Britain’s Trades Union Congress (TUC) has written to the Colombian embassy in Britain over the recent attack on José Ángel Mena Renteria, a regional secretary of CUT Colombia, Colombia’s largest trade union confederation.
In the letter, TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady highlighted widespread human rights violations against Colombian trade unionists and the poor overall conditions for workers. She urged the Colombian government to launch an urgent investigation into the incident involving José and to ‘take effective measures to stop the murders of social leaders, trade unionists, human rights defenders and former combatants, and to provide the necessary security guarantees for them, in addition to ensuring judicial investigations to end the reign of impunity.’
Colombia remains the most dangerous country in the world for trade unionists. The latest report by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), launched on Friday 18 June, found that at least fourteen trade unionists were murdered in Colombia during the previous year.
To read or download the TUC’s letter, click on the link below.