I: Colombia Union Leaders in NY 3/30/00

["nello" <margiotta@tightrope.it>]

-----Messaggio Originale-----
Da: "Weekly News Update" <wnu@igc.org>
Newsgroup: misc.activism.progressive
Data invio: domenica 26 marzo 2000 6.02
Oggetto: Colombia Union Leaders in NY 3/30/00


COLOMBIA MEDIA PROJECT
Presents

THE REPRESSION  OF  SOCIAL  PROTEST
 AND  LABOR  ACTION  IN  COLOMBIA

In March, the U.S. Congress is expected to approve a $1.7-Billion military
aid package to Colombia, ostensibly to fight the war on drugs, but also, as
President Clinton said, to "strengthen Colombian democracy." This is a
"democracy" that is in the midst of the most serious human rights crisis in
the Western Hemisphere, where political violence in the country's civil war
has targeted the civilian population, from Indigenous and peasant
communities to opposition political parties, from human rights activists to
trade union leaders. In fact, as the Colombian government expands its
IMF/World Bank-induced neoliberal economic program, the labor movement has
been one of the most affected by the subsequent state-sponsored repression.
The Central Organization of Colombian Workers (CUT), the largest union
worker central in Colombia, is a coalition of trade unions established in
1986. Since its foundation, its members, like many other union
representatives in Colombia, have faced numerous death threats, murder
attempts and political persecutions spearheaded by the Colombian government.
Since 1986, almost 3,000 representatives of unions and social organizations
affiliated with the CUT have been killed. Although the CUT is a prime
example of threats against labor activists, all of Colombia's labor
activists are under threat. In fact, more labor activists are killed in
Colombia than in any other country.

Public forum and video presentation

Hunter College, West Building, Room 217

Thursday, March 30 at 7:00pm

West Building corner of 68th street & Lexington Avenue

Suggested donation $5

Join Charlie Kernaghan of the National Labor Committee, Patricia Buritica,
director of the Department of Women/National Executive Committee of the
Central Organization of Workers of Colombia (CUT), and Domingo Tovar of the
Association of Educators of Sucre (ADES) and Director of CUT's Organizing
Department for a discussion about the Colombian Worker's Movement.

Cosponsored by National Labor Committee, Labor at the Crossroads, Latin
American Studies Program
at Hunter College, NACLA, North American Congress on Latin America, and Our
Americas: the Weekly
Report on Latin America and the Caribbean.

COLOMBIA MEDIA PROJECT
      PO Box 1091 GPO,  New York, NY 10116-1091, (212) 802-7209,
mmcompa@igc.org

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