The USO will start regional protests in Puerto Gaitán July 12-15 as part of a wider campaign to organize against the presence of multinational oil firms in Colombia, and an economic model that the union says has led to widespread social and environmental abuses at the hands of foreign firms.
The Transport Minister Cecilia Álvarez Correa-Glen announced that the ministry will form a technical committee to come up with solution to mitigate some of the problems stemming from oil trucks on public highways.
Colombian oil producer Raven held a socialization meeting to present the project diagnostic for a pipeline that will connect its operations with the Bicentennial Pipeline.
Oil extractor Equion has refuted accusations from the community action board president of El Morro, Jorge Castro, saying that it is complying with environmental measures to protect the water and that no one has invested more in the roads than it has.
The General Royalty System (SGR) and the National Planning Department (DNP) have issued a string of nearly daily announcements in June detailing advancements and approval of projects that will receive funding using the royalty system.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos visited the city of Villavicencio in the Meta Department and called for a balance between oil production and the environmental and social needs of the community.
The USO in a statement says it categorically rejects the model of new contracts that Ecopetrol’s administration is proposing. The union calls it an attack against the workers, as it will allow contractor firms to lower headcount, decrease salaries and hierarchical ranks of works, increase the work load through “multifunctional” workers. This will expose workers to a higher risk of accidents, breaking the internal policy of Ecopetrol called “Work Safely, Clean Barrels”.
Protests and blockades in Paz de Ariporo, one of several hotspots this week that have grabbed headlines, are now being lifted after community leaders and Bicentennial Pipeline officials signed an agreement that would improve the community’s roads.
Separate blockades targeting oil operations have been set up by protestors from rural communities around Paz de Ariporo and near the Monterrey municipality as demonstrators call for greater social investment and allege unfulfilled promises from oil firms in the region.
Over the last week the USO said that it would ramp up legal action against what it says are abuses occurring in the mining, hydroelectrical and oil sectors of Colombia. A public meeting in mid-July in Meta will serve as the lead off.
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