10 October, 2011
The ICEM expressed outrage and condemned the cold-blooded assassination on 26 September of a Colombian contract worker who was working with affiliate Unión Sindical Obrera (USO) to bring trade union rights to temporary workers at Ecopetrol’s Barrancabermeja refining and petrochemicals complex in the Santander department.
Isidro Rivera Barrera, 45, was repairing a washing machine in front of his home in Barrancabermeja when a gunman jumped off the back of a motorcycle and shot him three times at point-blank range. The assassin and accomplice then escaped on the high-powered motorcycle.
In a press statement on the killing, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda said, “This cowardly act again reminds us that Colombia is a deadly country for those exercising freedom of association and free speech rights. We reiterate our trade union affiliate USO’s call that Colombia’s public prosecution office uses all means to apprehend and prosecute the criminals and masterminds behind this heinous crime.”
The ICEM also called on Ecopetrol, its major contractor at Barrancabermeja, Foster Wheeler AG, and all other sub-contractors to ensure the security of all oil industry workers in the city. The ICEM further called on 90% state-owned Ecopetrol and its contractors to create workplace climates where freedom of association and rights to join unions and bargain collectively are considered common civil liberties.
Isidro Rivera was shot twice in the shoulder and once in the throat. He died within minutes of the shooting, slumped across the chair he was working on and in front of neighbours who came running after hearing the shots. Isidro Rivera was a recognised union member by Ecopetrol who was attempting to spread the trade union message to contract workers inside Colombia’s biggest downstream oil and petrochemical facilities. He is survived by three children.