The OPSEU delegation began their stay in Bogota with a series of meetings with human rights workers, trade unionists, a women's organization and progressive parliamentarians.
Human Rights workers Lilia Solano and Carolina Ramirez
OPSEU representatives met first with Lilia Solano, National Director of Justicia y Vida (Justice and Life) and an Advisor to the Colombian parliament's Human Rights Commission who recently announced her candidacy for Congress in 2010. She works with the families of the detained and disappeared in Colombia and recently returned from Canada where she lobbied the Canadian government to stop the Canada Colombia Free Trade Agreement. With 70 percent of the population in poverty, 4 million internally displaced people and a situation the UN calls a "humanitarian crisis", Lilia congratulated OPSEU and other Canadian unions and social justice organizations for forcing a postponement of the ratification of the Free Trade Agreement.
Lilia introduced the delegation to Dr. German Regis, a member of the House of Commons representing the opposition party Polo Democratico Alternativo. A medical doctor and former President of the Doctors Union in Colombia, Dr. Regis is the President(Chair) of the Human Rights Commission, a multi-party Commission. The Commission's functions are to write laws regarding human rights and to ensure political responsibility which means challenging the government to fulfill its duty on human rights.
Dr. Regis addresses delegation
Dr. Regis outlined the deep crisis within Colombia today - the human rights crisis but also the devastation of the public sector in Colombia. Most public hospitals have been turned over to private health care companies and doctors are now "outsourced" causing a loss of membership of 15,000 doctors who were part of his union (down to 5,000 from 20,000) before. Pensions, health care, public utilities and communications have all been massively privatized in recent years. The message Dr. Regis wants OPSEU to take back to Canada is to pressure the Colombian government to commit to UN Conventions - among them the rights of workers and unions to free collective bargaining, including public employees; to stop making anti-trade union laws which force unions to go underground and organize in a clandestine manner; to stop creating false linkages between unions and guerilla groups as a way of justifying the killing of more than 2500 trade union leaders in the last 15 years ("its like giving permission to the paramilitaries") and to take all of the information back to Canadians.
OPSEU and Lilia outside the Senate buildings
Next stop was the office of elected Senator Alexander Lopez Maya - also of the Polo Democratico Alternativo party. He was called away so we met with his assistant, Carolina Ramirez. "The work of this office is to serve the most vulnerable people in Colombia" said Carolina. They travel throughout the country to provide an audience to the people, to allow the victims of the human rights atrocities to tell their stories, to highlight the situation of political prisoners, the tortures and killings.
She talked of two different kinds of "false positives" in Colombia today - jailing activists and falsely accusing them of being guerillas; and taking activists, killing them and then dressing them up as guerillas.
The work of the Human Rights Commission is to bring to light these issues but as the Uribe government holds power (a coalition of the more conservative parties holds 85% of the seats in Congress) their work is difficult. Collecting evidence from the people is not convenient to business, industry or the current government but the opinion of the people is what the Commission wants to hear. If the government closes all avenues to finance the Commission's work, the staff and volunteers turn to others for help - churches, unions and other social organizations.
Amanda Rincon, National Teachers Union
Over lunch, OPSEU met with Amanda Rincon from the Teachers Union, who described the situation for teachers in the countryside in Colombia. They are still facing persecution and systematic killings. Since the 1970s teachers have been targeted but at first it was more selective. Since the end of the 90s, it is more about the paramilitiaries who hold key positions in communities for those who will go along with them. In recent years, teachers have been very active in trying to defeat many regressive laws, e.g. the referendum to change the law to ensure the President's re-election. Teachers and students mobilized against this legislation but also over their rights in general.
Amanda asked OPSEU for support for the international campaign for two teachers who have been jailed recently - William Javier Diaz Ramirez and Miguel Angel - imprisoned without a trial and without any bail, accused of terrorism. Miguel's students bring enough food to the jail for a week at a time as they are afraid of him being deliberately poisoned.
Miguel is teaching others in prison to read. In particular, many paramilitaries don't read so he ends up teaching them!
Javier is a headache for authorities while in jail as he has started a campaign called "El libro por cada patio" (A book for every patio). At first denied library privileges, he is now working on a project to have one library room in each section of the jail. He also included books for kids as the prisoners are allowed a monthly visit from their families.
Amanda will be in touch with OPSEU regarding future solidarity with teachers in Colombia.
OPSEU presents ASDEP with flag (in Spanish)
Today we gave our first OPSEU banner in Spanish to ASDEP - the Union for the Offices of the Ombudsman. The leader of ASDEP, Maria Eva Villate, presented us with a clear picture of the very difficult situation for all trade unionists in Colombia. Indiscriminate violence against unionists has been carried out over a long period of time. This union represents people who work for an institution that belongs to the government, an institution in charge of defending human rights. They have carried out extensive research and they know the situation well. The union calls it a mafia style government in Colombia controls all of the power - military, political, economic.
Right now over 70 Congress representatives belonging to the official party or the coalition are under investigation by the Supreme Court because they received help from the paramilitaries to get elected- whether through threats or money. President Uribe's first cousin is now under investigation for links with drug cartels. The brother of the Minister of the Interior is now accused of having links with the paramilitaries. And most disturbing the first Director of the Department of Intelligence - directly from the President's office - is now accused of links to one of the most dangerous paramilitary leaders. Three directors that followed him are now being investigated for illegally wiretapping the Supreme Court itself. ASDEP has also heard of wiretapping of other NGOs, human rights organizations, etc.
The problem now is that the paramilitaries have infiltrated so much into so many levels of government and the government has allowed them to do it. The Supreme Court is the only one trying to bring this issue to justice.
A special UN Auditor has called the situation "a systemic way" of operating in Colombia.
Maria Eva also talked about the 4 million displaced people in Colombia, the dangers of a Canada Colombia Free Trade Agreement, seven proposed U.S military bases in Colombia and the need for strong international support for the people of Colombia. How is it, she asked, that governments elsewhere keep talking to this government as if it was a valid counterpart to their own government - with its crimes against humanity and the violations of human rights which are taking place daily?
What an amazing first day of learning about Colombia from some courageous brothers and sisters.
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