Hunger Strike in Colombia by USO Union Members

Five members of Colombian oil workers’ Union Sindical Obrera de la Industria Del Petroleo (USO) are now in their ninth day of a hunger strike over the planned privatisation of Ecopetrol’s oil refinery in Cartagena.

The Uribe government has broken a promise made in spring 2004 that, in part, ended a 38-day strike by USO at Ecopetrol over privatisation of the state-run company, by proceeding with a 51% ownership transfer of the Cartagena refinery, Colombia’s second largest.