From Rabble Ca.: http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/dave-coles/2013/07/not-our-name-canadian-energy-giant-colombia
By Dave Coles
July 31, 2013
A Toronto-based company is trampling on the rights of workers, Indigenous people and the environment in Colombia, but Canadian officials are more concerned with strengthening business ties in the country.
As president of Canada’s largest energy union, I recently participated in a 17-person Canadian delegation to investigate alleged abuses committed by TSX listed Pacific Rubiales Energy (PRE), Colombia’s largest independent oil producer.
On July 13 and 14, I was a juror at a preliminary hearing of the Popular Tribunal Against Extractive Policies in Colombia, which took place near the Pacific Rubiales oil fields in the Eastern town of Puerto Gaitan.
The testimony was heart-wrenching. Representatives of Indigenous communities told the Tribunal about how oil exploration on their lands had forced them to move to makeshift villages in housing constructed of plastic sheeting, cardboard and sticks. Women from outlying communities showed the jury bottles of orange and charcoal coloured water, which they said was from their local water source, a river carrying effluent from PRE’s extractive process.
Union officials described the living conditions of workers forced to rotate off their shift to catch a few hours of sleep in a bed occupied by three other workers on different shifts.
Bay Street headquartered PRE has waged a vicious campaign against the Unión Sindical Obrera (USO). After a 2011 strike by thousands of USO members the company fired those who refused to disaffiliate from the 90 year-old energy union and join PRE’s preferred union. During that strike, Colombian Senator Alexander Lopez, who testified at the tribunal, said he was blocked by public security forces from freely travelling on a pubic road to the Rubiales oil fields. Lopez concluded that PREs actions in Colombia warranted their expulsion from the country.
The testimonies at the Tribunal were disturbing, but what has transpired since may be even more troubling. Two days after, a USO member who helped organize the Tribunal was personally threatened. On July 16, Héctor Sánchez, who lives in a town near PREs oilfields, received a note at his house declaring: “We see every step you make with your family. … Dont ask for a stupid death, the same for your wife and child…. Dont leave them behind as orphans and a widow and dont become a widower yourself.”
Continue reading at: http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/dave-coles/2013/07/not-our-name-canadian-energy-giant-colombia
