From: U.S./Colombia Coordinating Office
<agiffen@igc.org>
COLOMBIA INFOinBRIEF ALERT
_____________________________________________________________
NATIONAL TOUR OF COLOMBIAN LABOR LEADERS
WILL VISIT 10 CITIES ACROSS THE UNITED STATES
MARCH 20-APRIL 8
_____________________________________________________________
CIVILIANS UNDER FIRE IN COLOMBIA: UNION WORKERS UNDER THREAT
Sponsored by: Colombia Human Rights Network and the U.S./Colombia
Coordinating Office
Colombian union activists Patricia Buritica Cespedes and Luis
Alfonso
Velasquez Rico, will visit ten cities across the United States
between
March 17 and April 9 to tell their personal stories of advancing
human
rights for the Colombian labor force amidst increasing violence.
Patricia
and Luis Alfonso are leading labor activists who will address
the complex
conflict in Colombia, the challenges and threats union activists
face, and
their efforts to defend the rights of unionized workers as members
of the
CUT, Colombia's largest union federation. They will also address
the role
of U.S. multinational corporations and the impact of a changing
U.S. policy
on human rights and peace in Colombia.
_____________________________________________________________
B A C K G R O U N D
_____________________________________________________________
An unprecedented peace movement has been growing in Colombia,
a country
upheld as Latin America's oldest democracy but plagued by the
longest
running civil conflict in tis continent. At the same time, Colombia
is in
the midst of the most serious human rights crisis in the Western
Hemisphere. Violence in the country's civil war has increased
dramatically
in the past year. Thousands of civilians have been caught in the
cross-fire. Union leaders and labor activists, in particular,
have been
targets of violence.
The CUT, Central Organization of Colombian Workers, is the
largest union
federation in Colombia. Since it was founded in 1986, more than
800,000
organizations have affiliated with the CUT. However, its members,
like many
other union representatives in Colombia, have had to work under
the
intimidating tactics of Colombia's armed actors.
The ongoing struggle of the CUT has resulted in the deaths
of many of its
leaders and activists, as well as the displacement of many more.
Since
1986, almost 3,000 representatives of unions and social organizations
affiliated with the CUT have been killed. CUT statistics show
that that in
1999 alone 179 of its members have been assassinated. In fact,
more labor
activists are killed in Colombia than in any other country. In
October
1998, Jorge Ortega, the director of the CUT's Human Rights Department,
was
murdered. Following his assassination, numerous labor activists
have
applied for asylum abroad.
______________________________________________________________
T E N C I T I E S
______________________________________________________________
Luis Alfonso and Patricia will visit Washington D.C., Pittsburgh,
PA,
Reading, PA, Morristown, NJ; New York, NY; Boston, MA; Chicago,
IL; Iowa
City, IA; Seattle, WA; Los Angeles, CA; and San Francisco, CA.
For information on events in the cities near you, please contact
the local
organizers below or contact the U.S./Colombia Coordinating Office
tel:
202-232-8090.
______________________________________________________
D A T E S & L O C A L C O N T A C T S:
HOW YOU CAN GET INVOLVED
______________________________________________________
EAST COAST
WASHINGTON, D.C. March 20 - 23
Colombia Human Rights Committee, DC
Cristina Espinel and Barbara Gerlach
P.O. 3130 Washington, D.C. 20010
Tel/Fax: (202) 232-8148
Email: colhrc@igc.org
&
Alison Giffen
U.S./Colombia Coordinating Office
T: 202-232-8090, F: 202-232-8092, Email: agiffen@igc.org
PITTSBURGH, PA March 23 - 25
Dan Kovalik
Tel: 412-562-2518
email: <dkovalik@uswa.org>
MORRISTOWN, NJ March 25 - March 27
Angel Patino
Tel: 973-285-1095
Email: "Angel" <mpatinol@aol.com>
READING, PA March 28
John Hoskyns-Abrahall
Bullfrog Films
Tel: 800/543-FROG (3764)
Web: http://www.bullfrogfilms.com
NEW YORK, NY March 29 - 31
Colombia Media Project
P.O. Box 1091 GPO New York, NY 10116
Tel: (212) 802-7209
Email: mmcompa@igc.org
&
Colombia Solidarity & Human Rights committee
Adriana Arroyave, Verónica Acevedo, Francisco Parra
Englewood, New Jersey
e-mail: Colombiasolidarity@hotmail.com
BOSTON, MA April 1-5
Colombia Vive
Cathey Crumbley
Tel: (617) 868-7770
Fax: (978) 452-5711
Email: Cathy_Crumbley@uml.edu
WEST COAST/MIDWEST
CHICAGO, IL March 23 - 25
Chicago Colombia Committee
David Alper
Tel: (773) 275-0587
Email: maya@igc.org
&
CHICAGO LABOR MONITOR
Dennis Grammemos
Email: <dgrammen@prairienet.org>
IOWA CITY, IA March 26-27
Maria Hope
University of Iowa, Amnesty International Chapter
tel evenings: (319)354-3277
Email: <colsig@uiowa.edu>
SEATTLE, WA March 27 - March 30
SEATTLE COLOMBIA COMMITEE
Justin Delacour
T: 206-923-2669
Email: oakleyruth oakleyruth@igc.org
LOS ANGELES, CA March 30 - April 3
Colombia Human Rights Committee, LA
Esteban Pinilla
Tel: (714) 859-5880
Email: cinearte@hotmail.com
&
Colombia Action Committee
Tel: 323-563-7940
SAN FRANCISCO, CA APRIL 4-5
Global Exchange
Sandra Alvarez
T:) 415-255-7296
Email: sandra@globalexchange.org
*****Sponsored by the Colombia Human Rights Network and U.S./Colombia
Coordinating Office. For more information on U.S. grassroots
efforts
contact the Office at 202-232-8090*****
_____________________________________________________
END
_____________________________________________________
Alison Giffen
Director
U.S./Colombia Coordinating Office
Phone: 202-232-8090
Fax: 202-232-8092
Suite 200 1630 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington D.C. 20009
http://www.igc.org/colhrnet/
************************************************************
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_________________________________________________________
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