ICFTU OnLine…
231/991222/JK

Brussels, 22 December 1999, ICFTU OnLine: The world’s largest trade union body has expressed outrage at the killing of a senior leader in Colombia’s trade union movement and vowed it "would not leave his assassination unpunished". César Herrera Torreglosa, General Secretary of the Colombian agricultural workers’ union SINTRAINAGRO, was shot while entering the union’s regional office in Cienaga, capital of Magdalena province. His union represents workers in negotiations with the banana employers organisation AGUARA, which includes the transnationals Del Monte and Chiquita. Herrera was also the leader of a co-ordinating body for Latin American banana workers. He had complained of repeated death threats prior to his murder, on December 13^th, but authorities refused to include his union in a governmental protection scheme designed for threatened union activists.

"Our colleague’s murder makes an utter mockery of the solemn undertaking signed by Colombia’s government last month in Geneva to co-operate fully in bringing anti-union repression to a halt", ICFTU General Secretary Bill Jordan said in Brussels today. In November, Colombia’s Labour Minister had signed an agreement with the country’s trade unions calling on the Director-General of the International Labour Office (ILO), Juan Somavia, to despatch an ILO "Direct Contacts Mission" to Colombia. This mission is now scheduled for the first half of February 2000. Its brief is to evaluate the situation and offer advice on how to curb the violence against trade unionists in the country.

"Herrera’s brutal murder can only be seen as a slap in the face of the ILO mission, and undoubtedly brings us one step closer to the eventual appointment of a full-fledged Commission of Inquiry", Bill Jordan added. The agreement under which the Direct Contacts mission is sent to Colombia was seen as a last-ditch effort by Bogota to avoid the appointment by the ILO’s Governing Body of a formal Commission of Inquiry into violations of basic trade union rights, which have led to the assassination of over 2,500 trade union leaders and activists in the country since 1987.

Following the agreement, the ILO Governing Body is now committed to voting at its June 2000 session on the appointment of such a Commission. It would be the strongest ever international legal investigation into Colombia’s labour legislation and practice. The last ILO Commission of Inquiry, which examined Burma’s systematic use of forced labour, led to the country’s quasi-expulsion from the ILO, a UN Specialised Agency, in June 1999.

"By refusing Mr. Herrera special police protection in the face of repeated death threats, the Colombian Government has fully demonstrated, at best its incompetence, at worst its direct complicity in his assassination", the ICFTU’s General Secretary also commented today. "I am shocked beyond belief that this was allowed to happen, especially so soon after Bogota’s signature of a formal international accord on this very issue. They must stop these killings from occurring, and they must do it now!", he added.

An ICFTU spokesperson said the organisation would now hold consultations with its Regional Inter-American Organisation (ICFTU-ORIT) and its other partners and examine practical measures aimed at stepping up its international campaign aimed at obtaining the appointment of the ILO Commission of Inquiry in June.