For a week there have been recurring invasions of private property with the effects that this implies for the working population.
This is how the attacks on workers continue to leave the sugarcane sector without guarantees for free mobility, work and private property.
“This week an event occurred in which two workers from the La Cabaña mill were kidnapped, they belonged to the mill’s security area, their belongings were stolen and their vehicle was stolen. Hours later they were released.
This shows us that there are no guarantees in the territory for us to be able to operate, for our population to work and to live, and we vehemently request the National Government to keep an eye on this territory in which we all yearn for peace and of course, guarantees” assured Claudia Calero, president of Asocaña.
He said that the sugarcane sector is positive, productive thanks to the people and if there are no guarantees for the workers, the agro-industry will be recent.
For her part, Marta Betancourt, executive director of Procaña, assured that they remain committed and sitting at the dialogue table in northern Cauca. “It has been almost nine months and we have been contributing ideas and listening to the proposals that are made within the table and that requires minimum security conditions and respect for human rights.
There are new attacks on properties in the municipality of Miranda and we also see with concern that farmers are being subjected to threats against their physical safety.
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maintain operability
Guillermo Carvajal, corporate affairs manager of the Riopaila Group, explained that the situation is not easy and that today they continue with 1,200 hectares invaded or affected by invasion processes and with a prevailing need for the State to help and the Government to mobilize the protection of work and private property, especially that operations can be maintained continuously because it is the only way to maintain jobs in the area.
”The dialogue tables have different actors from the National Government and the private sector and what is sought is to build bridges and solutions to find alternatives so that the actors who are there have alternatives for production, employment, life and that is what we are betting
The 1,200 hectares represent an impact of about 10,000 people who are affected in their income derived from the produce of these hectares.
At this time, much of the problem is concentrated in the north of Cauca and this is the focus of the discussions at this time.
How is it acting?
A protocol was implemented with the intervention of the Government and representatives of the United Nations, MAPP/OEA, to try not to reach confrontational issues.
“As companies we are signatories to the application of human rights and in this way our response to this form of aggression is done non-violently but through discussion channels that lead to solutions,” said Carvajal.
And it is that what is needed is that first there are no more invasions, nor attacks on the workers of the companies and to generate the propitious environment to sit down and think about real solutions for the actors that are present in the area and work with them together with the National Government.
“The problems are great between legal and illegal actors, which is why the response exceeds the ability to interfere and we really need the authorities to act because there are illegal dynamics in the area and we have neither the conditions, nor the capacities, nor the powers to solve them.
That is why the actions of the authorities are needed so that they act in the correct way and justice, in turn, does the work that corresponds to it in front of the people incriminated in the face of the events that have happened.
The community has given us a lot of support to the business sector, they are very concerned about preserving their jobs and have a great interest in maintaining conditions in the area because jobs and economic conditions in the municipalities would be lost and the problems worsen ” he pointed out.
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