Colombian social organisations are organising a Congress to bring together 15,000 people in Bogota in April to add another voice to the peace talks taking place between the government and left wing FARC guerrillas. "We think that peace is important and we want to talk about it on a local level. We don't think peace should just be discussed between the guerrillas and the government," said Fernanda Espinosa, an organiser with Congreso de los Pueblos, the network of groups organising the event.
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The National Electoral Council on Wednesday banned propaganda for a campaign for "blank votes" in a gubernatorial race heavily influenced by a hydroelectric dam project in southwest Colombia. A gubernatorial campaign in Huila in which the main parties put forward a single joint candidate has been left looking even less democratic after the counter "blank vote" campaign was declared illegal by the electoral regulator of Colombia.
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COLOMBIA: UNION LEADERS' SAFETY AT RISK A death threat was made against Colombian trade union leaders who are representing workers of coal mining companies in La Jagua de Ibírico municipality, in the north-eastern department of Cesar.
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Workers at Carbones del Cerrejón Limited in La Guajira have ended the strike that began on 9 February after their union signed a new collective agreement that provides improved working conditions. “The workers who attended the meetings to hear the outcome of negotiations recognized that the agreement made significant progress on protecting their rights to health, housing, education and decent work as well as dealing with problems of workers in financial difficulties,” said Igor Díaz, president of the workers' union, Sintracarbón.
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A Colombian arbitration court ruled in favor of Ecopetrol in a legal battle with Pacific Rubiales over windfall payments from one of the country's top-producing oil fields. The arbitration tribunal ruled that Pacific Rubiales must pay 100% of windfall income from the Quifa oil field to Ecopetrol after production in the Quifa field reached the 5 MMbbl of oil benchmark. Pacific Rubiales had offered to pay 60%. The court essentially upheld the legality of a clause in a contract between Pacific Rubiales, which operates the field, and Ecopetrol, which has control of the field
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Mayans' lawsuit against HudBay over shootings and rapes at mine in Guatemala to proceed in Canadian courts TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Feb. 25, 2013) - In an important precedent-setting development for the accountability of Canadian mining companies for alleged overseas human rights abuses, victims of rape and murder at a Guatemalan mine are now able to sue a Canadian mining company in Canadian courts.
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Amidst a context of war, social and grassroots organizations throughout Colombia have generated diverse initiatives and experiences of peace, resisting permanent threats and attacks, building community, and creating through their actions and expressions the possibility for a dignified life.
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By Mauro Giormenti, in Columbia. The entire Department of Arauca is under a general strike against the government, the multi-national oil companies, and the repression of civil resistance to the visit by President Santos to the region.
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On 13 February 2013, three pellets were fired at the vehicle of Father Alberto Franco, a prominent human rights defender and Executive Secretary of the Comisión Intereclesial de Justicia y Paz (Inter-Church Commission for Justice and Peace CIJP).
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Workplace hazards, fairness for subcontracted workers top union demands Workers at the Colombian mine that provides coal to NB Power’s plant in Belledune are on strike as of February 7th. The strike marks the first workers’ action to stop work at the mine in the union’s 22 year history. Sintracarbón, the union representing workers at the Cerrejón mine, the world’s largest open-pit coal mine, in La Guajira, Colombia, decided to strike in light of the company’s failure to meet their demands.
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