SINTRAINAGRO activist murdered

In the early morning on January 28, Juan Carlos Muñoz, a SINTRAINAGRO member, was murdered by gunmen on his way to board a bus to take him to work in the sugar cane fields in Colombia’s Cauca River Valley.

Juan Carlos was a prominent activist involved in the union’s struggle against labour contractors and the La Cabaña sugar mill, which have mounted vicious attacks against the union and its members through harassment, illegal firings and pressure on cane cutters’ families.

In recent meetings with the Minister of Labour and the Minister of the Interior, SINTRAINAGRO, with the support and assistance of the National Executive of the CUT, denounced the imminent risk not only to the leadership and members of the cane sugar workers’ union, but also to SINTRAINAGRO’s national leadership.

The IUF wrote to the Colombian government in November 2012, urging that security measures for trade unionists be kept in place and has now called on government authorities to swiftly launch a thorough investigation into the murder of Juan Carlos Muñoz and bring the perpetrators to justice.