The National Steering Committee of Sintrainagro expressed its most categorical repudiation of the National Protection Unit’s (UNP) decision to withdraw the police protection that had been granted to its president, Guillermo Rivera.

“Rivera has devoted his life to the construction of strong labor organizations, the defense of rural workers, and the promotion of social dialogue,” Colombia’s National Union of Agricultural and Livestock Workers (Sintrainagro) said in a press release condemning the decision.

Guillermo Rivera is also a major reference for the IUF, as a leading figure in the international struggle for decent rural labor, and both he and the organization he presides have received our committed support and utmost solidarity for decades.

For that and many other reasons, we lend our voice to the Sintrainagro National Steering Committee’s request for the UNP to immediately overturn its arbitrary decision adopted without consulting the parties.

If the decision is implemented, the union leader will be left in a dangerous state of defenselessness as he carries out his union work, which involves long workdays and requires that he move around constantly.

The vulnerable position Guillermo Rivera is placed in as a result of this decision clearly illustrates the insensitivity of the Colombian government, which has been reported to international forums in more than one occasion for its failure to protect labor leaders and activists.