This afternoon, I wish to commemorate
the comrades that died
in the struggle against the multi-nationals
Coca-Cola in particular.
But I also wish to speak these words
for the comrade José Eduardo Umana Mendoza
who was assassinated on an occasion like today
and for the same base motives we are indicting today.
I wish to commemorate Eduardo Umana Mendoza
opposing those who wish his work forgotten.
For those who don't know - Eduardo Umana Mendoza
was a human rights lawyer.
He promoted an alternative jurisdiction:
the kind of jurisdiction that aims
at the self-empowerment of the people.
Eduardo Umana Mendoza initiated the Permanent Tribunal of the People.
We honour his memory.
Today, no averagely informed person can doubt
that multinational groups are increasingly usurping our country
and that the trail of the banana plantation massacre
by the United Fruits Company
is continuing its march through our history.
Still thousands fall victim to the interests of the transnationals
of the Empire and of national bourgeoisies
that are usurping the wealth of Latin America.
The systematical assassination of Coca-Cola workers
is examplary for how labour is exploited in Colombia
and for how workers' rights - even though they were enacted by the Colombian state -
and although they are basic rights,
like the right to unionist organisation.
- These rights do not exist!
The emloyers' demeanours, the lack of protection by the state,
the criminalising of the social protest and the assassinations
lead to Colombia having the highest rate of murdered unionists
and the ongoing disappearance of the unionist movement.
What kind of regime is ruling Colombia?
I confine myself to quoting the definition of fascism
as given by Georgi Dimitrov on the 7th Comintern Congress:
"Fascism is a political system.
It serves the purpose of liquidating the working class
and the revolutionary parts of the peasantry and intelligentsia."
When fascism comes into power, it is not
the simple change from one government to another
it means the substitution of civil democracy
for a terrorist dictatorship.
That is the regime they are building in Colombia these days
and that is covering up the crimes commtitted by Coca-Cola.
The crimes of this government, which are a product
of the impunity of the predecessing governments,
force the workers of Coca-Cola to go abroad
to file the complaints for the crimes committed against them.
Let us summarise the effects of impunity
in the case of the Coca-Cola worker Isidro Gil
who was assassinated at the plant on December 6th 1996
after the workers had presented their demands
for the wage negotiations with the company
'Bebidas Y Alimentos' S.A. Coca-Cola.
The perpetrators didn't content themselves with murdering the unionist
but tried to kill yet another worker.
They set fire to and looted the union office.
They forced the workers to resign from the union.
In the investigation, testimonies revealed
that the company had good connections to the paramiltiaries
and that the murderers of Isidro Gil had been given free drinks.
Regarding the assassin, who was a member of the paramilitary,
the public prosecutors declared, the his guilt of
murdering Isidro Gil could not be proved.
But of course they never took the necessary steps
to identify him, according to regulations.
The public prosecutors never visited the site.
One witness had to leave the country because of permanent threats.
We know that the unionist organisation of Coca-Cola workers
in Carepa was wiped out!
The members received death-threats and were forced
into giving up the one instrument that could guarantee their wealth.
Who ordered these crimes?
Who could have wanted them committed?
Who could have benefitted of the abolition of the union?
Who doesn't want these crimes investigated?
Who files complaints against workers, who take the crimes
committed against Coca-Cola workers, to court?
Who is choosing the craven strategy of of attacking for defense?
Someone is behind all that, an untouchable entitiy,
invisible, powerful and present even in this room.
But today we are sueing and condemning it.
For these crimes and the attacks against the working class.
For these attacks, that were used to push through
a structural change within the Colombian society.
For the members of Sinaltrainal who were murdered, tortured
and detained, for the disappeared and those forced into exile -
for them we demand justice!
Thus, we are asking the Permanent Tribunal of the People
to condemn and sentence the Colombian state
and the multi-national Coca-Cola company.