Colombia labor applauds convictions

Leaders say government is only taking action against organizers' to secure US trade deal.

By Sibylla Brodzinsky | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

from the November 13, 2007 edition

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Bogotá, Colombia - Friends and family of Aury Sara, the former head of the northern branch of Colombia's oil workers' union, had little doubt about who ordered his 2001 kidnapping, torture, and murder, but they had little hope of ever seeing those men convicted of the crimes.

The case, like hundreds of similar cases in the world's most violent country for union workers, had become mired in Colombia's labyrinthine legal system.

But last month a special court sentenced three top leaders of the now-demobilized paramilitary forces – one of whom is dead – to 40 years each and fines of about $160,000 for ordering Sara's murder.

The sentence is one of nine convictions handed down by three specially designated judges whose sole responsibility as of July is to resolve cases involving violence against union members going as far back as 1986.

The sudden surge in convictions is a victory for Colombia's workers' rights movement, one brought on, labor leaders say, by the government's strong desire to pass a key free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States. While the US Congress approved a similar deal with neighboring Peru last week, Colombia's trade pact is stalled over concern among some Democrats about the high level of impunity in human rights cases, especially involving trade union members.

"Without that pressure from the US the Colombian government would not be acting to clear up these cases and seek convictions," says Jose Luciano Sanin, director of the Escuela Nacional Sindical, a labor rights group that tracks violence against Colombia's labor movement. "All of a sudden, with this external pressure, impunity in union cases has become a priority because it is a condition for approval of the FTA," he says.

Pressure builds to act on human rights

Pressure began building late last fall after the Democrats swept a majority of seats in the House and the US and Colombian labor movements saw their chance to act.

Just last week, presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton (D) of New York joined election rival Sen. John Edwards (D) of North Carolina in opposing the pact.

The AFL-CIO, which had been denouncing the dismal labor rights situation in Colombia for years, used its influence in Washington to bog down the approval of the trade deal.

"We have a bit more leverage because of the FTA," says Jeff Vogt a global economy policy specialist with the AFL-CIO. "Our pressure has pushed them [the Colombian government] to put more resources into union member cases."

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