WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS ISSUE #455
October 18, 1998

NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK
339 LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012 (212) 674-9499

*1. POLICE BEAT COLOMBIAN STRIKERS

Police used nightsticks and water cannons to clear out striking
public employees who were protesting around public buildings on
Oct. 11, 13 and 14 in Bogota, Colombia. Some 850,000 members of
public sector unions are on strike to seek a wage increase in
line with inflation and a reversal of the neoliberal policies
which the government claims are needed to rescue the country's
economy [see Update #454]. Some strikers threw rocks at police
agents. On Oct. 14, the strikers staged a protest, dubbed the
"Taking of Bogota," at the capital's historic Plaza Bolivar. The
state workers have blocked traffic with protest marches in Bogota
and other cities across the country since the strike began on
Oct. 7. 
 
Labor Minister Hernando Yepes declared the strike illegal on Oct.
9. Police and army troops responded by seizing oil, telephone,
bank, university and school facilities, using tear gas and clubs
to drive out the protesters occupying the buildings. President
Andres Pastrana Arango announced on Oct. 13 that he won't back
down to strikers' demands. [Los Angeles Times 10/14/98; Reuter
10/12/98; Agence France-Presse 10/14/98; Associated Press
10/14/98; message posted on Internet 10/14/98] 
 
After the strike was declared illegal, some telephone company and
state bank workers returned to work. Bank workers slipped into
their offices under police escort at dawn on Oct. 13 without
incident but were then trapped inside as angry strikers gathered
outside. Protesters threw stones at telephone company employees
returning to work. [LAT 10/14/98] On Oct. 14, state oil workers
in Barrancabermeja tore down a barbed-wire barrier and scuffled
with army troops guarding the national refinery. Air traffic
controllers also joined the strike on Oct. 14. [AP 10/14/98]