STATEMENT ON COCA-COLA
BY MARTÍN ESPADA
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS,
LAWRENCE, KANSAS, MARCH 10, 2005
My poetry reading at the University of Kansas tonight is co-sponsored by
Coca- Cola, through the KU Endowment Association. After giving the matter serious
thought, I have decided that I cannot accept funds from Coca-Cola due to the
company's labor record in Colombia.
According to The New York Times, ninety percent of all trade union leaders
killed worldwide are killed in Colombia. Thousands of trade unionists have been
murdered in that country, targeted by paramilitary death squads. Thousands more
have been tortured, abducted or threatened with death.
SINALTRAINAL, the National Food Workers Union, represents workers at the Coca-
Cola bottling plants in Colombia. This union has been decimated. A Fact-Finding
Delegation headed by Hiram Monserrate of the New York City Council identified
179 major human rights violations suffered by workers at Coke plants, including
eight murders. Union leader Isidro Gil was actually shot down at the Carepa
plant itself. Paramilitaries then returned to the same plant and coerced mass
resignations from the union. Union leaders and others have charged that
managers at Coke bottling plants in Colombia are collaborating with
paramilitary forces to repress the union, pointing out that the access of
paramilitaries to the plants would be impossible without management collusion.
The Coca-Cola company must effectively protect trade unionists. The company
must examine links between plant management and paramilitaries. The company
must cooperate with an independent investigation of the human rights abuses
suffered by its workforce in Colombia. The company must take responsibility,
instead of reacting to these charges with sputtering indignation. When profit
from the misery of others is at issue, then sputtering indignation is not
enough.
Until the disturbing questions about Coke's labor record in Colombia have been
answered, I cannot in good conscience accept monies from Coca-Cola or have my
name associated with the company. This is a personal decision, and does not
reflect on the KU Endowment Association or anyone involved in co-sponsoring my
visit to KU. I am not an expert on these matters; I am simply learning about
this crisis and trying to take an ethical position.
The simplest course would have been to refuse the Coke money outright. However,
I want to go beyond symbolism. Therefore, I am donating the entire amount of
Coke's contribution to tonight's event-twelve hundred dollars-to the National
Food Workers Union in Colombia, SINALTRAINAL. Coke should not object to my
financial support of a union in Colombia devastated by violence in that
country. Giving up twelve hundred dollars is not easy for a poet, but the union
needs the money more than I do. Thank you.