'We were treated as disposable beings': Waste pickers in Colombia fought for their rights after 11 m

[Judi Lynn]

‘We were treated as disposable beings’: Waste pickers in Colombia fought for their rights after 11 murders

The people who collect garbage for recycling organized among themselves to change how they are paid and how they are treated. Today, waste pickers are officially recognized as part of the municipal waste system.

The World
May 18, 2023 · 3:00 PM EDT
By Manuel Rueda

Back in 1992, security guards at the Universidad Libre in the Colombian city of Barranquilla came up with a way to help the medical school — and themselves.

On quiet nights, they lured waste pickers onto campus to collect old cans and cardboard boxes — it was a trap. The guards beat them with bats, and shot them, according to court documents. Then, they sold the bodies to the medical school, where the students needed cadavers to learn on.

This went unnoticed for weeks, until one waste picker survived. After he was put in a bathtub full of formaldehyde, the man escaped and alerted the police. On March 1, as the city celebrated its annual carnival, officials found the bodies of 11 waste pickers in the university’s morgue.

“It’s something that still makes us feel pain,” said Marisol Mogollon, a waste picker in Bogotá. “Just to think that we were treated as disposable beings.”

More:
https://theworld.org/stories/2023-05-18/we-were-treated-disposable-beings-waste-pickers-colombia-fought-their-rights