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Colombia Personal Experiences in Colombia Freddy Pulecio (Union Syndical Obrero) (with interpreter), with Ronnie McDonald (Offshore Industry Liaison Committee) RONNIE - My name’s Ronnie McDonald, and I’m a member of a trade union called the Offshore Industry Liaison Committee - OILC. Our members work on oil rigs in the British sector of the North Sea. We were thought too militant during a period of industrial unrest in 1989, and again in 1990, and again in 1991, and the Engineering Union, and the MSF, and the Boiler Makers’ Union, afraid of sequestration, apologised to the oil companies for us (their members), and disowned us. We responded by seeking certification as a trade union in our own right, so we’re outside the TUC. The TUC abhor our ethics and our methodology and what we stand for, and we’ve got no problems with that. We had a conference in Aberdeen over the last two days, at which were present the leaders of the Norwegian Oil Workers - OFS; the Irish oil workers were there in spirit - they were about to commence industrial action against oil companies in Ireland and couldn’t make it, but nevertheless they were there with us. We also had the senior officials of the International Energy and Miners’ Organisation, and Alan Simon of the CJT, from Paris, was there. Arthur Scargill is president of the International Energy and Miners’ Organisation - he participated. And amongst the other international guests we were honoured to have Freddy Pulecio of the Union Syndical Obrero - the Colombian oil workers, who are in a deep and literally deathly struggle with the government forces and oil companies, principally BP, in Colombia. By way of an introduction, I’ll leave it there - that’s the context in which Freddy and I have come together this weekend. But perhaps after he’s spoken if anyone wishes to ask questions I could give more details about the international solidarity we’re trying to develop amongst pro-active (that’s the sanitised word for ‘militant’) trade unionists worldwide. We wish to be effective and get a result, rather than sit in smoke-filled rooms and talk. So as far as OILC and the IEMO and OFS are concerned, we are now one with the struggle of the Colombian oil workers, but I think Freddy is the one best to explain the struggle going on there. FREDDY (originally in spanish) - At this moment we are confronting in Colombia a government that works on the same economic model that was used by Thatcher. The model was first implemented in Latin America in Chile. Everything was privatised - power, gas, water, electricity. Even education and pension schemes - everything is now governed by finance and with the aim of profit. And they completely reduced the level of state services, while seriously expanding the oppressive military forces. In Colombia today they are applying the same model, with a lot of violence and very strong ideological fervour. In the last year we have been living in an undeclared civil war in Colombia. Already 278,000 people have been killed. In the last ten years, about 200,000 people have been displaced from their homes - more people than they moved during the Bosnian conflict. It is thus like a military dictatorship, but it is more cruel and repressive than most military dictatorships. 97% of the crimes committed by the forces of oppression have never been punished. What usually happens when they declare a state of emergency, is that they issue a decree implementing a new law against the people. The international community is growing increasingly alarmed at the high level of crime and impunity in Colombia at the moment. And the United Nations and non-governmental organisations have been putting a lot of pressure on the Colombian government about the situation. The Colombian government has promised that they are going to end the oppression, but these promises are empty, and in reality they are just going to carry on with the same policies. For example, at the moment the Colombian constitution is being reformed to give the military even more power and privilege, and they’re going to be even more oppressive than before. In only one year, they have killed 3,000 people for political reasons. They have killed 2,000 people from our union, the USO (Union Sindical Obrero), plus relatives and friends of union members. And 3,000 people have been killed from one of the opposition political parties - the ...? Union. But at the moment Colombia is seen by the world as a clean democracy Despite all this, the Colombian workers and people are still standing up and fighting against the oppressive government. On February 11th this year, 800,000 civil servants and state workers went on general strike. And in this struggle against the government, our trade union was one of the forces of resistance. We have been gaining experience over 70 years of this struggle, and we are working in the heart of the Colombian economy, in the oil industry. In the last decade, we have been in contact with many organisations in the country to propose reform in relation to the oil industry. And also we organise committees and mechanisms of discussion between the people and the Government. We had a lot of democratic faith at that time, but the Government is answering us with bullet, with blood and with fire. They have killed hundreds of our activists. In one of the regions, of ...?, more than one hundred activists have been moved away from the area, and the president of our trade union has been imprisoned for the last eight years, together with another 17 comrades. We have been listed by the company list to be sanctioning action, and that list is passed straight to the state apparatus to try to detain us, or to the paramilitary to kill us. I myself have been in jail, and even when I was inside, they contracted some people to try to kill me. Because we have been proposing these changes in the law about the role of the oil industry we have no alternative but to go on strike at the moment. Four months ago we started a process of collective bargaining in which two points were central - the future of the oil industry in Colombia, and also the questions of health and safety and the security of the trade union activities. And we have reached an impasse. Any time we are going to ...? this negotiation. We are preparing ourselves for conflict, and we’re starting to slow down the production. Usually in Colombia, most of the major cities have supplies of oil for 15 days in advance. Right now the bigger cities in Colombia have oil supplies for only four days, and small towns only for two days. BP is one of the most criminal companies in Colombia. When they took control of the state oil company, the three directors of the state oil company that were opposed to the take-over were removed forcefully. And also they have a private army that has been used against anybody, any person, any worker, that has opposed the police of BP. BP considers every peasant in the area to be a threat to its operations. BP has been using the same methods as the drug traffickers, and they have obliged the people to sell their land. I was very happy to see your Conservative government given a strong punishing in the last election. But there are still many things to be resolved, and we are looking to you with a lot of hope, and we think that the present government ...? the same president BP person now. I think we should demand that BP in Colombia should stop all this policy of blackened(?) repression against the Colombian workers. Our organisation is very small - we have only 5,500 members. But our struggle is against one of the biggest oil companies in the world. At the same time we have to fight against the Colombian army, against the drug trafficking bands, et cetera. But comrades, we’re going to fight back! We know now that we are not alone. Although we don’t yet know each other, we are absolutely sure that we can count on your support. Thank you very much. Q - A question for Ronnie - the environmental movement in this country is gearing up to try to phase out the oil industry. How do you feel about that? RONNIE - It’s laudable and responsible aim, but in reality I feel that the oil industry’s demise will only happen with the complete exhaustion of the world’s oil reserves, although I don’t wish to be over-pessimistic. I tend to identify with the Norwegian approach - of responsible petroleum exploitation with care for the natural and human environment - and that also strikes a chord with where Freddy’s coming from. In Colombia, one oil field, Casanare, contains one billion barrels of light sweet crude, so pure that you could actually put it directly into a ship’s engine without refining it, and run that ship. This is why we see the avarice and greed, and the vicious determination of BP to keep their hands on that resource and extract it rapidly without constraint. I do feel that the struggle for trade unionism and human rights, and the struggle for the environment are absolutely integrated and cannot be divided, and the situation in Colombia and BP’s avarice encapsulates the two issues and how they do come together. But it is, in my mind, possible to get beyond this, and reconcile the need to responsibly produce oil, with caring for the environment. Q - Does that take into account the problems of climate change, which is caused by burning oil? RONNIE - Well, I know that that ignores the big picture that we are probably frying ourselves into oblivion, and the only way to prevent that is to literally and absolutely stop it. I can intellectually identify with that in a way, but in reality, knowing the forces that have to be opposed, I think that all we can do is control the activities of the organisations - find a middle way. But I must confess as an oil worker, I haven’t really educated myself on the environmental aspects to the extent that you have. So I’m here to be corrected and educated as well. Q - Quite a few environmental groups have been working with the Liverpool Dockers recently, because even though we actually may disagree with the international transportation of industrial goods, while capitalism still exists, we should be fully committed to supporting supporting workers’ rights, and fight major battles. Is there a way you can envision that the radical ecological groups, who would like to see an end to the oil industry, could at the same time fight to increase the strength of the unions. Are there specific targets that we could work on for both reasons? RONNIE - Yes - I think the problem fundamentally is capitalism. The socialist model globally has to be achieved if we are to save the species, the planet, and all the other species that live on it. Look at Lord Simon (former chief executive of BP) : a very clever and able businessman - we have to give him that much. Is it not astonishing then that this man is now is at the heart of the British government? Here we see the Labour government identifying now with international capital in a way that would have been breathtaking even under Thatcher. So capital is in the ascendant globally, and this is a manifestation of it. The only alternative is a challenge to that. And that is, some would say, revolution and socialism. But I think essentially, at the workplace, workers have to organise effectively to challenge the activities of these companies in the first instance, and that having been achieved, would then fit into a bigger picture and interface with the environmentalists. We have to do our work on our strand, and you have to do your work on your strand, and somehow we have to bring these strands together in a common whole. Q - Following your comments earlier about responsible oil abstraction, would you agree that there are some areas of the world where it’s simply not possible to extract oil responsibly, for example where there are uncontacted tribal peoples, where the government is heavily repressive, or where there are very sensitive ecosystems. RONNIE - Absolutely, and that’s really at the heart of the matter. If we are to develop a compromise position where all the conflicting interests will each get something out of it, then we must say to the oil companies, ‘okay, go on producing oil, but do it on our terms - do not rape the indigenous people and their resources, which is occurring now in Ecuador, Colombia, and other places - do not industrialise the Atlantic rim of the European continental shelf, and Antarctica is totally and will always be a no-go area.’ But the mechanisms for the negotiation that would bring us to that form of compromise, do not exist. I fear that if there are two positions of absolutes - the oil companies utterly and totally unhindered in their activities, and the environmental movement - or sections of the environmental movement whose only position is that they’re going to take this in as a total ban - bringing those two positions together to find a negotiating position in the middle won’t be possible. That’s why I fear the implications of some elements of the environmental movement arguing for a total ban. Q - I think we have a strong degree of agreement here, that only SOME of the oil that is still under the ground, is accessible to us. And even when we are arguing from climate change perspective, the argument tends to be, even if we’re not going to completely devastate the climate, we can only take this much of it. So I think that we agree quite substantially. Q - The question that Geoff put to Ronnie, was, ‘which is the best place for people who are campaigning here - what are the best issues for people who are campaigning here, to work on? I would like to put the same question to Freddy. There are people in this room who are dedicated to trying to campaign against BP. What we need is your advice - about which are the most sensitive areas, which are the key issues, and so on? FREDDY - Hundreds of years ago Europe took all the gold from Latin America. Today in the developing countries, they are producing oil, gas, coal, et cetera, and 90% is for feeding the industrialised countries - we only keep 10% of it. Many children in Latin American countries are starving, and this is terrible because most of these countries have a lot of natural resources, they’re extremely rich, and we are still starving. But the greedy capitalists are taking everything. The Cano Limon and Cusiniare regions of Colombia, before exploiting the oil, were full of beautiful biodiversity, which was destroyed. That’s the truth. And we workers, we resent that as well. We believe it should be possible to control the deterioration and the damage that the industrial oil companies are doing here. The workers were the first to protest against contamination, and damage to the environment. Because of the pollution we the workers invariably suffer - our children are born with deformities and genetic problems. And you know that after making love with our partners, we are worried that because of the damage to the environment can produce some genetic problems with the children - that is very very painful. And also some comrades have been on blood transfusion because of the poisonous chemicals getting inside their bodies. To tell you the truth, I am not against the black gold, because I think that humankind need the development of the energy. But I am telling you on this, we have to understand the global problems - we must defend the natural state of the rivers, the forests within the world where they are - in Africa or Latin America, et cetera. And it’s possible to be like that, I think. But we face extreme repression in response to any kind of action we take, and we know that they are going to do it now because when they say something, they do it, and they threatened us with death. They want to kill us - we know that. What we need from the international community, we need that the ecologists, people that defend the nation, environmentalists, trade unionists, and everybody should be attentive and ready to intervene in these problems. There is a second thing we have to take into consideration - because they know that the conflict is going to be starting any minute, the struggle in Colombia - they are ready to bring oil from other countries, and we have to intervene to stop that. In one strike where we’d decided to defend comrades that were ill, they took from us 200,000 pesos. They sequestrated our money - the union is very, very poor, and we have not much money to fight back. We said if every comrade could give just one dollar, that is lot for us to fight back. That is, I think, a tactical thing, at the moment. And the background of all this is two things - one, we are fighting for our proposal to change the constitution - the law in Colombia - putting forward a proposal how to control the oil in favour of community participation, et cetera, et cetera - transform the law. And the second important thing at the same level, we want our comrades to be released from prison. That is our need for the moment. What we think is very, very important is that because they have the headquarters of BP in London, we have to attack them here. Q - You know that there’s been one documentary on the BBC about Colombia, and there’s more journalists going down there. I’ve heard that when these programmes are being screened, when there’s publicity in Britain about BP in Colombia - that there is a reaction of the military in Colombia against the people. Is this case? Is this happening, because we don’t want to do anything here that’s going to provoke a violent reaction against the people in Colombia? FREDDY - The worst thing that could happen to humanity or to the people, is to be silent. With things like this, if people who knew about it were not silent, it would be stopped. If that silence had not happened in Argentina or Chile, it could be a different situation today. And the crucial thing is to speak out if we are going to fight for that - speak out. Because if the people are going to speak out, there is probably going to be a counter-reaction to that, which will be very good. Today Colombia is under dictatorships. It is a very rich country, Colombia, and the countries that are doing business with Colombia - it is very difficult for those countries to speak out against Colombia, for example in the United Nations. I was very, very sick when I went to one of the assemblies in the United Nations. I noted that all the wealth they have been taking from our country was reflected there. Q - I would like to - you obviously have established links with your Scottish colleagues - I would like to know more about links you may have with oil workers in Venezuela, in Ecuador, Mexico - and on what levels these are - rank and file, or official structures. FREDDY - To be honest, we are still very short-sighted - we are lemmings going to the international world. For example, I was in jail in Colombia. After they released me, because I could not stay there, I was sent into Europe for a while - okay, we had to do something about it - there was no plan, and to be honest, it is difficult for me to try to open doors for us, you see. In many places the trade unionists opened the doors and welcomed me. In other places they opened the door just a bit. In a lot of places they closed the door in my face. The human rights organisations they helped me quite a bit, and again in Norway, in Scotland, in Great Britain, we have been welcomed by the trade unionists, and we are starting to work together. Today was a very important step forward. I am very convinced that after this day here that with you here that the economical and environmental organisations are going to support us as well. [APPLAUSE] RONNIE - Just one on international trade union - can I just say something on that? I have recently had the proverbial bolt of lightning on the road to Damascus in this area - I was a loyal and very active member of the Engineering Union for 22 years - participated in the international committees of the ICTFU, the ICEF - the International Chemical and Energy Federation, and never ever questioned that those were the appropriate vehicles for international solidarity and international links, but I now know different. Those organisations and the alternative left-wing organisations spent all those decades since the Second World War as hostages to the Cold War, and we still suffer from that legacy from the Cold War. For instance the ICTFU and the ICEF were funded largely in the forties, fifties and sixties with CIA money. Now, that’s not a wild allegation - that’s a known and established fact. They wished to see the development of business-friendly trade unionism in capitalist democracies, to use the American terminology. A perfectly legitimate aim for the Americans and British and other capitalist countries to pursue in the context of the Cold War, some would say. The international miners’ organisation, and other left-wing organisations, they were severely compromised during this period because they received support and sustenance from the Soviet Bloc - East Germany and the Soviet Union, principally. So, the two alternatives to international solidarity were deeply and severely compromised. Now, we’ve passed beyond that phase, but I amnow convinced that the ICTFU still remains essentially a business-friendly international, and this process where the democratic process is hijacked by international capital, still goes on. It is essential therefore that we really have to build an international that can escape from the legacy of the Cold War, that is neither holding to the old Soviet past, and the dogmas and ideologies, nor is it unquestioningly business-friendly. Now, when I was, up until a few years ago, a member - a prominent member in Scotland - of the Engineering Union, to say that was a heresy, that would elicit a reaction almost violent in some circles. But unless workers can create their own unions in their own country and then come together in an international solidarity network, free from the legacy of the past, we’re going to get nowhere here. That’s what Freddy has experienced coming to Europe. Essentially the TUC in Britain has no position on Colombia, has no position on the environmental issues in Alaska, where BP operates, and on the industrialisation of the Atlantic Shelf, now developing apace, if anything the British labour movement endorses it, unquestioningly. So I would hope that the developments of the last year, which are now gathering pace at the International Energy and Miners’ Organisation, sustained by the Eurocommunist National Federation too in France - there, maybe is the kernel or the beginning of an international organisation that can really get to grips with and really put in context your concerns, as well as human rights and rights at work concerns. It doesn’t exist at the moment - it’s been a total screw up for the last half century because of the Second World War and the legacy of the Cold War, so it’s a new beginning. You would be surprised and astonished and disturbed if you knew the inside story of how abysmal, disorganised, the international labour movement is - it’s an absolute unmitigated mess. And unless ordinary workers like Freddy who are literally faced with death - unless the new international develops and grows from those roots, what remains in place at the moment, dominated by international capital, will forever be in the ascendancy. So that’s where we’re actually at here in 1997. Q - Did you say the Norwegian trade union group is part of your group? RONNIE - Yes, well, in Norway, the Norwegian TUC is very - it’s a Scandinavian Liberal Democratic model - very business-friendly, hand in glove with the state. So the oil workers’ union that we have the relationship with is the OFS, who have rejected the Scandinavian Liberal Democrat model, and opted instead for a straightforward uncompromising militant stand, based on industrial issues, and they have been a remarkably successful union over the last 15 to 18 years. Q - Did you say they’ve got an environmental group as well? RONNIE - Yes, they have a very close relationship with a Norwegian environmental group called Balona. Balona and OFS co-operate to a great extent, particularly making joint submissions to the regulators - the NPD - the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, and that sort of thing. So, Balona’s position is one of pragmatism - it’s pragmatic for controlled, responsible, staged exploitation, with particular interest with the effect that it would have on the environment there. So, there has been an identification - a link between trade unionists in Norway, and environmentalists. Q - It’s already a formidable alliance to help in Colombia... RONNIE - Yes, we are primitive compared to that - primitive. And we are not going to get the development of the debate and the discussion and the necessary framework of organisation from the traditional framework of the TUC and the international ICTFU and the ICEF - you can forget about it. They are business-friendly, and they are not going to challenge at all - it’s never ever going to happen. Q - It’s good though that you have literally the safest oil industry - the Norwegian oil industry - helping you against possibly one of the least safe. RONNIE - Well, at the end of the day, unless you can support democratic protests in the various countries where these multinationals are exploiting uncontrolled, and unless people like Freddy in Colombia regain control of the democratic process there, and are able to then challenge the state and the multinationals on behalf of their interests but also the environmental interests - so their struggle is your struggle - you cannot win. You do not have a vehicle to influence these societies and nations unless Freddy and his people win in Colombia, because the democratic process has been utterly and totally hijacked by international capital. Q - It’s not so much of a question - I’m just trying to get a feeling here. My feeling is that it’s very important we build bridges. On the face of it, we’ve got a representative from people who WORK in the oil industry, and I get the turkey-voting-for-Christmas kind of feeling. For me, the choice that I think society is faced with, is do we continue to use dirty, non-sustainable fuels, or do we develop technologies which are clean, which will continue to support the country’s people who are involved with that, but in a different way - a change of focus. And how do you feel about that - the change of focus to things that are clean, things that are sustainable, things that are renewable - where could we find the bridge from that community of interest? FREDDY - We are in a very stressful situation because any time in the next few days we’re going to exploit this action - this strike. The negotiations have been breaking apart, but luckily they started to talk again, breaking again - it’s a very tense situation at the moment. In relation to our comrade’s reflection, I am absolutely convinced, utterly convinced, that it’s possible to control and to manage the oil industry, and even to control and limit to 80/90% any damage, any pollution that would occur. One - I am feeling that the people - humanity - is looking for another fuel - we are very near to seeing another kind of fuel and energy. But in view of this, black gold at the moment is covering about 60/70% of many of our needs. I think there is a common link - a bridge - between ecological organisations, trade unionists, and human rights organisations. They should fight back and denounce the irrational and barbaric exploitation of the oil. In Colombia a refinery was founded and the pollution was very high because there was sometimes dust and daily pollution coming from the refinery, and one day my son told me to see that place, because my son was very interested in the environment. I noticed that in that plant - that place, was a filter - made with electricity like a curtain. That controls 90% of the contamination that has escaped. And it’s not just a question of the cost - it is a question of the will to ensure that that pollution does not take place. I agree with you that the turkey probably won’t be home for Christmas, but the question is how we are going to have a party ourselves in controlling this. [LAUGHTER] Q - Are they organising a picket - are the oil workers in Britain organising a picket, if this kicks off? RONNIE - Well, we’ve had a couple of pickets in the past months in Aberdeen with Shell and BP. We haven’t really discussed, in tactical terms, a picket, but we’ll be looking at some direct action. For instance the conference that we had in Aberdeen in the last few days, one of the resolutions from it - and there were BP workers there, both from Norway and the United Kingdom, and these lads, they’re going to use the internal grievance procedures within their companies to inform the company that they as employees are aware of the situation and want answers. That’s the first small step, so there will be a whole range of direct action measures like that as we start to build up the campaign to make those who are working in the industry aware of what’s actually happening. FREDDY’S INTERPRETER - short announcement - because it’s very possible that our comrades have been reading the Guardian on Sunday, in which there was an article on which was quoted Freddy about the situation in Colombia. Also was in the letter from the campaign against BP’s exploitation in Colombia, and it was such a controversial letter and article that the editor of the Guardian was obliged to speak out about the nomination of David Simon, as the minister, and there was an answer from the ambassador in London, in which he tried to deny the problems. In London where we have a campaign fighting against the BP in Colombia, and we are going to prepare a small demonstration outside Downing Street, and we’re going to send a letter to Tony Blair, in which we demand the sacking immediately of this person. [APPLAUSE] One of the two important points of the Labour manifesto was to protect human rights, and the second to protect the environment. In less than a week they have failed in the two, and it is time to start the struggle - because they have won the election, they are going to get away with murder. We have to put him on the spot, and we shall contact the comrades to organise this demonstration, and we are absolutely sure that we are going to come back to all these pickets. [APPLAUSE] Q - Just before Freddy goes, I would like to offer this as a gift to Freddy. It’s a parody of a free newspaper that is given out in London. We produced it on Human Rights Day last year - we did two actions as well, and it’s mostly about human rights and the oil industry, and focusing on BP in Colombia and Shell, and 20,000 were given to commuters in London, and we would just like to give you this as a gift. FREDDY - Gracias. Thank you very much. [APPLAUSE] On 16th October 1998, an investigation by the newspapers The Guardian and El Espectador found that BP’s pipeline contractor Ocensa supplied weapons to a Colombian army brigade that has been implicated in massacres. BP’s chief security officer and Ocensa discussed supplying the brigade with attack helicopters and guns. Ocensa proposed a ‘psychological warfare’ training course for internal security staff. The report also revealed that the companies carried out spying operations in the local communities, and passed information gathered to the brigades, and there were further links between pipeline security and state-sponsored terrorists. In response to the report, BP sacked its security chief, and launched an internal investigation.
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