On December 5, a "anti-coca" coalition of political organizations, community organizations, student groups, and union activists rallied and marched to commemorate the assassination of Isidro Gil. Mr. Gil was murdered on December 5, 1996 inside a Colombian Coca-Cola bottling plant. He was the lead negotiator for Sinaltrainal, the Colombian food and beverage workers' union. The following organizations were participants: Colombian Action Network, DePaul Anti-Coca-Cola Coalition, La Voz de Los de Abajo, Loyola Students Against Sweatshops, Nicaragua Solidarity Committee's Labor Rights Task Force, Pilsen Southwest Side Green Party, Mexico Solidarity Network, Students for Social Justice, Student Labor Action Project and United Students Against Sweatshops. This diverse "anti-coca" coalition has called for a boycott of all Coca-Cola products; the coalition contends that Coca-Cola supports the paramilitary group that assassinated Mr. Gil as part of their anti-union policies.
Luis Adolfo Cardona was the featured speaker at this event. A former Coca-Cola worker, Mr. Cardona narrowly escaped from the same paramilitary group that assassinated Mr. Gil. He has been granted political asylum by the United States government.
The activists marched from St. Pius Church in Pilsen to the Coca-Cola bottling factory, also in Pilsen. They created a shrine in memory of Mr. Gil at the entrance to the plant. There was no communication between the factory employees and the activists, though the shrine was entirely removed a few hours after it was placed.
(Photos courtesy of Dorian Breuer)