Speaker to share experiences as Colombian labor leader

Witness for Peace – Upper Midwest is hosting  Elizabeth Cuero Badillo, the secretary of  education for Buenaventura’s chapter of the  Portworker’s Union, to share her experiences  as a female labor leader in Colombia’s dangerous ports. She will speak 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 23, in the Common Room.

The event is hosted by the Department of Modern and Classical Languages, the Saint Teresa Leadership and Service Institute for Women, and the Peace and Justice Club.

Badillo has been organizing for over 15 years in the deadliest country for union organizers, leading various actions for just working  conditions in Colombia’s principle port city of   Buenaventura.

Hearing about the reality of life in  Buenaventura is especially significant on the   eve of the one-­year anniversary of the U.S.-­   Colombia Free Trade Agreement; 60 percent of Colombian imports and exports pass  through Buenaventura, and its strategic  location makes it a center of much organized violence.

Badillo will share what privatization and free trade have meant for Buenaventura’s   Afro-­Colombian community, who make up  nearly 90 percent of the municipality’s population. Her major goals are to achieve recognition   and respect for worker’s rights, increase  women’s participation in organizing, and end  discrimination against women port workers.

For more information, contact Dorothy Diehl, Ext. 1531.