Colombian trade union SINTRAUNAL, which represents workers in the public university system, has issued an alert over threats made against its national executive member Ximena Socarras Plaza.
In a statement released on 6 August, SINTRAUNAL said that Ximena had been targeted the previous day over her trade union activity. As an administrative employee at the Magdalena University in Santa Marta, northern Colombia, Ximena has participated in trade union campaigns. According to SINTRAUNAL, threats were left in Ximena’s workplace, not long after her office computer was stolen and her work email hacked.
The union warned over the slow pace of investigations into those behind these incidents and called on the university to ensure security for Ximena as, according to SINTRAUNAL, the threats are likely to have come from within the institution. It also urged the Colombian education, interior and labor ministries to intervene.
‘Just yesterday we denounced via a public statement that in universities there is profiling, allegations, violations of labour rights [and] abuse of human rights including threats to people’s life and integrity,’ said SINTRAUNAL.
In June, SINTRAUNAL celebrated a victory at the National University (UNAL) in Bogota over the appointment of a new rector which disregarded the results of university elections. This led to several weeks of strikes and protests which ended when the UNAL’s Supreme Electoral Council, the body responsible for the rector position, reversed its initial decision and appointed the election winner, Leopoldo Múnera. Several Irish and British unions had expressed support for the SINTRAUNAL campaign.
Last month, the union met with a JFC delegation formed of UNISON, POA and NEU members in Colombia to discuss the issues facing Colombian workers and trade unions. Like other trade unions in Colombia, SINTRAUNAL has been impacted by anti-union violence. In June 2017, its vice-president Mauricio Vélez was murdered in Cauca, southwest Colombia.