colombian Oil Workers’ Union, USO; opposing Plan Colombia; supporting the campaign to Free Ricardo Palmera; supporting the Mar. 19 anti-war protests and calling for a national day of action on tax day, April 15.

#ChicagoIL #News #Colombia #ColombiaActionNetwork #CocaCola #Americas