What is the purpose of a CPT prayer vigil remembering assassinated Colombian Coca-Cola workers?
Some managers at Coca-Cola bottling plants in Colombia have used AUC paramilitaries (see below) to intimidate and murder employees trying to organize unions. Christian Peacemaker Teams feels a special connection to this issue because the work of its team in Colombia has included identifying and retrieving bodies, including the bodies of friends, whom AUC death squads murdered. When employees asked Coca-Cola headquarters to exert some control over the bottling plants and provide security for their workers, the company refused to take action. CPT believes that the prayerful attention of Mennonites to the human rights of Colombian Coca Cola employees may help Coca Cola to value the lives of these employees more. [The AUC, the United Self-defense Forces of Colombia, is the largest right-wing Colombian paramilitary group. Functioning as organized crime outside the law, it routinely threatens and kills organizers who it believes support a leftist agenda. Businesses and large landowners often
