The following URGENT ACTION was received 12th September 2001 from the National and International Campaign for Human Rights, Against Privatisation, Corruption and the Criminalisation of Social Protest.

BLOQUE CAPITAL OF THE A.U.C. THREATEN LEADERS OF THE USO (UNION SINDICAL OBRERA) IN BOGOTA.

The social organisations and human rights organisations below are extremely worried by the threats against leaders of the Unión Sindical Obrera USO, EDGAR MOJICA VANEGAS and DANIEL RICO SERPA. We call on the national and international community to demand that the Colombian government provide all the necessary means to guarantee the physical integrity and well-being of all the activists and leaders of this union who today are in a position of high risk.

The leaders EDGAR MOJICA VANEGAS president of USO - Bogotá Region, and DANIEL RICO SERPA, Vice President of FUNTRAENERGETICA and Secretary of Press and Propaganda of the national board of directors of USO have been threatened on a range of occasions. In 1992 they were forced to leave the city of Barrancabermeja, and have been unable to return, and they were also forced to leave the country for a period of time.

THE EVENTS
1.- Between the 27th and the 31st of August 2001, EDGAR MOJICA received threats on his mobile telephone where the aggressors stated "Don't think that we have forgotten you, you great son of a bitch, we have you located". These calls were preceded and followed by the sound of gunfire on the phone, and the noise of a motorbike (the preferred means of transport for paramilitary urban assassins).

2.- Between the 30th August and the 5th of September 2001, close to the house of EDGAR MOJICA, in the Barrio (neighbourhood) of el "Claret" in the south of the capital, two men on a motorbike asked questions about the location of the leader of the leader. These men have been sighted on a range of occasions by neighbours of the leader, and on one occasion were collected by a four door car with blacked out windows outside the house of the trade union leader.
4.- In June and July 2001 the leaders of USO Bogotá reported to the Colombian authorities that they were being followed by high powered motorbikes, and that the headquarters of the union, and the building of ECOPETROL were being watched by unknown men. They also made a statement concerning the presence of a grey Toyota with blacked out windows, containing men carrying weapons.

5.- In May 2001 EDGAR MOJICA and DANIEL RICO received threatening telephone calls in the offices of the Negotiating Commission of USO, and in the headquarters of USO in Bogotá, in which they would be subject to an assassination attempt. The people who made the calls identified themselves as members of "Bloque Capital" of the United Self Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC).

6.- On the 3rd of May members of the Bogotá Police, carried out a risk assessment on the leaders and decided that they needed an urgent personal security scheme to protect their lives.

7.- A member of the Police Intelligence Services in Bogotá in a meeting with Luis Carlos Zapata, attorney of the board of directors of USO in Bogotá, stated that they had information on a planned assassination attempt against union leaders in Bogotá and specifically the leaders of USO. The same agent had a meeting with EDGAR MOJICA, and told him the same thing.

8.- In the offices of the "Assembly for Peace of the USO", located on calle 38 No 13 - 24 piso 3, a security guard was kidnapped and drugged, and when he awoke he overheard four hooded men discussing how they had managed to kidnap the wrong person.

9.- On the 22nd of April, during a day of protest organised by the CUT, two suspicious men waited outside a cashpoint machine located on Kr 13 with calle 36 next to the office of ECOPETROL in Bogotá. They watched the trade union leaders carrying out their duties, and made several mobile phone calls. The case was reported to the police, and the individuals were detained but then quickly released. As many of you familiar with the situation in Colombia will know, this kind of situation where suspects are released without interrogation is a frequent phenomena.

10.- In October 2000 a front of the AUC appeared in Bogotá calling themselves the "Bloque Capital" (capital block), and began distributing leaflets with the names of well known social, trade union and human rights leaders. The national leader of the AUC, Carlos Castaño has stated on a range of occasions that this block is present in Bogotá.

11.- In the "El Tiempo" daily newspaper, Carlos Castaño was quoted as saying that "assassination attempts always have a reason. We kill trade unionists because they stop people working." It is common knowledge that in the year 2000, 145 trade unionists were assassinated, and so far in 2001 93 trade unionists have been murdered.

OFFICIAL COMPLAINTS FILED BY THE USO
All the above events have been presented to the Risk Evaluation Group of the Ministry of Interior, the company ECOPETROL, and organisations of State Security and Investigation. And we will highlight this below:

1.- In a document dated 3rd May 2001 sent to the Brigadier General JORGE ENRIQUE LINARES MÉNDEZ, Commander of the Bogota Metropolitan Police, the president of USO Bogotá, EDGAR MOJICA called for a risk evaluation and for security measures. On this same date he presented an official complaint to the Public Prosecutors Office.

2.- On 4th May 2001 the national president of the USO , HERNANDO HERNANDEZ, sent a letter to Dr. CLAUDIA PATRICIA CACERES Programme Director of the Ministry of Interior's Protection Scheme calling for urgent protection for EDGAR MOJICA and DANIEL RICO.

3.- On 31st of May CLAUDIA PATRICIA CACERES, sent a letter to the president of ECOPETROL ALBERTO CALDERON ZULETA, in which she stated that the Ministry of Interior did not have sufficient resources to provide protection for the protection of the union leaders, and asked if Ecopetrol could take on the costs.

4.- On 6th of June 2001, the president of ECOPETROL ALBERTO CALDERON ZULETA, called for the provision of a scheme of protection by the Ministry of Interior to be given to the threatened leaders in response to the letter by the Ministry of Interior, on 31st of May 2001.

5.- Against the background of continued threats on the 30th of August 2001 the National President of USO wrote again to the President of ECOPETROL calling for protection and demanding a date for the implementation of a programme of security. As yet there has been no response.

BACKGROUND
The leaders of USO, who represent petrol workers who work in ECOPETROL, have been the victims of countless threats, harassment and arbitrary detention.

During 1989 and 1994 more than a hundred workers affiliated to the union were forced to leave their workplace in Barrancabermeja, and their homes. Later on 18 workers were arbitrarily detained and cases containing false evidence against them were set up.

The National President of the union Hernando Hernandez has been subjected to various assassination attempts in Barrancabermeja, Bucaramanga and Bogotá.

WE CALL ON THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
To demand that the Colombian Government and all state organs to investigate these cases, and identify and prosecute those responsible for the threats and attempts against USO's leaders.

Call for the Human Rights Unit of the Ministry of Interior to carry out the recommendations of its own State Security Organizations and provide immediate security schemes for the leaders that have been threatened.

Schemes that contain Bodyguards chosen by the union for each leader, a vehicle, weapons, bullet-proof jackets, and communication equipment linking up to a network of trade union and human rights activists.

Demand that ECOPETROL and the Colombian Government guarantee the rights of union organisation, freedom of expression, right to protest, and to free association - all of which are supposed to be guaranteed under the Colombian Constitution.

Asociación para la Investigación y Acción Social NOMADESC,
Corporación Servicios Profesionales Comunitarios SEMBRAR,
La Union Sindical Obrera USO,
Sindicato de Trabajadores de Las Empresas Municipales de Cali
SINTRAEMCALI,
Sindicato De Los Trabajadores Universitarios De Colombia SINTRAUNICOL,
Central Unitaria De Trabajadores CUT - VALLE DEL CAUCA,
Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Mineria en Colombia SINTRAMINERCOL,
Movimiento Estudiantil Del Valle Del Cauca,
Fundación Comité De Solidaridad Con Presos Politicos
FCSPP Seccional Valle del Cauca,
Sintramunicipio Bugalagrande,
Sintramunicipio Yumbo.

SEND URGENT MESSAGES DEMANDING PROTECTION TO:
Doctor ANDRES PASTRANA ARANGO,
President of the Republic,
Palacio de Narino,
Santafe de Bogota DC
Fax: 00571 3362109/ 337 1351 / 2867434 / 286 6842
E-mail: rdh@presidencia.gov.co

ARMANDO ESTRADA VILLA
Ministro del Interior, Ministerio de Gobierno
Carrera 8 n. 8-09 Santa Fe de Bogota, Palacio de Nario.
Tel-fax (571 ) 2868025, 3343960 ext. 0630

GUSTAVO BELL LEMUS
Ministro de la Defensa, Ministerio de Defensa Nacional
Avenida El Dorado con carrera 52 CAN Santa Fe de Bogota
Tel-fax (571 ) 222 18 74
E-mail de la Secretara General: infprotocol@mindefensa.gov.co

and

Alberto Calderón Zuleta,
Presidente ECOPETROL Empresa Colombiana de Petróleos,
Dirección: Cra 13 No. 36-24, Bogota, Colombia
Teléfono: 00571 2344312 - Fax: 00571 2344099
presidente@ecopetrol.com.co

WITH COPIES TO:
USO Emails: usopaz@yahoo.com and usocol@col1.telecom.com.co;  redher@colnodo.apc.org;
CUT Email: cutcol@col3.telecom.com.co;
Campaña Internacional Derechos Humanos Email: dhintegralsuroc@yahoo.com;
Colombia Solidarity Campaign Email: colombia_sc@hotmail.com