20 December, 2013The Coordinating Committee for Unity in the Mining and Energy Sector (Coordinadora para la Unidad del Sector Minero Energético, CUSME) is calling for the government to guarantee that the oil workers’ union (Unión Sindical Obrera, USO) will be able to carry out its trade union activities free from interference; release detained workers; withdraw arrest warrants; and close the files on 39 legal cases brought against USO members, 34 of which concern protests by workers and the community in the Pacific Rubiales “Banana Republic” in Meta.
In 2011, protests by 12,000 oil industry workers in Meta had a national impact. Workers were subjected to an unprecedented military siege as Pacific Rubiales and its contractors tried to silence the protest and criminalize and violate the freedom of association. In response, USO filed a lawsuit but the main witnesses involved in the case have been detained and imprisoned. In a single day, prosecutor 239, Luisa Fajardo, ordered the arrest of USO members Héctor Sánchez, José Dilio Naranjo and Campo Elías Ortiz, on charges that carry terms of imprisonment of between ten and thirty years, including conspiracy to commit a crime and aggravated kidnapping.
Pacific Rubiales has become a state within a state, with the country’s military forces, mayors and prosecutors completely subject to its interests. It has stifled media coverage, while pursuing a publicity and promotional agenda that includes sponsorship of the national football team.
At the public hearing at which the charges were announced, prosecutor 239 dared to say that the charge of conspiracy to commit a crime was based on the fact that the three accused belong to the same organisation, the USO. The lawyer for the defendants replied that, for the moment, the constitution guarantees the freedom of association.
The judge dealing with the case then went on to deny the defendants the presumption of innocence and issue a preventive detention order, in the knowledge that the crimes of which the defendants are accused are ridiculous and unfounded. The prosecutor claimed that the three accused were in command of 300 “hooded men” and abducted 5,000 workers in October 2011. The prosecutor also stated that Héctor Sánchez was a professional soldier and understood military strategies. However, she also said that the area in which this is supposed to have taken place was 57,000 times the size of Bolivar Square in Bogota, and that, people and vehicles were able to enter and leave the area as normal.
The so-called “hooded men” were part of the 12,000 workers wearing the clothes necessary to protect themselves against the weather and occupational hazards, who were at that time protesting against the slavery-like conditions to which to which they had been subjected by Pacific for more than a decade. The prosecutor purposely neglected to mention that the area was completely cordoned off by an army Energy Battalion, Red Berets, SMAT, the police and Pacific’s private security forces.
Something similar occurred with Oscar Orozco, president of the CUT and SINTRAELECOL in Caldas. After four attempts on his life, the authorities withdrew his official bodyguards. This was followed by another attempt on his life and he is now accused of organising the attack on himself. The prosecutor requested preventive detention, forbade Oscar from making any statement on the case and forbade any statements of support for him. Fortunately, on this occasion, , the judge in charge of the case turned down the prosecutor’s request.
The government is using the Law of Citizen Security and the public prosecution service to clamp down on all social and political opposition. The public prosecutor, Alejandro Ordoñez, is the government’s current inquisitor. He specializes in removing members of the political opposition and disqualifying them from public office for life. He has done this to Senator Piedad Córdoba and has now removed and disqualified from public office for 15 years the Mayor of Bogotá, Gustavo Petro. These steps are part of a policy to oppose peace talks with the armed insurgents that are currently taking place in Havana.
CUSME demands that the government provide “guarantees that the USO will be able to carry out its trade union activities free from interference (the prosecutor Luisa Fajardo refuses to provide such guarantees); withdraw arrest warrants; close the files on 39 legal cases brought against USO members, 34 of which concern protests by workers and the community in the Pacific Rubiales “Banana Republic” in Meta; immediately release our detained colleagues; provide guarantees for a fair trial and the right to a defence; transfer the USO cases to the national analysis and context unit of the prosecutor’s office; and repeal the Law of Citizen Security, which is used to support all the measures taken against the social movements”.
IndustriALL Global Union supports CUSME’s demands (see http://www.industriall-union.org/three-trade-union-leaders-detained-in-colombia) and has called on the Colombian government to order the immediate release of the workers and union leaders in question and end state persecution of oil workers and the country’s trade union and social movements.