Colombia’s Fensuagro Union is Revolutionary, Persecuted, and Undaunted
July 7, 2015
Colombia’s Fensuagro Union is Revolutionary, Persecuted, and Undaunted
by W. T. Whitney
Fensuagro, the largest agricultural workers union in Colombia, held its 11th National Congress on June 5 – 8 in Bogota. The theme there was: “We advance for peace, rural peoples’ rights, and food sovereignty.” Fensuagro – the full name is the United Agricultural Trade Union Federation – reelected Húbert Ballesteros as vice president and member of its board of directors.
Ballesteros, however, is a political prisoner, one of 9500 Colombian political prisoners and one of 130 Fensuagro leaders who are in prison. His victimization symbolizes repression directed at Fensuagro since 1976, when the union was formed. As of December 2013, assailants had killed 1500 Fensuagro members over 37 years. More have died since then.
From prison Bellasteros wrote an article recently that appears below; Fensuagro’s revolutionary ideology is evident there. And the Fensuagro Congress concluded with a “Declaration” along the same lines. It covers the class-based nature of Fensuagro’s struggle, its anti-imperialism, and its insistence on structural political changes in Colombia. Excerpts of that document also appear below.
Fensuagro has a stake in the outcome of peace talks underway in Cuba between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The reason is twofold: persecution visited upon the union during the civil war and Fensuagro’s revolutionary orientation shared with the FARC.
More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/07/07/colombias-fensuagro-union-is-revolutionary-persecuted-and-undaunted/
