Search News
For the Media
For media inquiries, call CWA Communications at 202-434-1168 or email comms@cwa-union.org. To read about CWA Members, Leadership or Industries, visit our About page.
Colombians' Courage Inspires Labor Delegation
Dorothee Benz knew the horrifying and tragic facts before her trip: That nearly 4,000 union activists have been killed in Colombia since 1986, that four of every five union members murdered around the world are Colombians, that hundreds of union leaders have "disappeared" and countless others are regularly harassed and threatened.
It was one thing to know the statistics, to hear the stories thousands of miles away from the danger. It was another to stand a few feet from union leaders who were surrounded by armed guards and peace activists, all of them risking their lives every day to fight for justice and freedom.
"It's a world of difference to know something abstractly and to see it firsthand," said Benz, the communications director for CWA Local 1180. "To say the least, it was an extraordinary trip. The most profound feeling that I have from it came as I was sitting on the plane coming back, thinking about the fact that I just left a place where people are routinely killed for what I do."
Benz and IUE-CWA Local 81201 President Jeff Crosby were among eight union leaders from the United States who took part in the 10-day tour, paid for by the U.S. State Department that included stops in Bogota, Medellin and Cali. The delegation met with local and national unionists, representatives of non-
governmental organizations, political opposition leaders,
government officials and staff at the U.S. Embassy.
"Despite everything, we left there inspired," Crosby said. "That's because of the courage of the trade unionists."
The delegation accompanied municipal union leader Hector Giraldo back home after a year's internship in the United States, including six months in Boston sponsored in part by CWA District 1 through the Eduardo Diaz Union-to-Union Solidarity Fund.
Giraldo spent his last month in the states on a speaking tour, telling union members, students and newspaper editorial boards about the dire situation in Colombia and how U.S. policy and money is making it worse.
"After meeting with the U.S. Embassy and the Colombian Ministry of the Interior we were able to get Hector put under what they call 'soft security' immediately," Crosby said. "Normally it takes months of 'risk assessment' before you are protected." He said the AFL-CIO officer stationed in Colombia credited the delegation with getting such quick results.
Government-provided "soft" security includes a cell phone with an emergency contact number, and money to pay for flights so Giraldo doesn't have to use dangerous overland routes between cities, where Crosby said he would be exposed to right-wing paramilitary attacks.
"Hector asked that his thanks be passed along to all the CWA members who support his union and anti-FTAA organizing, and to all his friends in the United States," Crosby said.
Colombia's longstanding civil war has led to 40,000 deaths in the last decade alone and driven 2 million people from their homes. Most of the deaths of union leaders and other political activists are at the hands of right-wing paramilitary groups, which even the U.S. State Department admits have been used illegally by legitimate - and U.S.-funded - military forces.
In 2002, the United States had about 500 military advisers serving Colombia and has given more than $2 billion in aid to the country over the past two years. Oil-rich Colombia is the third largest recipient of U.S. military aid, after Israel and Egypt.
"Seventy percent of that aid is military aid," Benz said. "The military is in direct collusion with the paramilitaries and they are slaughtering trade unionists. That's the main point: Your tax dollars are paying for the slaughter of your union brothers and sisters."
In Cali, the delegation spent time with a municipal union that has had 10 of its leaders assassinated in the past two years and had two others disappear. Today, the union president is protected by five armed bodyguards and travels in an armored car, what the government calls "hard" security.
The union's crime is fighting against the government's push to privatize services across the country, a situation that has devastated health care and left 40 percent of people in one region with no water, except for what they're able to buy off a truck once a week.
The Cali union represents water system workers, scores of whom bravely occupied the utility's office for 36 days in late 2001 and early 2002. The government backed down and agreed not to privatize the system for four years. But now, "new Colombian President Uribe, a close ally of President Bush, canceled that agreement and announced plans to break up the public water and other utilities," Crosby said.
It's a case study in globalization, he said, noting how the International Monetary Fund and World Bank are requiring, as terms of loans to the country, that Colombia open its public sector to the private market.
Crosby, who had visited Colombia in the past and adopted two children there in the early 1980s, said union leaders aren't risking their lives simply for their jobs, they're fighting to protect the country's poorest and most vulnerable citizens.
"The workers in Cali said, 'If we don't defend this, if we don't defend the public sector, the poor won't have any water,'" Crosby said. "They've built support for their struggle by going into the poor neighborhoods on their own time, on weekends, and bringing health care to neighborhoods that wouldn't otherwise get it. They're not motivated by their own self-interest."
Crosby and Benz urged union members and their families to contact their members of Congress and urge them to end support for military aid in Colombia. Crosby said further that locals can get involved by working with the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center and bringing activists like Giraldo to the U.S. to tell their stories.
"We saw people fighting back so courageously, with a determination that's just incredible," Benz said. "And they do so in spite of the human rights violations and the threats they face every day. That, to me, is very moving."
District 1 is continuing to raise money to support Hector Giraldo's union in its struggle. CWA members across the country can help by purchasing $20 metal bracelets with his name on them. Made in Colombia, they are a project of the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center. The CWA website's international page has information about ordering the bracelets, as well as ordering a 16-minute video about the Colombia struggle. Go to ga.cwa-union.org, click on "International" then "Eduardo Diaz Union-to-Union Fund" then "Colombia." Other donations to the Diaz fund will help support future trips to the United States for Colombian unionists. Send checks payable to CWA/Union-to-Union to CWA Secretary-Treasurer Barbara Easterling, 501 Third St. N.W., Washington DC, 20001.
It was one thing to know the statistics, to hear the stories thousands of miles away from the danger. It was another to stand a few feet from union leaders who were surrounded by armed guards and peace activists, all of them risking their lives every day to fight for justice and freedom.
"It's a world of difference to know something abstractly and to see it firsthand," said Benz, the communications director for CWA Local 1180. "To say the least, it was an extraordinary trip. The most profound feeling that I have from it came as I was sitting on the plane coming back, thinking about the fact that I just left a place where people are routinely killed for what I do."
Benz and IUE-CWA Local 81201 President Jeff Crosby were among eight union leaders from the United States who took part in the 10-day tour, paid for by the U.S. State Department that included stops in Bogota, Medellin and Cali. The delegation met with local and national unionists, representatives of non-
governmental organizations, political opposition leaders,
government officials and staff at the U.S. Embassy.
"Despite everything, we left there inspired," Crosby said. "That's because of the courage of the trade unionists."
The delegation accompanied municipal union leader Hector Giraldo back home after a year's internship in the United States, including six months in Boston sponsored in part by CWA District 1 through the Eduardo Diaz Union-to-Union Solidarity Fund.
Giraldo spent his last month in the states on a speaking tour, telling union members, students and newspaper editorial boards about the dire situation in Colombia and how U.S. policy and money is making it worse.
"After meeting with the U.S. Embassy and the Colombian Ministry of the Interior we were able to get Hector put under what they call 'soft security' immediately," Crosby said. "Normally it takes months of 'risk assessment' before you are protected." He said the AFL-CIO officer stationed in Colombia credited the delegation with getting such quick results.
Government-provided "soft" security includes a cell phone with an emergency contact number, and money to pay for flights so Giraldo doesn't have to use dangerous overland routes between cities, where Crosby said he would be exposed to right-wing paramilitary attacks.
"Hector asked that his thanks be passed along to all the CWA members who support his union and anti-FTAA organizing, and to all his friends in the United States," Crosby said.
Colombia's longstanding civil war has led to 40,000 deaths in the last decade alone and driven 2 million people from their homes. Most of the deaths of union leaders and other political activists are at the hands of right-wing paramilitary groups, which even the U.S. State Department admits have been used illegally by legitimate - and U.S.-funded - military forces.
In 2002, the United States had about 500 military advisers serving Colombia and has given more than $2 billion in aid to the country over the past two years. Oil-rich Colombia is the third largest recipient of U.S. military aid, after Israel and Egypt.
"Seventy percent of that aid is military aid," Benz said. "The military is in direct collusion with the paramilitaries and they are slaughtering trade unionists. That's the main point: Your tax dollars are paying for the slaughter of your union brothers and sisters."
In Cali, the delegation spent time with a municipal union that has had 10 of its leaders assassinated in the past two years and had two others disappear. Today, the union president is protected by five armed bodyguards and travels in an armored car, what the government calls "hard" security.
The union's crime is fighting against the government's push to privatize services across the country, a situation that has devastated health care and left 40 percent of people in one region with no water, except for what they're able to buy off a truck once a week.
The Cali union represents water system workers, scores of whom bravely occupied the utility's office for 36 days in late 2001 and early 2002. The government backed down and agreed not to privatize the system for four years. But now, "new Colombian President Uribe, a close ally of President Bush, canceled that agreement and announced plans to break up the public water and other utilities," Crosby said.
It's a case study in globalization, he said, noting how the International Monetary Fund and World Bank are requiring, as terms of loans to the country, that Colombia open its public sector to the private market.
Crosby, who had visited Colombia in the past and adopted two children there in the early 1980s, said union leaders aren't risking their lives simply for their jobs, they're fighting to protect the country's poorest and most vulnerable citizens.
"The workers in Cali said, 'If we don't defend this, if we don't defend the public sector, the poor won't have any water,'" Crosby said. "They've built support for their struggle by going into the poor neighborhoods on their own time, on weekends, and bringing health care to neighborhoods that wouldn't otherwise get it. They're not motivated by their own self-interest."
Crosby and Benz urged union members and their families to contact their members of Congress and urge them to end support for military aid in Colombia. Crosby said further that locals can get involved by working with the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center and bringing activists like Giraldo to the U.S. to tell their stories.
"We saw people fighting back so courageously, with a determination that's just incredible," Benz said. "And they do so in spite of the human rights violations and the threats they face every day. That, to me, is very moving."
District 1 is continuing to raise money to support Hector Giraldo's union in its struggle. CWA members across the country can help by purchasing $20 metal bracelets with his name on them. Made in Colombia, they are a project of the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center. The CWA website's international page has information about ordering the bracelets, as well as ordering a 16-minute video about the Colombia struggle. Go to ga.cwa-union.org, click on "International" then "Eduardo Diaz Union-to-Union Fund" then "Colombia." Other donations to the Diaz fund will help support future trips to the United States for Colombian unionists. Send checks payable to CWA/Union-to-Union to CWA Secretary-Treasurer Barbara Easterling, 501 Third St. N.W., Washington DC, 20001.