The sole U.S. distributor of flowers from a Colombian plantation where workers have received death threats has refused to respond to repeated requests from USLEAP for assistance.

As previously reported, workers at the Bochica Farms plantation near La Ceja, Antioquia formed a union in January 2007 and within days were faced with threats and intimidation. The death threats were signed by the Aguilas Negras, a new paramilitary organization known to be comprised of "demobilized" members of Colombia's largest paramilitary group, the AUC. The threats have been combined with intimidation by management and the failure of the Colombian government to act on the union's request for legal recognition.

USLEAP has repeatedly contacted Spectrum Flowers, the Miami-based distributor of the flowers grown at Bochica Farms, who has been unresponsive.

In April, USLEAP staff also met with the U.S. embassy in Bogotá to push for protection for the union members under the Colombian government's highly-publicized trade union protection program. While the embassy indicated that the workers should have no trouble receiving protection, as of early June it had not materialized.

The workers reported being told they did not qualify for protection at the time of their request because the Colombian government had denied their legal registration on the basis of a technicality. Only members of legally recognized unions are eligible for government protection

The persecution against the union has caused its membership to fall below the minimum required for legal registration. To avoid disolution of the union, the workers joined the banana union Sintrainagro, Colombia's largest private sector union. The company is legally obliged to bargain with Sintrainagro (as a legally constituted union), who presented the collective bargaining demands on behalf of the workers. The company, however, has thus far refused to negotiate.

Bochica Farms grows a wide variety of flowers including chrysanthemums, eucalyptus, asters, sunflowers, and hydrangeas.