Late Stage Capitalism

As far as I can tell from this article from a liberal source, the whole Colombian bourgeoisie is violently anti-labor.

Robin Kirk, who monitors abuses in Colombia for Human Rights Watch, says that there are strong ties between the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), the nation's leading paramilitary grouping, and the Colombian military. "The Colombian military and intelligence apparatus has been virulently anticommunist since the 1950s," she says, "and they look at trade unionists as subversives--as a very real and potential threat."

The Coca-Cola plant manager had personal connections with the death squad:

But the suit charges that plant manager Ariosto Milán Mosquera claimed that "he had given an order to the paramilitaries to carry out the task of destroying the union." Workers believed him because he had a history of partying with the paramilitaries.

Coca-Cola directly benefited:

"The company never negotiated with the union after that. Twenty-seven workers in 12 departments left the plant and the area. All the workers had to quit the union to save their own lives, and the union was completely destroyed. For two months, the paramilitaries camped just outside the plant gate. Coca-Cola never complained to the authorities." The experienced workers who left the plant, who'd been earning between $380 and $400 a month, were replaced by new employees at minimum wage--$130 a month.

The violence goes well beyond Coca-Cola:

The Colombian government views union activity as a threat because it challenges its basic economic policies. The administration of President Andrés Pastrana is under intense pressure from the International Monetary Fund to cut its public-sector budget, in part through privatizing public services. Union leaders who oppose privatization have also been targeted for extinction. After leading a fight to maintain public service in the city of Calí, Carlos Elíecer Prado, a public-sector union leader, was murdered in May.