Colombian union leaders told U.S. officials that fellow unionists were promoting and raising funds for the FARC and the ELN through the sales of controversial t-shirts in Denmark, newspaper El Espectador reported Wednesday.
According to the newspaper, four leaders of smaller unions said that members of Colombia’s largest workers union, Confederación Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT), who are seeking refuge in Denmark, were behind the controversial sales of FARC shirts in 2009.
The newspaper based its report on diplomatic cables that have not yet been released to the public by WikiLeaks or the newspaper itself.
One of the accusers, a leader of a small workers union in the oil industry, also claims that the former president of the Union Sindical Obrera (USO), a large oil workers union, was the chief sponsor of the shirt sales. He said that ex-chairman Cesar Carrillo had sought asylum in Norway five years ago after being charged in Colombia for alleged ties to guerrilla groups.
According to the reportedly leaked U.S. embassy cable from which this information was revealed, the accusing unionists believed that Europe has become a haven for exiled Colombians who sympathize with the FARC and ELN.
The Danish organization, Fighters and Lovers, sold the shirts and donated $5 to the FARC for each sale. The Danish Supreme Court found six Danes guilty of supporting recognized terrorist organizations.
