Occidental Petroleum on Trial in Colombia Tribunal: Steelworkers Demand Justice for Trade Union Murd

[Judi Lynn]

Source: StreetInsider

Occidental Petroleum on Trial in Colombia Tribunal: Steelworkers Demand Justice for Trade Union Murders of Union Leaders

July 18, 2008 12:00 PM EDT


A demonstration is being held outside of the Occidental Petroleum headquarters on July 22 to highlight a public hearing in Bogota by a people's tribunal that's hearing charges of murders and death threats against union leaders involving the company's alleged complicity.

Democratic congressional leaders have been holding up approval of the U.S. -- Colombia Free Trade Agreement, pending more evidence by Colombia's government for the arrest and conviction of paramilitaries and others behind the killings of outspoken union leaders in that country.

Occidental Petroleum and other multinational corporations operating in Colombia are being judged by a Popular Peoples' Tribunal -- "Tribunal Permanente de los Pueblos (TPP) -- taking place in Bogota, July 22-23. The tribunal will expose these corporations for their alleged participation in illegal actions aimed at silencing labor unionists and community activists - and in some cases leading to murder with impunity.

Occidental Petroleum's presence and support for the armed forces in Arauca has helped to fuel and exacerbate the civil war in that region. The company reportedly financed the Colombian '18th Army Brigade,' which has committed numerous atrocities, including the August 2004 murder of three union leaders in cold blood.





Read more: http://www.streetinsider.com/Press+Releases/Occidental+Petroleum+on+Trial+in+Colombia+Tribunal:+Steelworkers+Demand+Justice+for+Trade+Union+Murders+of+Union+Leaders/3830887.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. If the link doesn't work, this may be better:

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Sorry the first link was incomplete.

[Peace Patriot]

2. 400 murders of union leaders and community organizers since 2002!

The article goes on to say this:

"Labor leaders in Colombia continue to be murdered with impunity. Since Colombia President Alvaro Uribe took office five years ago, convictions have been reported in 59 trade union homicide cases, an average of less than one per month. Of the 59 convictions, only 22 are for the more than 400 murders committed since 2002."

This is appalling! $5.5 BILLION of our tax dollars (that which can be accounted for) poured into this country in military aid, and the result is military and paramilitary mass murder. Amnesty International says that 92% of these murders were committed by Colombia's military and closely associated rightwing paramilitary death squads. (Only 2% are attributed to the FARC guerrillas. The rest are non-political crimes, probably drug related.)

The Bushites keep rewarding these atrocities with more billions of dollars, and now want to reward the rich fascists who are behind these murders with "free trade" (i.e., free fire zone against workers!).

The cost of the Bush Junta is far higher than a lot of people realize--in lives, and in dollars wasted, stolen or used for very ill purposes. It's not just Iraq. It's not just Afghanistan. It's not just Guantanamo Bay. It's not just all the other theft and horror that we are aware of. Add Colombia's dead union leaders--400 of them!--the cocaine-ruined lives here and elsewhere (for the cocaine trade has not even been dented by this billion dollar "war on drugs"); add the hundreds of thousands of Colombian refugees into Venezuela and Ecuador (mostly fleeing the Colombian military/paramilitaries), and the extreme poverty of millions of Colombians. Much of this cost is directly attributable to Bush Junta policy.