In July 2022, Colombia was once again named by the International Trade Union Confederation as the deadliest country in the world for trade unionists, with 22 murders in 12 months. But in August union-backed Gustavo Petro was inaugurated as president. Could the country’s first ever Left-led government mean a safer environment for labour organizing? It’s an opportunity which can’t be squandered, says trade unionist Huber Ballesteros.
As vice-president of the Fensuagro agricultural workers’ union, Ballesteros was arrested for his role in organizing demonstrations and imprisoned for 40 months on trumped-up terrorism charges, before being released after mounting international pressure from trade unions and political allies. More than 100 members of his union have been killed since the 1980s.
