Ileana Gadea and Naomi Nakamura, both regular contributors to Fight Back!, reviewed the film A Day Without A Mexican . Based on the premise that California is covered by a thick fog and Latinos have vanished, the movie satirically deals with role of Mexicans and Latinos in the California economy. How well does the film do this? What follows are two different views.

On Tax Day, April 15, activists around the country took part in the Colombia Action Network's third national day of action this year. The April 15 protest brought attention to the human rights crisis that U.S. military aid is creating in Colombia. In Colombia, an average of three trade unionists are murdered each week. The U.S. counter-insurgency program, 'Plan Colombia,' and the new 'Andean Initiative' is arming, training and directing the war in Colombia using U.S. taxpayers' money.

Madison, WI – The Colombia Action Network gathered here March 8 to develop the campaign to boycott Coca-Cola, in defense of Colombian trade unionists. Luis Adolfo Cardona, the Colombian trade unionist who escaped kidnapping, torture and murder by Coca-Cola’s death squads, gave a talk about the grave human rights situation for Colombia’s workers.

On Monday, March 15, Coca-Cola union workers in Colombia began a hunger strike in front of the Coke bottling plants in Barrancabermeja, Bogotá, Bucaramanga, Cali, Cartagena, Cúcuta, Medellín and Valledupar. Juan Carlos Galvis, vice-president of the union in Barrancabermeja, has said, “If we lose the fight against Coca-Cola, we will first lose our union, next our jobs and then our lives.” William Mendoza, president of the union in Barrancabermeja, said, “This is the final battle and we're giving it all we've got. We need all supporters of human and labor rights in the U.S. to do the same!”

The campaign to boycott ‘Killer Coke’ is spreading across college campuses and communities around the country. The Coca-Cola boycott was launched July 22 by the Colombian food and beverage workers’ union, SINALTRAINAL, to shine a light on the murders of nine Coca-Cola trade unionists there by company-hired death squads.

The Bush proposal on immigration does not address the real problems of the more than ten million undocumented workers in this country. It is simply a recycled version of past ‘guest worker’ programs which lock immigrant workers into poverty, without providing any real path for toward security, residency and justice.

The campaign to boycott ‘Killer Coke’ is spreading fast. The Coca-Cola boycott was launched July 22 by the Colombian food and beverage workers’ union, SINALTRAINAL, to shine a light on the murders of nine Coca-Cola trade unionists.

Nine trade unionists at Coca-Cola in Colombia are dead – murdered by paramilitaries with ties to Coca-Cola management. In response, the Colombia Action Network (CAN) is calling on student, community, religious and anti-war groups, as well as unions, to join protests against the Coca-Cola Company beginning July 22.

Rank and File Leads United Auto Workers to Victory

Less than one year after the Teamsters struck UPS, another giant strike has shaken U.S. capitalism. With 180,000 workers, the battle at GM was the biggest strike in 20 years. More than 190,000 more workers were idled when two parts plants in Flint, Michigan, struck for 54 days and won, the first major auto strike since 1970. These strikes show the worker's movement continues to build in strength. Workers are on the move again!

In Colombia, the people are winning. The U.S. war machine is losing plane after plane to a growing popular insurgency. On April 7, a U.S. pilot died when his plane crashed while spraying deadly chemicals on fields in rural Colombia. The U.S. State Department refused comment on assumptions that the plane was shot down by rebels.

Tom Burke of Fight Back! interviewed Luis Adolfo, a leader of Colombian Coca-Cola workers. The heroism of Coca-Cola workers who are standing up to company-hired death squads has inspired support from workers across Colombia, and around the world.

More U.S. Special Forces are arriving in Colombia. Supposedly on a mission to train members of the Colombian military, they will be assisting efforts to guard a major oil pipeline owned by the U.S.-based multinational corporation, Occidental Petroleum. Insurgents who are fighting to free Colombia from foreign control often target the pipeline.

Tom Burke and Zeno Wood of the Colombia Action Network conducted the following interview with Colombian trade union leader Hector E. Castro. Castro is a leader of the Central Workers' Federation (CUT) and the Death Squad Coca-Cola Campaign in the U.S.

With the election of Alvaro Uribe Velez as president, the U.S. media says that Colombia is entering a new phase in “the war against terrorism.” President-elect Velez's platform calls for an end to negotiations with the armed insurgency and for a military solution to the conflict. The big story that's not being told is that more than 50% of registered voters abstained in the election. Community organizations in Colombia suggest that close to 80% of the electorate in the countryside opted out. With right-wing paramilitaries monitoring voting in many areas in the countryside, and Army tanks rumbling through poor neighborhoods in the cities, the election results are anything but a popular mandate to expand Colombia's civil war.

The Colombia Action Network, coordinating with the Comite por la Nueva Colombia and the International Action Center, called for emergency demonstrations against U.S. war in Colombia in late February. Protest slogans included, “Stop bombing Colombia's Zone for Dialogue!”; “Protest President Pastrana breaking off peace talks!” and “Stop Plan Colombia!” Protesters in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Portland, and on various college campuses rallied at Colombian consulates and at federal buildings to get their anti-war message heard.

St Paul, MN – The first lawsuit resulting from police violence at the Republican National Convention was announced at a press conference in front of Saint Paul City Hall, Sept. 26. Notice has been served on the cities of Saint Paul, Bloomington and Minneapolis, along with Ramsey County, that lawyers representing Mick Kelly will seek $250,000 in damages. Kelly was shot at close range and injured by police with a high velocity marking projectile at a demonstration organized by the Anti-War Committee on the fourth day of the RNC, Sept. 4.

Crowd repeatedly tear gassed, 396 arrested as police pull out all stops to prevent anti-war march from reaching Xcel Center

St. Paul, MN – On the final day of the Republican National Convention, Sept. 4, over 1000 protesters took to the streets to deliver a strong anti-war message while John McCain was speaking. The march was initiated by the Twin Cities-based Anti-War Committee, with the theme, “No peace for the war-makers.”

St. Paul, MN – On September 4, the final day of the RNC, 2,000 protesters took to the streets here to deliver a militant anti-war message. The march was organized by the Twin Cities-based Anti-War Committee, with the theme “No Peace for the Warmakers.”

The Colombian people are fighting for liberation against a government that only serves the interests of the rich. The South American country has been involved in this civil war for decades, but, until recently, it has gone on unnoticed by the American public. In summer 2000, the U.S. Congress approved a $1.3 billion aid package, part of Colombian President Andres Pastrana's “Plan Colombia.” Its purpose is to fight the civil war in the name of a war on drugs. This aid will send military weapons and equipment, as well as U.S. Army personnel, to train Colombian soldiers.

St Paul, MN – The St. Paul Regional Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, has voted to endorse the Labor Day mass anti-war march planned for the opening day of the Republican National Convention. The event will begin at the State Capitol at 11 am on Monday, September 1.