WFP-Fall-2013-Speaker-TourMills International Ctr
Erb Memorial Union
1222 W. 13th Ave.

Witness for Peace Event

A presentation with Jhon Jairo Castro, president of the Buenaventura, Colombia Portworker’s Union

Jhon Jairo Castro will share his experience as an Afro-Colombian labor leader in one of the most dangerous countries in the world to exercise labor rights and where 90 percent of violent acts against trade unionists go unpunished. Jhon will explain the impact of privatization and free trade in a drastically unequal country. The recently passed Colombia-U.S. Free Trade Agreement has increased economic activity in Colombia, yet 80 percent of people in Buenaventura (Colombia’s principal port city) continue to live in poverty.

Jhon Jairo Castro is the president of the Buenaventura chapter of the Portworkers Union, through which 60 percent of Colombian imports and exports pass. He has worked as a longshoreman and organized for labor rights for over eleven years, despite receiving death threats.

Cosponsored by UO Department of International Studies.

Witness for Peace Fall 2013 Speaker Tour NW: http://www.witnessforpeace.org/article.php?id=1359 [1]
Short Documentary about Labor Rights in Colombia (16 min) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfqHKzcBzL8 [2]
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/610402115669162/?context=create [3]

[1] http://www.witnessforpeace.org/article.php?id=1359
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfqHKzcBzL8
[3] https://www.facebook.com/events/610402115669162/?context=create

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