workers, to $130 a month: Colombiaâs minimum wage. When
asked about this drop, Coke failed to respond. Given that they would have met resistance to this if Sinaltrainal was still there, it is fair to say that, from the point of view of company profits, murder and arson did have an upside.
Back in the union office sitting at a table littered with empty coffee cups and grains of sugar, Manco and Giraldo finish their tales as all exiles do, by talking of the life they fled to. They lived for six months in the building they now tell their stories from - the union office - there was nowhere else for them to go. Both men were in the office when the paramilitariesâ package arrived containing the letters of resignation they had made the union members in Carepa sign. The paras even included blank copies for Manco and Giraldo to sign. Eventually Giraldoâs family left Carepa to come and join him in Bogota and he moved out of the union office. He has not had a full-time job since. âI havenât been able to earn much. I have just been doing odd jobs with three- or four-month contractsâ¦sometimes days go by here where we have no food, because sometimes thereâs work and sometimes thereâs not, itâs not like it was.â
Â
I asked Manco if he has stayed in Bogota since leaving Carepa.
âYes, of course, but itâs horrible. I donât always get food here, I lost my house, my family, and everything.â
âYour family?â
âThey didnât want to come so they stayed there, the mother took the children there. And of course I canât go there, I havenât been there.â
Â
I watch Giraldo leave. Instinctively and without display he stands by the front door of the building with his coat zipper pulled up tight, tugs his collar around his neck, opens the
door, looks across the street and then along it. He steps out through it glancing both ways and then slips away, a hunched silhouette heading to a home in exile, to wake to a dawn of few certainties. Where work may or not be found, where bellies may or may not be empty; where dead friendsâ faces haunt posters and memories of home are full of longing. And if you ask âWhy did he fight so hard and take so many risks to be in a trade union?â The answer is this: so he would not have to live the life he does now.
COCA-COLA TRADE UNIONISTS KILLED IN COLOMBIA
AVELINO ACHICANOY ERAZO Worked at Embotelladora Nariñense SA - COCA-COLA (Nariño Bottlers Ltd) in Pasto. Killed on 30 July 1990. Sintradingascol leader (Colombian National Union of Fizzy Drinks Workers).
Â
JOSà ELEASAR MANCO DAVID Worked at Bebidas y Alimentos de Urabá SA - COCA-COLA (Drinks and Foods of Urabá) Carepa. Killed 8 April 1994. Sinaltrainal member.
Â
Â
LUIS ENRIQUE GIRALDO ARANGO Worked at Bebidas y Alimentos de Urabá SA - COCA-COLA, Carepa. Killed 20 April 1994. Sinaltrainal organiser.
Â
Â
LUIS ENRIQUE GÃMEZ GRANADO Worked at Bebidas y Alimentos de Urabá SA - COCA-COLA, Carepa. Killed 23 April 1995. Sinaltrainal regional union leader.
ISIDRO SEGUNDO GIL Worked at Bebidas y Alimentos de Urabá SA - COCA-COLA in Carepa. Killed on 6 December 1996. Sinaltrainal leader and negotiator. ALCIRA DEL CARMEN HERRERA PEREZ, Isidroâs wife, was murdered on 18 November 2000 in Apartado.
Â
JOSà LIBARDO HERRERA OSORIO Head of Technical Maintenance at Bebidas y Alimentos de Urabá SA - COCA-COLA in Carepa. Killed 26 December 1996. As a manager he had been very supportive of Sinaltrainal.
Â
Â
ADOLFO DE JESÃS MÃNERA LÃPEZ Worked at Coca-Cola plant in Barranquilla, Atlántico department. Killed 31 August 2002. At the time of the killing he had been sacked but had been reinstated after legal process. Sinaltrainal union leader.
Â
ÃSCAR DARÃO SOTO POLO Worked at Embotelladoras Román SA - COCA-COLA (Román Bottlers) MonterÃa plant killed on 21 June 2001.
asked about this drop, Coke failed to respond. Given that they would have met resistance to this if Sinaltrainal was still there, it is fair to say that, from the point of view of company profits, murder and arson did have an upside.
Back in the union office sitting at a table littered with empty coffee cups and grains of sugar, Manco and Giraldo finish their tales as all exiles do, by talking of the life they fled to. They lived for six months in the building they now tell their stories from - the union office - there was nowhere else for them to go. Both men were in the office when the paramilitariesâ package arrived containing the letters of resignation they had made the union members in Carepa sign. The paras even included blank copies for Manco and Giraldo to sign. Eventually Giraldoâs family left Carepa to come and join him in Bogota and he moved out of the union office. He has not had a full-time job since. âI havenât been able to earn much. I have just been doing odd jobs with three- or four-month contractsâ¦sometimes days go by here where we have no food, because sometimes thereâs work and sometimes thereâs not, itâs not like it was.â
Â
I asked Manco if he has stayed in Bogota since leaving Carepa.
âYes, of course, but itâs horrible. I donât always get food here, I lost my house, my family, and everything.â
âYour family?â
âThey didnât want to come so they stayed there, the mother took the children there. And of course I canât go there, I havenât been there.â
Â
I watch Giraldo leave. Instinctively and without display he stands by the front door of the building with his coat zipper pulled up tight, tugs his collar around his neck, opens the
door, looks across the street and then along it. He steps out through it glancing both ways and then slips away, a hunched silhouette heading to a home in exile, to wake to a dawn of few certainties. Where work may or not be found, where bellies may or may not be empty; where dead friendsâ faces haunt posters and memories of home are full of longing. And if you ask âWhy did he fight so hard and take so many risks to be in a trade union?â The answer is this: so he would not have to live the life he does now.
COCA-COLA TRADE UNIONISTS KILLED IN COLOMBIA
AVELINO ACHICANOY ERAZO Worked at Embotelladora Nariñense SA - COCA-COLA (Nariño Bottlers Ltd) in Pasto. Killed on 30 July 1990. Sintradingascol leader (Colombian National Union of Fizzy Drinks Workers).
Â
JOSà ELEASAR MANCO DAVID Worked at Bebidas y Alimentos de Urabá SA - COCA-COLA (Drinks and Foods of Urabá) Carepa. Killed 8 April 1994. Sinaltrainal member.
Â
Â
LUIS ENRIQUE GIRALDO ARANGO Worked at Bebidas y Alimentos de Urabá SA - COCA-COLA, Carepa. Killed 20 April 1994. Sinaltrainal organiser.
Â
Â
LUIS ENRIQUE GÃMEZ GRANADO Worked at Bebidas y Alimentos de Urabá SA - COCA-COLA, Carepa. Killed 23 April 1995. Sinaltrainal regional union leader.
ISIDRO SEGUNDO GIL Worked at Bebidas y Alimentos de Urabá SA - COCA-COLA in Carepa. Killed on 6 December 1996. Sinaltrainal leader and negotiator. ALCIRA DEL CARMEN HERRERA PEREZ, Isidroâs wife, was murdered on 18 November 2000 in Apartado.
Â
JOSà LIBARDO HERRERA OSORIO Head of Technical Maintenance at Bebidas y Alimentos de Urabá SA - COCA-COLA in Carepa. Killed 26 December 1996. As a manager he had been very supportive of Sinaltrainal.
Â
Â
ADOLFO DE JESÃS MÃNERA LÃPEZ Worked at Coca-Cola plant in Barranquilla, Atlántico department. Killed 31 August 2002. At the time of the killing he had been sacked but had been reinstated after legal process. Sinaltrainal union leader.
Â
ÃSCAR DARÃO SOTO POLO Worked at Embotelladoras Román SA - COCA-COLA (Román Bottlers) MonterÃa plant killed on 21 June 2001.
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