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On Nov.
3, the IUF's Latin American Executive Committee (CEL) launched its 37th
Meeting, in Bogotá, Colombia. The meeting, which will run through Nov. 5, opened
with presentations by CEL president Argentino Geneiro, who is also education and
professional training secretary of the Union of Tourism, Hotel and Food Service
Workers of Argentina (UTHGRA), as well as by Luis Alejandro Pedraza, president
of the National Agro-Food Union of Colombia (UNAC), and Guillermo Rivera,
president of Colombia's National Union of Agroindustry Workers (SINTRAINAGRO).
Attendants were also greeted by the IUF's general secretary, Ron Oswald, and its
regional secretary, Gerardo Iglesias.
In his address, UNAC president Luis Alejandro Pedraza recognized
the importance of the IUF Latin American Regional Office's (Rel-UITA)
decision to hold this significant event in Colombia. “It
is a demonstration of Rel-UITA's solidarity with the Colombian people and our
efforts to achieve economic and social development and find democratic solutions
to the enormous difficulties we face,”
Pedraza said.
He recalled the commitment they have to “continue struggling against the
attempts of Colombia's far right to completely eradicate the labor movement by
banishing and murdering its leaders.”
Referring to the meeting's agenda, Pedraza stressed that “it will enable
us to advance in effectively enhancing our strategic plans and program of
action, which are elements that will influence the future success of the tasks
we carry out in the coming year and in the short term,” he concluded.
On this first day of the meeting, Colombia's United Workers Federation (CUT)
and UNAC awarded IUF regional secretary Gerardo Iglesias a
diploma in recognition for his work, and congratulated Gerónimo Venegas,
president of the Argentinean Union of Rural Workers and Stevedores (UATRE),
for his recent appointment as head of the IUF's Professional Group of
Agricultural Workers.
In addition, Rel-UITA and CUT signed a Cooperation Agreement
whereby they undertake to “share and coordinate their agendas for transforming
and strengthening trade unionism in the agro-food, hotel and tourism
industries.”
Other issues agreed on include the convening of joint events and “the
coordination of organization and development tasks, both nationally and
globally, with special emphasis on the issue of food sovereignty in Colombia.”
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