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trying to murder them fast enough. Colombia: sugar cane workers threatened
Submitted by WW4 Report on Wed, 09/17/2008 - 03:58.
On Aug. 25, the workers of the sugar cane industry in the Colombian departments of Cauca and Valle del Cauca held an assembly in the town of Candelaria, Valle, attended by more than 7,000, where the decision was taken to strike to press demands that the owners of the sugar industry and their Asocaña business chamber negotiate on a list of grievances presented on July 14. Since the Candelaria meeting, the sugar mills of the region have been completely militarized; the workers are being followed by motorcycles with armed men wearing balaclavas, and several have been threatened.
On Aug. 28, the wife of the worker Efraín Muñoz Yánez of the Cauca sugar mill INCAUCA, received a phone call in which she was told to tell her husband not to "fuck around" anymore or his whole family would be killed. On Aug. 29, Efraín got a call in which we was told the same thing.
On Sept. 1, Daniel Aguirre, another INCAUCA worker, received a visit at his home from a man who had threatened to kill him in 2005 during another labor dispute.
The worker Luis Aguilar, of the Mayaguez sugar mill, received a call in which he was told to choose whether he would get some money to stop participating in the workers' movement or even more money for his funeral. More: http://www.ww4report.com/node/6033~~~~~~~~~~How's a business going to succeed beyond its wildest dreams if it has to pay the workers what they actually earn, after all! Gotta keep these people working their whole lives WITHOUT medical care, WITHOUT retirement, WITHOUT safety measures taken for their well-being, WITHOUT being able to afford shelter and sustainance both. *1. Colombia: Striking Cane Cutters Attacked
On Sept. 15, at least 12,000 Colombian sugar cane cutters went on strike to protest the systematic violation of their labor rights and human rights. The workers cut sugar cane for 16 sugar mills in the Cauca river valley, primarily in the department of Valle del Cauca but also in the neighboring departments of Cauca, to the south, and Risaralda, to the northeast.
The same day the strike began, hundreds of agents from the Mobile Anti-Riot Squad (ESMAD) of the Colombian National Police, together with army soldiers and private sugar company guards, attacked a group of striking cane cutters from the Incauca and Providencia sugar mills, injuring more than 100 workers, at least five of them seriously. Gildardo Nieves, from the Incauca mill, was badly wounded in the abdomen with a tear gas bomb which affected his vital organs. Four workers from the Providencia mill required medical treatment for open wounds and contusions to the eyes, face and torso.
The sugar workers called the strike to pressure the Association of Sugar Cane Growers, ASOCAÑA, to negotiate a list of demands presented to them by the cane cutters union on July 14. ASOCAÑA has refused to negotiate and instead took out paid ads on local radio and television stations, threatening layoffs in case of a strike and telling the community not to support or participate in the strike. More: http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com/2008/09/wnu-961-striking-colombian-cane-cutters.html~~~~~~~~~~~~~Interesting fact at the end of this article you might want to know. Posting the whole article: Colombia 2007 Sugar Production Down 5.7% To 2.28M Tons -Asocana
61 days ago
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Colombian sugar production exports in the calendar year 2007 ended down 5.7% at 2,277,120 metric tons mixed value, the Colombian Cane Sugar Producers Association, or Asocana, said Tuesday.
This compares to total sugar production of 1,415,145 tons in Colombia during the 2006 calendar year, Asocana said in its final sugar report for 2007, a copy of which was obtained by Dow Jones Newswires.
Sugar exports from Colombia in 2007, meanwhile, fell 23% to 716,380 tons mixed value, from exports in 2006 of 925,565 tons, Asocana said in the report.
Local consumption in Colombia for the sweetener, however, rose 6.9% to 1,707,326 tons, up from domestic demand in 2006, when Colombians consumed 1,597,779 tons of their own sugar output.
The fall in sugar production was attributed to a higher share of unprocessed cane being used for the production of bio-fuel in Colombia's recently established ethanol industry. Ethanol figures were not immediately available.
Colombia is one of only a handful of countries that harvests and produces sugar all 12 months of the year, owing to favorable micro-climates and constant rainfall. http://news.ino.com/headlines/?newsid=20080729021737 |
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