Video still. SINALTRAINAL: “We demand that Nestlé respect life, human rights, labor rights, and trade union rights.”
An Urgent Action from the National Union of Agrifood System Workers (SINALTRAINAL) highlights that its hunger strike against Nestlé-Bugalagrande in Colombia is being “harassed by National Army military personnel”.
It notes the hunger strike is “an exercise of the constitutional and conventional right to public demonstration and of the legitimate restraint activities that any trade union association conducts in representation of its members”.
The Urgent Action adds: “Previously, the demonstration activities of SINALTRAINAL-Bugalagrande have been ignored by the multinational Nestlé, and on the contrary, military and police troops and drones have been sent to monitor and harass the protest actions. …The use of military troops is excluded from the control mechanisms for public demonstrations, both under domestic legislation and international human rights standards, making the deployment of military troops illegal and endangering the lives of civilians uninvolved in any form of armed confrontation.”
The Urgent Action demands that President Abelardo de la Espriella order “the immediate withdrawal of military troops”.
Canadian “military goods” exported to National Army
According to figures from Global Affairs Canada, in the last five years (2021 to 2025), Canada has exported more than $1.647 million in “military goods” to Colombia. In June 2023, the Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC) announced a contract to supply Colombia with 55 Light Armoured Vehicles (LAVs) at a cost of $418 million. In January 2013, the Canadian Commercial Corporation also signed a contract to supply the Colombian military with 24 LAVs at a cost of USD $65.3 million.
We call on the Embassy of Canada in Colombia to monitor this situation in light of this Urgent Action from the National Union of Agrifood System Workers and ensure that Canadian-manufactured military equipment is not being used to impede the rights of SINALTRAINAL workers on strike against Nestlé.
We also note that in Colombia the National Police are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defense.
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