Coca-Cola may lose its license to extract water for its plant in central Colombia amid piling accusations of irregularities.
House Representative Maria del Mar Pizarro embarked on a campaign to bar the environmental authority of the central Cundinamarca province from renewing the multinational’s license to pump water from springs in the town of La Calera.
The multinational corporation has been pumping water without a license since December 2024, according to Pizarro.
On top of the allegedly illegal use of water, the lawmakers said that a recent report from the regional environmental authority accused Coca-Cola of having sealed off seven springs, which would be in violation of environmental regulations.
The same report said that the consumption data presented by the multinational were inconsistent with the observations of inspectors, according to Pizarro.
The information provided during the technical visit by the user [Coca-Cola] is inconsistent with the consumption reports, so the user should be asked for a report on the volume of bottled water produced at the plant.
CAR Report
During a drought last year, farmers from La Calera accused the Coca-Cola plant of using up all the available water in the region.
Many of us have not received a drop of water for approximately two weeks, and in some cases much longer… Never before has such a serious and complicated water shortage been experienced in our territory.
Local Farmers
According to the law, the regional environmental authority should have prioritized the local farmers’ water supply over the industruial consumption of the multinational’s plant.
The multinational’s latest scandals aren’t new.
Coca Cola also bottled and sold water without a license between 1993 and 1996 and between 2006 and 2014.
Throughout the 2000’s, food and drink union Sinaltrainal said that unionized workers at the plant in La Calera were being threatened
Coca-Cola has a long history of scandals and reported human rights violations in Colombia, such as when there were credible allegations tying the multinational to paramilitary groups that were threatening workers.
According to workers and the Colombian food and drink union Sinaltrainal plant managers explicitly threatened to use paramilitary force against workers in the Carepa plant in northern Colombia.
The assassination of a prominent union leader, Isidro Segundo Gil, inside a Coca-Cola plant, marked a turning point and led to the mass resignation of union members.
Between 1990 and 2002, at least 10 Sinaltrainal leaders were killed.
