On July 6, the leader of the Cartagena branch of the National Union of Agri-Food Workers (Sinaltrainal), a member of the Regional CUT executive committee and a member of the Socialist Workers’ Party, was attacked and injured in the city of Cartagena by two individuals on a motorcycle as he was arriving home with his partner.
Fredis Marrugo is a direct employee of Seatech International, the company that produces Van Camps tuna and in which former Vice President Marta Lucía Ramírez and Enrique Peñalosa, among others, have economic interests. In December 2023, the company was denounced by the Minister of Labor for constant violations of the rights of workers and their trade union organizations.
In June, Fredis Marrugo participated in a public hearing at the Colombian Congress, where he denounced the anti-union actions and violations of democratic and union freedoms that Seatech International has been carrying out against its workers, especially women.
Fredis has no personal enemies and robbery has been ruled out as a motive, so we attribute this attack to retaliation for his union activity, in an attempt to intimidate him and the union.
We consider this aggression to be an attack on the union movement, but also an attack on our party.
We join the demands made by the Sinaltrainal trade union organization, which is calling on the Colombian government to provide protection and guarantees for trade union leaders so that they can carry out their work in defense of workers’ interests. In addition, we call on the national CUT to speak out and support both the investigation of the case and the need to strengthen the protection of trade union activity.
Socialist Workers’ Party
Executive Committee
July 9, 2025
