A group of 18 miners from the Norte de Santander department chained themselves in a Bogota square in protest of poor labor conditions and health care in the northeast Colombian department.
Since midnight Wednesday the miners, some with reported disabilities caused by on-the-job accidents, have chained themselves to a post in the political epicenter of Bogota, Plaza Bolivar.
The protesters are trying to reclaim disability and social security payments from insurance companies that, according to them, have not yet been paid.
“We solicit the presence of the vice president so he collaborates with us, so he investigates the national entity,” noted the miners.
Dimas Grumesa is a miner from Cucuta, the capital of Norte de Santander, who is reportedly fighting for workman’s compensation from ARPS and health care assistance from an insurance company (EPS), after he suffered major injuries when a rock landed on him.
“The law obligates the employer to pay social security, but this is nothing, if they don’t respond,” said the disabled miner in a report from La Opinion.