Miners' Leader Assassinated
News from Colombia |
on: Thursday, 28 July 2011
SINTRAMIENERGETICA the mining and energy sector union has reported the assassination on July 26th of Rafael Tobon Zea, a union leader from the region of Segovia in Antioquia department. Rafael Tobon was shot three times and killed. He had been a miner for many years, working for the Colombian mining company Frontino Gold Mines for over 15 years where he had been a founder member of SINTRAMIENERGETICA. After being made redundant when part of the company was sold to foreign capital, he worked in a small mine with a few other miners, but was still active in the union in defending the interests of workers still working for Frontino Gold.
SINTRAMIENERGETICA had been reporting threats for some time, some were even directed at reps by management staff at Medoro Resources and Zandor Capital, two competing foreign mining companies in the region.
FUNTRAMINERGETICA, the mining and energy sector federation reports that other trade unionists have recently been wounded in assassination attempts, such as Alfredo Tobón and Jhon Jairo Zapata Marulanda, or have received death threats.
