14 Hours In Colombia

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Photo by Glenn Schmidt

By Glenn Schmidt and Bob Fullmer

Bob Fullmer and Glenn Schmidt, both from Wisconsin, went to Colombia last March as part of an eight-member AFL-CIO labor delegation. They wanted to find out why belonging to a union in Colombia carries a potential death penalty--and what they as Americans could do to help. Their delegation met with more than two dozen unions, government officials, academics, United Nations commissioners, and U.S. Embassy officials. Fullmer and Schmidt, NEA Board of Directors members, describe 14 hours out of 10 intense days.

March 11

5 a.m.
There are safety rules in this unsafe country. We're breaking at least five of them:

1. Travel during daylight hours. It is 5 a.m. and we are on a very dark mountain road.

2. Stay in the city. We are leaving Medellín on our way to the airport, 39 kilometers away. Roadblocks are common in Colombia. They may be tended by any of at least four groups: the government, guerrillas, paramilitaries, or bandits. You really don't want to meet any of them.

3. Stay out of Antioquia. Statistically, the least safe department/state is Antioquia, where we are. If one were to worry about the 3,700 kidnappings last year or the 172 union leaders killed, now would be the time to do so.

4. Don't belong to a union (see above). The total number of union leaders killed in Colombia since 1991 is close to 2,000. We are all union leaders in this van, and we have been meeting with union leaders, some of whom sleep in different places every night because they fear for their lives.

5. Travel in groups or convoys. We are alone....Finally, the airport lights burst into view. Others in our van appear to be oblivious, sleeping, or resigned. Or else they are feigning indifference, as we are.

10:30 a.m.
We are in Cali in the municipal union hall, an old high school with paint peeling off in volumes. Parts of the building are open to the outside, perhaps unintentionally.

We are ushered into the front row at a workers' assembly, where we don headphones to hear the speeches translated. Several hundred workers swelter in the chairs behind us.

Opposition leader Luis Eduardo "Lucho" Garzón, salutes Rhett, one of our keepers, for bringing help from the United States. Us?

He launches into a list of challenges facing Colombia: the external debt "strangling the economy"; the deteriorating quality of life; and the NAFTA free trade agreement, which will use "70 percent of our income to pay the speculators."

3:30 p.m.
New auditorium. New crowd. Same people talking. But this time we are in a modern brick building. The crowd is more upscale, too. We could be in Madison. Alas, we are getting a little cranky. Why don't they do air conditioning? You can just about hit the equator with a rock from here.

5:45 p.m.
Our armed caravan (a van, two SUVs and a cab) negotiates Cali's harrowing traffic out to the main water-treatment plant on the Cauca River. The 40-year-old Emcali facility appears to be safe, sophisticated, and running smoothly. Nevertheless it is in imminent danger of being privatized. The union believes the government plans to turn it over to corrupt cronies so they can loot it.

The head of the municipal workers union looks tired as his impassioned speech against privatization is funneled through a British interpreter.

Three Europeans from the International Peace Brigades linger near a short, rounded Colombian woman. Their job is to nonviolently shield her from attack by whatever "dark forces" are threatening her.

Through it all, a bodyguard with an automatic weapon lounges against the railing, while behind him, sugar cane fields are being prepared for harvest and a lone egret trolls for food in the river.

The atmosphere is half danger, half calm.

* * *
Two months later, this facility was bombed, killing three unionists.

While in Colombia, our delegation met with U.S. Embassy staff and Colombian officials from the Interior Department, eventually securing protection (bodyguards, armored vehicles) for three threatened Colombian workers who had accompanied delegation members to Colombia after a year of sanctuary in the United States.

We also met with the national teachers' union, the Federación Colombiana de Educadores. Because the government's contribution to education was frozen two years ago and 40 percent of the money now goes to fund private schools, "the quality of education descends every day," according to union president Jorge Guevara.

More than three million children no longer have a school to attend and teachers continue to be assassinated at a rate of several dozen per year.

So what can we do about it?

There are ways NEA members can help our colleagues in Colombia. The United States government sends a huge amount of foreign aid to Colombia (it is the third largest recipient of U.S. aid). Contact your members of Congress to persuade them to spend our money more on alleviating social problems and securing human rights.

Fore more, e-mail Schmidt, glenn99@aol.com, or Fullmer, fullmer@execpc.com.