another attack on coke workers in Colombia

international | consumer issues | news report Wednesday April 21, 2004 10:32 by Gearoid O Loingsigh - LASC

family of sinaltrainal leader attacked

Yet again the paramilitaries turn their fire on the union

URGENT COMMUNIQUE

At 7 am on April 20, 2004, various armed men with machine guns entered the home of the brother of Coca-Cola union leader Efrain Guerrero's wife in Bucaramanga, and fired indiscriminately at the family, killing Efrain's brother-in-law, Gabriel Remolina, his wife Fanny and wounding three of their children. One of these children, Robinson Remolina, is in grave condition in the hospital.

This is not the first time that the families of Sinaltrainal union leaders have been the victims of such violence. This happened in the context of the labor conflict against Coca Cola, where we are trying to avoid the firing of workers due to closing production lines. The union is also negotiating a new convention with the company which was presented in March of this year. On April 18, we held the workers' assemblies where we approved the petitions that we would present to the Coca Cola bottlers in Bucaramanga, Cucuta and Barrancabermeja. We also just had a meeting with the Vice President of the Coca Cola bottlers where we expressed our concern for the security problems. In addition, the lawyers who filed the case against Coca-Cola in the United States, for acts of anti-union violence, just announced they had filed a new brief to reinstate Coca-Cola as a defendant.

We demand an end to the aggression against Sinaltrainal affiliates and our families, and we demand that the authorities investigate and find the material and intellectual authors of these crimes.



Enough already of so much injustice!

Yours,

LUIS JAVIER CORREA SUAREZ

President SINALTRAINAL

20th April, 2004

Please send letters of protest to:

His Excellency Alvaro Uribe Velez,
President of the Republic
Carrera 8 No. 7-26, Palacio de Nariño, Bogotá.
Fax (57-1) 566 20 71.

[to send e-mail to Uribe login to http://www.presidencia.gov.co and click on ESCRIBALE AL PRESIDENTE at the bottom of the page. Para enviar correo al Sr Presidente, dirmjase a la pagina Web:http://www.presidencia.gov.co y haga clic en ESCRIBALE AL PRESIDENTE ubicado en la parte inferior, al final de la pagina.]

Vice presidente Francisco Santos
Vicepresidencia
Carrera 8A No 5-57, Santafé de Bogotá, Colombia
Fax: 011 57 1 566 2386 Email: fsantos@presidencia.gov.co

Defensor del Pueblo
Defensoría del Pueblo
Calle 55, No. 10-32/46, oficina 30,1Santafé de Bogotá, Colombia
Fax 011 57 1 640 0491

Ministro del Interior y Justicia
Fax 011 571 566 3234 Email: ministro@minjusticia.gov.co


With copies to:


Sinaltrainal Fax 011 571 245 5325 sinaltrainal@sinaltrainal.org, areainternacional@sinaltrainal.org

And, in the UK, to Colombian Embassy (UK): mail@colombianembassy.co.uk
Bill Rammell MP Under Secretary of State Foreign Office james.morrison@fco.gov.uk

With a copy to the Colombia Solidarity Campaign at colombia_sc@hotmail.com