14 November, 2013Darío Cárdenas Pachón, vice-president of the oil workers’ union, Union Sindical Obrera (USO) in Villavicencio, in the department of Meta, Colombia, was detained in the department on 2 November in response to a court order issued by the first criminal court, which accuses him, without foundation, of obstruction of the public highway, damage to natural resources and aggravated damage to private property.
USO, an IndustriALL affiliate, has denounced the detention of Darío Cárdenas and announced it will report the matter to national and international bodies to request assistance in ending persecution of the union.
“It is clear that the government, state security forces and oil companies, particularly Pacific Rubiales Energy, have formulated a strategy to prevent, at all costs, USO from establishing a presence in new oil production areas in the department of Meta, as this is the biggest oil producing region in the country. This is another government attack on trade unionism and conforms to a central facet of this strategy: leaders who have not already been killed by the paramilitaries or army should be brought before the courts and imprisoned. We face a perverse alliance of employers, corrupt court officials and members of the security forces, who have joined together in a crusade to work against trade union freedoms and punish workers’ organisations for their activities”, said the union.
USO reiterated that the charges against its leader are spurious and are part of a campaign against the freedom of organisation that also involves the distribution of leaflets, defamation and threats against leaders and their families.
IndustriALL Global Union repudiates this regrettable persecution of our trade union colleague Darío Cárdenas, which constitutes a violation of trade union rights. IndustriALL Global Union extends its solidarity to USO and supports its actions in defence of the interests of Colombian workers.