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Eyewitness from Sintraemcali Occupation #6
Slow Progress in Negotiations

SINTRAEMCALI OCCUPATION: EYEWITNESS UPDATE NUMBER 6

Cali, Colombia
Sunday, January 21st, 2002

Negotiations begin but progress is slow

Day 26 of the occupation, and for the last two days formal negotiations
between the union, the government, the mayor of Cali, and community
leaders began.  Several union leaders and their bodyguards left the
occupation in the late afternoon to head for a local cultural centre,
and there meet up with the delegated community spokespeople. As they
emerged from the parking lot beneath the tower, workers outside blocked
off the roads. From the windows of the tower occupying workers dropped a
snowstorm of tiny pieces of white paper on the crowd below, as the
Internationale played from loud speakers.  

With representatives of the government, the municipality, and the union
all present in one place, security in the cultural centre was very
tight.  Machine guns and bullet-proofed vests in abundance, and every
entrance and exit covered.  The dirty war carried out by the
paramilitaries means that trade union leaders are always in a permanent
state of alert, but with the taking of the CAM Tower things have moved
to a new and dangerous level. The question has to be raised as to how
the paramilitaries have managed to grow so quickly in the last years to
an estimated 10,000 members, a growth which has paralleled the
implementation of the US initiated PLAN COLOMBIA, a two billion dollar
largely military aid package supposedly aimed at the eradication of
cocaine production.  Curiously the paramilitaries have been untouched by
this military war on drugs, despite admitting that they fund themselves
largely from drug production in the areas under their control. The war
on drugs is clearly focussed on those areas where the left wing
guerilla movements are located. 

Could it be that that the US is fighting not against drugs, but against
resistance to the imposition of an economic model based on
privatisation, budget cuts, and rising inequality?  If it is, then the
stakes at this negotiation table here are high, for if the Cali
community, and SINTRAEMCALI stop the privatisation of public services,
and prevent price increases for the poor, then they are not just
preventing government plans, but the plans of the IMF and the World
Bank, and their US masters. Plans that seek to ensure that Colombia fits
in to the neo-liberal block being developed across the region. 

The negotiations are complicated, and I try to follow them as best I can
from the corridor outside the negotiating room, where periodically the
delegates emerge to consult with a broader group of the spokespeople.
We all sit on the floor, and listen to what the government and the mayor
have put forward so far, and different sectors of the community give
their opinions.  The Cali community and the union's central demands are
for an end to the policy of privatisation, no price increases for public
services, and a high-level anti-corruption commission to bring to
justice those who have drained the company's resources.   

This implies that the financial security of the company needs to be
secured, government obligations to fund past projects need to be
fulfilled, a new General Manager needs to be agreed, and unequivocal
willingness is present on the part of the government to investigate
corruption. These are big things, and progress is slow.  Talks on the
first night finished at 2.00am, and resumed the following afternoon.  By
the second day everyone in the SINTRAEMCALI and Community negotiating
group, and their advisers, were tired.  Hours go by moving in and out of
rooms, discussing with the Mayor and the Minister of Labour and then
returning to the bigger group to explain developments and seek advice. 

The situation is tense in our room, and tempers are frayed, it isn't
easy breaking through a corporate mode of negotiation, and discussing
decisions with the community. But this is the new direction that the
union has taken: that to fight the politics of privatisation the union
and the community have to stand together, and for that more voices have
to be heard. The negotiators are well aware of the responsibilities on
their shoulders, and also of the events going on in the country as a
whole. The deadline for the end of the demilitarised zone agreed with
the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia is only a day away, and the
security of those inside the CAM tower may drastically change if the
civil war escalates.  

The talks break down at 1.00 a.m. with the government refusing to move
on the key areas of funding and corruption, and the future of the
negotiations are left up in the air.  Those in the room agree to bring
forward the Municipal Civic Strike, if possible to Friday, and head back
to the CAM Tower in a convoy of cars speeding down the city's streets
knowing full well that more pressure has to be applied.  

Mario Novelli



EYEWITNESS REPORT BACK
----------------------
Mario Novelli will be speaking immediately on his return from Colombia at

4pm Saturday 2nd February, CORAS Centre, 161 Lambeth Walk, SE11.
(nearest tubes Vauxhall or North Lambeth), the monthly meeting of the
Colombia Solidarity Campaign.

FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS 
-----------------------
Please make a contribution to support the occupation. We can send out
collection sheets. Donations can be made by sending cheques payable to
the "Colombia Solidarity Campaign". Write "SINTRAEMCALI" on the back,
and send to:

Colombia Solidarity Campaign, PO Box 8446, London N17 6NZ.  

For more information e-mail: colombia_sc@hotmail.com 
Tel: 07950 923448

Eyewitness from Sintraemcali Occupation | Noticias sobre Colombia | Plan Colombia | AGP