The main table was formed by Sue Longley, IUF general secretary, Bev Clarkson, GPTA president, and Svetlana Boincean, GPTA Agriculture coordinator, who opened the event by outlining the agenda for the following two days.

Also present at the opening of the annual meeting were Fabio Arias and Alejandro Pedraza, president and former president, respectively, of the United Workers’ Federation of Colombia (CUT).

Both labor leaders addressed the difficult situation the country is currently under, as well as the actions planned to defend democracy, peace, and social programs, which involve broad sectors of Colombian society.

Delegates and observers from several countries laid out the main problems faced by the sector’s workers, including the dramatic impacts of climate change and the indiscriminate use of toxic agrochemicals.

Other problems mentioned included union and labor rights violations, the increasing concentration of land in a handful of owners, and the violence and repression of the criminal neoliberal model.

Participants also began to address the critical situations affecting the various areas.

“World hunger is not a production issue, it is a political issue, arising from the lack of food sovereignty. How is it possible for nearly a billion people in the world to be facing critical levels of food insecurity, when enough food is produced to feed 10 billion people?” IUF regional secretary Gerardo Iglesias asked.

“The problem, then, is economic inequity, lack of employment, inequality, low wages, and the extractivist production model that benefits a small group of multinational corporations and generates widespread violence that pushes rural people from the land”.

“We need to change the agricultural paradigm. GPTA discussions need to start addressing the issue of agrarian reform, combating land grabbing and systematic anti-union attacks,” Iglesias stressed.