Colombia: Killings, arbitrary detentions, and death threats - the reality of trade unionism in Colombia

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AI Index: AMR 23/001/2007

Introduction: the human rights crisis and trade unionists

Over the last four decades, Colombia has faced an armed conflict which has pitted the security forces and paramilitaries against guerrilla forces, the largest of which are the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, FARC), and the much smaller National Liberation Army (Ejército de Liberación Nacional, ELN). The conflict has been marked by the widespread and systematic violation of human rights and breaches of international humanitarian law by all the parties.

During the armed conflict, the armed forces and their paramilitary allies have pursued a counter-insurgency strategy which has sought to deny guerrilla forces any imagined or real support from the civilian population. Terror is integral to this strategy: enforced disappearances, torture, sexual and other forms of violence against women, death threats, and killings of civilians are designed to break any real or perceived links between civilians and the guerrilla.

Terror tactics are also used to enable powerful economic elites to protect, expand and consolidate their interests. Over 60 per cent of the more than 3 million internally displaced people in Colombia have been forced from their homes and lands in areas of mineral, agricultural or other economic importance. The conflict provides a useful cover for those seeking to expand and protect economic interests. It is in this context that trade unionists are the target of numerous human rights violations. Trade unionists are repeatedly labelled as subversive by the security forces and paramilitaries. Such criticisms are often followed by human rights violations which also frequently coincide with periods of labour unrest or negotiations over working conditions.

Impunity is a key component of this counter-insurgency strategy – the knowledge that the perpetrators of human rights violations will not be brought to justice sends a clear and powerful message to individuals and organizations not to seek justice. It also sends a clear message to such groups that their members and leaders could suffer further human rights violations if they do not put an end to their activities. Impunity ensures that the perpetrators of human rights violations are still at large and more than willing to repeat their actions.

The impunity enjoyed by security force personnel responsible for human rights violations has been guaranteed through a variety of techniques designed to ensure that crimes are not fully investigated. The security forces have covered up their involvement by using paramilitary groups to carry out their “dirty war” tactics and have sought to improve their human rights image by denying that paramilitaries operate with their acquiescence, support or, as is often the case, under their coordination.

The use of paramilitaries provides another dimension of terror to the Colombian conflict. At the national and international level the armed forces and Colombian government deny links between the armed forces and the paramilitaries, at most admitting to individual cases of collusion involving a few “rotten apples”. However, at local level these links are often not denied and are sometimes even deliberately made evident in order to increase fear among the civilian population. In essence, the message is “who are you going to turn to for help?”

Guerrilla forces are responsible for repeated and widespread breaches of international humanitarian law. These include killings of those they consider to be siding with their enemies or who oppose their interests – including trade unionists; kidnappings and hostage-taking; sexual abuse and other forms of violence against women; and indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks against military targets which have often resulted in civilian deaths.(1) Guerrilla forces have also targeted industrial infrastructure and kidnapped company employees as a means of extorting money from companies or of expressing their opposition to the company’s investment activities.

Colombia continues to face a human rights crisis, despite improvements in certain indicators of violence associated with the armed conflict, such as killings and kidnappings. In particular, Amnesty International (AI) continues to be concerned about the still high numbers of internally displaced people; killings of and threats against trade unionists and human rights defenders, mainly by paramilitary groups; continued enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions and extrajudicial killings by the security forces; and killings and kidnappings of civilians by guerrilla groups. All parties to the conflict continue to commit war crimes, crimes against humanity and other crimes under international law.

Although more than 30,000 paramilitaries have reportedly been “demobilized” in the last three years in a controversial government-sponsored demobilization process, there is strong evidence that paramilitary groups continue to operate and have been responsible for human rights violations including threats, killings, and enforced disappearances, sometimes committed with the acquiescence of or in collusion with the security forces. Although the Justice and Peace Law, designed to regulate the demobilization process, has been modified by the Constitutional Court, concerns remain that the legislation will exacerbate the endemic problem of impunity and deny victims their right to truth, justice and reparation, especially since the government subsequently reversed some of the Court’s modifications in its Decree 3391 (see Appendix 1).

In recent years, the percentage of human rights abuses against trade unionists which cannot be attributed to a particular party to the conflict has increased significantly. Nevertheless, cases in which clear evidence of responsibility is available indicates that in 2005 around 49 per cent of human rights abuses against trade unionists were committed by paramilitaries and some 43 per cent directly by the security forces. Just over 2 per cent were attributable to guerrilla forces (primarily the FARC and ELN) and just over 4 per cent to criminally-motivated actions. According to the non-governmental human rights organization National Trade Union School (Escuela Nacional Sindical, ENS), the number of trade unionists killed and forcibly disappeared has fallen, from 209 in 2001 to 73 in 2005, although there was a slight increase to 77 in 2006.(2) AI has received information on at least six killings attributed to guerrilla forces in 2006. Nine trade unionists were reportedly killed in the first four months of 2007.

It is often not possible to determine the motivation behind killings or death threats against trade unionists. In the context of Colombia’s long-running armed conflict, trade unionists have often been the target of human rights abuses as a result of their political affiliations or motives other than their trade union activities. However, the fact that a high proportion of human rights abuses against trade unionists take place in the course of labour disputes does point to a pattern that indicates trade unionists are targeted because of their work in support of socio-economic rights.

Many of the cases documented in this report refer to killings of and threats against trade unionists which have taken place in a context of labour disputes, including those involving trade union campaigns against the privatization of public services or public sector companies. It is also important to underline that often it is the relatives of trade unionists who have been killed and threatened. Attacks against relatives are intended to intimidate trade unionists and undermine their work and may also be designed to limit the numbers of human rights violations registered as attacks against trade unionists.

This report also includes several cases of human rights abuses against women trade unionists. According to the ENS, at least 13 women trade unionists were killed in the first 11 months of 2006, compared to 15 in the whole of 2005 and 16 in 2004. There were also 102 recorded death threats against women trade unionists in 2005, compared to 187 in 2004. Only 14 death threats were recorded in 2001 and six in 2002. The ENS notes that in 2005 men accounted for some 65 per cent of victims of anti-trade union violence and women for around 34 per cent.(3)

By assuming activist roles in Colombian trade unions and other organizations, Colombian women are challenging traditional gender roles. For women to secure such leadership roles may require significantly more effort than that invested by male colleagues. Threats and killings against female trade unionists not only seek to undermine trade union activity but are a heavy blow for those women seeking to challenge traditional gender roles.

Government obligations to respect and uphold trade union rights

Freedom of association is recognized under Colombian law and Colombia’s 1991 Constitution. The 1991 Constitution recognizes the right of trade unions to organize and to strike (except for workers in services considered essential). In its ruling C-401 of 2005, the Constitutional Court established that International Labour Organization (ILO) Conventions No. 98 (on the right to organize and to bargain collectively) and No. 87 (on freedom of association and protection of the right to organize) should be considered as integral to the Constitution. However, the right to strike is restricted by Law 50 of 1990 which establishes that strike action which lasts longer than 60 days can be subject to compulsory arbitration, in contravention to principles established in ILO Convention No. 87.(4)

Trade unionists complained to the ILO High-Level Tripartite Mission to Colombia,(5) which took place in October 2005, about legislation and practices which restrict trade union rights. These include Law 50 (1990), which restricts the rights of trade unions to establish union committees and local branches, and the lack of regulation on collective bargaining in the public sector which had meant that those rights for public employees had been restricted in practice. Trade unionists also complained to the Mission that the practice of turning workers into cooperative associates was being used as a means to deny workers their trade union rights.(6)

In an April 2006 report,(7) the trade union confederations Trade Union Congress (Central Unitaria de Trabajadores, CUT), the General Confederation of Labour (Confederación General del Trabajo, CGT), and the Confederation of Colombian Workers (Confederación de Trabajadores de Colombia, CTC), informed the ILO that the rate of creation of new trade unions had declined. The report pointed to administrative obstacles which impeded the registration of new trade unions. According to the Social Protection Ministry, of 185 requests made in 2005 to register trade unions, only 114 had been accepted even though Colombian law establishes that trade unions acquire legal status automatically on their creation. The report expressed concern that a trade union’s creation could be blocked through administrative decisions.

The ILO High-Level Tripartite Mission to Colombia of October 2005 concluded that “the climate of violence against trade unionists could only be understood within the context of the laws, policies and practices that it felt seriously undermined trade unionism in the country. Among the issues raised as having a severe impact on freedom of association and collective bargaining were: restructuring of companies to eliminate union representation, the use of cooperatives to disguise employment relationships and avoid unionization; subcontracting and the use of commercial and civil contracts to keep workplaces union free; collective accords and their impact on unions and collective bargaining; the use of the union contract; the denial of collective bargaining for public servants; obstacles to trade union registration; and the legal prohibition of the right to call for a strike in services not considered as essential stricto sensu, in many public services that are not essential stricto sensu…”.(8)

The Colombian state ratified the ILO’s Conventions No.87(9) and No. 98(10) on 16 November 1976. These Conventions commit the Colombian state to guarantee fundamental trade union rights including the right to freedom of association, the right to organize and the right to collective bargaining. The Committee on Freedom of Association(11) has made it clear that: “[t]he rights of workers’ and employers’ organizations can only be exercised in a climate that is free from violence, pressure or threats of any kind against the leaders and members of these organizations, and it is for governments to ensure that this principle is respected.”(12)

These rights are closely related to other fundamental human rights such as the rights to life, physical integrity and freedom of expression. As a member of the United Nations (UN) and the Organization of American States (OAS), Colombia has voluntarily undertaken a legal commitment to uphold the provisions set out in numerous international and regional human rights treaties. In addition, the supremacy of international treaties over all domestic law has been established in the 1991 Colombian Constitution.(13)

Trade unionists are human rights defenders. Human rights defenders are crucial actors in the struggle for political, social and economic rights. Human rights defenders are all those men and women whose actions – individual or collective – contribute to the effective elimination of all violations of fundamental rights. States have international obligations to protect human rights defenders. In December 1998 the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders). The Declaration is a set of principles based on legal standards enshrined in international human rights law.(14) It sets out the rights of human rights defenders and the specific freedoms and activities which are fundamental to their work. These include the right to know, seek, obtain and receive information about human rights and fundamental freedoms; the right to participate in peaceful activities against violations of human rights; the right to criticize and complain when governments fail to comply with human rights standards; and the right to make proposals for improvement.

The governments of the Americas have acknowledged the importance of individuals, groups and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that promote human rights in several resolutions, the most recent of which, on human rights defenders, was adopted by the OAS in June 2006.(15)

Government security measures for trade unionists

Over the years, successive Colombian governments have taken action to improve the safety of trade unionists through a variety of measures designed to increase their security. This support is coordinated by the Protection Programme of the Ministry of Interior and Justice. This has included the provision of bodyguards, armour-plated vehicles and mobile telephones. Any measures to protect trade unionists, in line with what those under threat deem to be appropriate, are to be welcomed.

AI is concerned, however, that such measures have sometimes been withdrawn or restricted, even at times of heightened security risk for the trade unionists benefiting from these measures. Budgetary constraints are often used by the authorities to justify these restrictions. This report does not seek to evaluate the protection programme; AI considers that the high number of killings of trade unionists is indicative that such security measures on their own are not sufficient. The government must take concrete action to end the impunity enjoyed by those responsible for abusing the human rights of trade unionists and to ensure a sustained and substantive improvement in the human rights situation.

The establishment of a permanent ILO presence in Colombia

During the 95th International Labour Conference (ILC) of the ILO, held from 31 May to 16 June 2006,(16) an agreement was reached with the government to establish a permanent ILO presence in Colombia. This would, among other things, promote and defend the basic rights of trade unionists in the country.(17) The agreement(18) also included a commitment to monitor closely progress made by a special investigation unit of Colombia’s Office of the Attorney General (Fiscalía General de la Nación)(19) set up to investigate killings and arbitrary detentions of trade unionists. On 17 October 2006, further to this agreement, the Office of the Attorney General stated that it had deployed a significant number of investigative attorneys in order to end impunity in cases of violations of the right to life against trade unionists and the Colombian government announced that it was designating economic resources to the Office of the Attorney General to undertake this work. AI welcomes the commitment made by the government to end impunity in these cases and hopes this initiative will achieve significant results.

On 18 October 2006, an agreement was reached between the government and trade union and employer representatives on the mandate of the Permanent Representation of the ILO in Colombia, and the Permanent Representation began operating on 15 January 2007.

The endemic problem of impunity

Substantive improvement in the human rights situation faced by trade unionists will not be secured without decisive action to end the impunity enjoyed by the vast majority of perpetrators of human rights abuses against trade unionists. Since 1991, the ENS estimates that there have been 2,245 killings, 3,400 threats and 138 enforced disappearances of trade unionists.(20) Impunity in these cases remains at over 90 per cent. AI is concerned by the fact that the Colombian government has promoted legislation – such as the Justice and Peace Law, Decree 128 of 2003 and Law 906 of 2004 – which is threatening to consolidate impunity by providing de facto amnesties to paramilitaries and guerrillas responsible for human rights abuses.(21) These measures could also consolidate the impunity of third parties, including members of the security forces, responsible for supporting or coordinating paramilitary groups. Measures which strengthen impunity run counter to recommendations made by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and to international human rights standards the Colombian state is obliged to respect, including ILO standards.

In repeated statements, the ILO’s Committee on Freedom of Association has established that violations of the right to life of trade unionists must be investigated:

“The killing, disappearance or serious injury of trade union leaders and trade unionists requires the institution of independent judicial inquiries in order to shed full light, at the earliest date, on the facts and the circumstances in which such actions occurred and in this way, to the extent possible, determine where responsibilities lie, punish the guilty parties and prevent the repetition of similar events.”(22)

The Committee has also made it clear that: “In the event that judicial investigations into the murder and disappearance of trade unionists are rarely successful, the Committee has considered it indispensable that measures be taken to identify, bring to trial and convict the guilty parties and has pointed out that such a situation means that, in practice, the guilty parties enjoy impunity which reinforces the climate of violence and insecurity and thus has an extremely damaging effect on the exercise of trade union rights.”(23) Analysis of the information provided by the Colombian government to the Committee on Freedom of Association and other information which appears in the 340th report of the Committee published in March 2006 confirms the high levels of impunity.(24) Of 298 cases of killings of trade unionists between 2002 and 2004 which are under investigation by the Office of the Attorney General only four have resulted in a sentence, that is to say, just over 1.3 per cent.

Wilson Borja

Among the few cases in which criminal investigations have advanced is that of the attempt on the life of former trade union leader and member of Congress Wilson Borja Díaz. On 15 December 2000, gunmen opened fire on the then trade union leader seriously wounding him. Criminal investigations established that the attempt on his life was part of a military-paramilitary operation and resulted in sentences of between 42 months and 28 years’ imprisonment being passed against several paramilitaries, including paramilitary leader Carlos Castaño Gil, who was sentenced in absentia, and several members of the security forces, including army Major César Alonso Maldonado Vidales. Information on these sentences was submitted by the government to the Committee on Freedom of Association and included in the Committee’s 340th Report.

However, the government appears to have omitted to inform the Committee that on 3 November 2004, one of the main perpetrators, Major César Alonso Maldonado Vidales, was able to escape from the military base where he was being held. It is not clear what efforts, if any, the authorities have undertaken to secure his re-capture. Before his conviction, it was alleged that Major Maldonado had undertaken intelligence work from the Bogotá military police barracks where he was being held, and had been free to come and go at will.

The killing of the SINTRAMIENERGETICA trade union leadership

On 12 March 2001, Valmore Locarno Rodríguez and Víctor Hugo Orcasita Amaya, President and Vice-president, respectively, of the National Mining and Energy Workers’ Union (Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de Empresas Mineras y Energéticas, SINTRAMIENERGETICA), were reportedly forced off the bus on which they were travelling in El Paso Municipality, Cesar Department, by paramilitaries. Valmore Locarno was shot in the head several times and killed. Víctor Hugo Orcasita was reportedly tied up and thrown into a vehicle. His body was found several hours later by the roadside. He had been tortured before being shot dead. The killings occurred during the course of negotiations regarding contracts with the US mining concern, Drummond Company.

Criminal investigations into the killings have been slow to advance beyond the preliminary phase (which is designed to identify individuals who may be implicated in crimes). On 2 May 2007 the Office of the Attorney General issued an arrest warrant against paramilitary leader Rodrigo Tovar Pupo, alias Jorge 40, for his alleged part in the killing of Valmore Locarno Rodríguez and Víctor Hugo Orcasita Amaya.

On 14 March 2002, SINTRAMIENERGETICA and relatives of Valmore Locarno Rodríguez and Víctor Hugo Orcasita Amaya filed a lawsuit under the terms of the US Alien Tort Claims Act,(25) with the US District Court, N.D. Alabama, Western Division, against Drummond Company in relation to the company’s possible role in the killings of these two trade union leaders and Gustavo Soler Mora (see below). On 14 April 2003, the US Court considering the lawsuit ruled it would proceed with at least some of the claims made by the plaintiffs. According to information in the possession of the District Court, whilst the contract negotiations with the trade union were under way, pamphlets were circulated on Drummond Company premises labelling SINTRAMIENERGETICA a “guerrilla union” and accusing Víctor Hugo Orcasita and Valmore Locarno of being guerrilla supporters. According to the court document, Valmore Locarno wrote to Drummond Ltd(26) protesting that the pamphlets had been circulated in La Loma mine in Cesar Department.

Valmore Locarno and Víctor Hugo Orcasita had requested that they be allowed to sleep at the coalmine rather than leave the premises because of fears for their safety. This request was denied. Following their killings, Gustavo Soler Mora assumed the presidency of SINTRAMIENERGETICA. He and other leaders of SINTRAMIENERGETICA reportedly reiterated the request for union leaders to be allowed to sleep on the premises; again the request was denied. Gustavo Soler was killed by paramilitaries who reportedly forced him off the bus on which he was travelling in the direction of his home in the town of Chiriguaná, Cesar Department, on 5 October 2001. According to information received, the paramilitaries forced the bus to stop, boarded the vehicle and called Gustavo Soler by name. His body, which showed signs of torture, was found in the area on 7 October 2001.

On 13 May 2006, Rafael García, a former high-ranking official from the Civilian Intelligence Department (Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad, DAS), had given a sworn statement filed with the US Court considering the lawsuit against Drummond Company in which he claimed to have witnessed company officials handing over money to a paramilitary leader in order to kill Valmore Locarno and Víctor Hugo Orcasita (see section below on security force-paramilitary operations to target trade unionists). The company has publicly rejected these accusations. The judge hearing the case has decided to allow the parties to proceed to submit Rafael Garcia’s deposition in Colombia. If this deposition is taken – a process which would allow defendants to cross-examine Rafael Garcia on his testimony – the deposition transcript would be permitted for use at trial. More recently the judge has ruled that the allegations made by a former member of the Colombian army may also be presented to the trial. In a sworn statement made on 3 April 2007 filed with the court, the former soldier alleges that Drummond had provided paramilitaries with vehicles.

Trade unionists representing Drummond Company workers continue to be the target of human rights violations (see section below on trade unionists in strategic sectors).

The killing of three trade unionists in Arauca

Three trade unionists – Héctor Alirio Martínez, leader of the Asociación Departamental de Usuarios Campesinos (ADUC), Arauca Department Association of Peasant Farmers, Leonel Goyeneche, a CUT member in Arauca, and Jorge Prieto, a hospital worker and president of the Arauca Branch of the health-worker’s union National Association of Workers and Employees of Hospitals, Clinics, Consultancies, and Organizations Dedicated to the Provision of Community Health (Asociación Nacional de Trabajadores y Empleados de Hospitales, Clínicas, Consultorios y Entidades Dedicadas a Procurar la Salud de la Comunidad, ANTHOC), – were killed by army soldiers on 5 August 2004. The three were reportedly forced out of Jorge Prieto’s house in the hamlet of Caño Seco, Saravena Municipality, Arauca Department, by soldiers belonging to the “General Gabriel Revéiz Pizarro” Battalion (Batallón “General Gabriel Revéiz Pizarro”), of the XVIII Brigade of the army and shot dead.

According to the then commander of the 2nd Division, to which the XVIII Brigade belongs, General Luis Fabio García, the three trade unionists were killed in combat by soldiers of the “General Gabriel Revéis Pizarro” Battalion. Arrest warrants had reportedly been issued against the three men. Subsequent investigations revealed that the three trade unionists were not killed in combat and had been shot in the back. In July 2005 an army lieutenant, three soldiers and a civilian were charged with the killings. The investigations also reportedly revealed that the civilian under investigation accused the three trade unionists of being subversives in a radio programme broadcast from the “General Gabriel Revéiz Pizarro” Battalion base in Saravena Municipality. It is of concern that criminal investigations have not established possible chain-of-command responsibility in the killings despite the killings taking place within an official military operation and that a battalion commander had labelled Jorge Prieto a guerrilla prior to his killing.

On 2 May 2006 the Office of the Procurator General,(27) reported it had opened disciplinary investigations against several members of the “General Gabriel Revéiz Pizarro” Battalion, including its commander, for their possible responsibility in the killings. The Office of the Procurator General referred to the fact that criminal investigations against senior officers for their possible involvement had not advanced.

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