June 25, 2013 (TSR – Prensa Latina) – Leader of the Movement for the Dignity of Coffee Workers, Antioquia department, has announced a new strike, as the one performed in February-March, which paralyzed the coffee production in Colombia.
One of the spokesmen of this movement, Benjamin Suarez, said that on July 3 a National Convention will be celebrated in the city of Armenia, to set the date of the next demonstration, as the government did not meet the agreements signed on March 8 to end the national strike.
The new strike is imminent, Suarez reiterated. Our representative to the government agencies failed to communicate with the ministers in charge of the issue, to provide an explanation, and state authorities do not do nothing but ask for deferrals.
After the strike on February 25 that lasted 15 days, the Government promised to provide to the farmers, from March 18, a subsidy of 145 pesos ($74,59 USD) per 125 kilos of coffee, which is not reaching everyone.
In the minutes written when sealing the deal, it was stipulated that if within 90 days of signing the pact, the mechanism for full payment of the subsidy were not working, the agreements would be automatically cancelled and the growers would return to a strike.
Another spokesmen of the movement, Dimas Arias told reporters on June 10 that the government was far from fulfilling their commitments.
