Delay Consideration of Colombia Trade Deal

In the midst of the economic crisis, the Bush administration has decided to spend its final days in office pushing for a trade agreement with Colombia that few Americans even know about. The White House has even suggested its support for an economic stimulus package during next week's lame-duck session may turn on Congress dropping its opposition to the Colombia deal.

Yet there are many important reasons why Congress delayed a vote on the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) earlier this year.

Colombia has for years had the world's highest rate of killings of trade unionists. As many as half of the unionists killed worldwide each year are Colombians -- more than 2,600 since 1986, according to the National Labor School, Colombia's leading labor rights organization. The suspected killers are often members of mafia-like paramilitary groups, which have had close ties to military, political and business figures. In 95 percent of cases, the killers have never been caught or prosecuted.

Free trade should be premised on fundamental respect for human rights, especially the rights of the workers producing the goods to be traded. This link between workers' rights and trade is recognized in recent US trade deals, including the proposed Colombia FTA, which require countries to meet certain minimum labor rights standards.

But Colombia is an exceptional case when it comes to labor rights. The violence there is so serious, and the lack of response by the authorities so overwhelming, that workers simply cannot exercise their rights. As President-elect Barack Obama has pointed out, the situation there would "make a mockery of the very labor protections that we have insisted be included in these kinds of agreements."

Congress should continue to delay consideration of the FTA until, in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's words, Colombia shows "concrete and sustained results" in addressing the problem.

In fact, Congress's principled resistance to the Bush administration's efforts to rush a vote has prompted Colombia to take some steps in the right direction, including the creation of a specialized group of prosecutors to reopen many of the uninvestigated unionist killings. As a result, the number of convictions increased from around 10 per year to over 40 in 2007.

But it is far from clear whether this signals a meaningful shift in the pattern. If Congress caves in to Bush, prematurely approving the FTA, the progress could rapidly be undone.

The specialized prosecutors have yet to even open investigations into more than 1,500 of the reported killings. In high-profile cases, such as the investigation of former intelligence chief Jorge Noguera, who allegedly gave sensitive information about trade unionists to the killers, investigations have moved inexplicably slowly or have been hampered by procedural errors.

Senior officials continue to stigmatize legitimate union activity, portraying it as a cover for the abusive left-wing guerrillas. President Álvaro Uribe recently dismissed international concerns over the violence, describing the union members as "a bunch of criminals dressed up as unionists." (Uribe frequently makes such statements about those who criticize his policies, including, recently, a Human Rights Watch representative.) Given the history of anti-union violence in Colombia, his accusations against union members risk sending the message that the unionist killings are somehow justified.

Indeed, after dropping for a few years, the number of killings of trade unionists rose again this year, with 41 killed through October, compared with 33 through October of last year.

So far, to its credit, the Congress has insisted on examining the facts, and they remain ugly. Congress should continue to hold steady on the FTA, and work with President-elect Obama to design a policy for Colombia in which "free" trade is not built on dead worker representatives.

Kenneth Roth is the executive director of Human Rights Watch.

Comments

[andresfusion]

WOW whoever wrote this article is completely delusional. Colombia just signed a FTA with Canada and with Europe. All the while American taxpayers who helped Colombia to reduce crime and violence will not be reaping the benefits. Sadly the European and Canadians whom have done nothing are just swooping in and getting an upper hand over American products. Lets not forget that Colombia has the fastest growing economy in Latin America.
Congress Pass the FTA with Colombia!!!
This article explains it better:

http://media.www.reflector-online.com/media/storage/paper938/news/2008/11/25/Opinion/Colombia.U.s.Need.Free.Trade-3560637.shtml

[vicenteduq]

People around the world wrongly believe that the Colombian Government is a dictatorship, that there is no free press. That there is no Independent Judiciary or Juridical System, That there is no Supreme Court or other independent courts, where you can take your Juridical Battles,

People believe that there are no independent Judges, District Attorneys, Independent Criminal or Investigative Police.

People believe that there are no independent journalists that can criticize or attack the government, and that all political and military forces are corrupt and sold to Narcos.

Nothing can be more removed from Truth, and if you compare Colombia with the neighbors, in the matter of political freedoms and separation of powers, then the comparison is very and extremely favorable to Colombia.

People in Europe and the States wrongly believe that the Almost Defeated Guerrillas are Freedom Fighters, that have nothing to do with Narco Drugs, that do not use Terrorism, Bombs, Violence.

That the guerrillas do not kill children, women and old folks, and that they do not kidnap thousands of people for money.

Use all those false assumptions in order to take Political International Decisions, Trade Decisions or whatever.

And that is the road to degradation of Foreign Policy.

http://milenials.blogspot.com/

http://raciality.blogspot.com/

Vicente Duque

[WhoneedsGoverment]

We should know by now, FREE means grab your wallet and run..

.

[Dan Kovalik - Huffpost Blogger]

The other reason to continue opposing the Colombia FTA is that it will actually lead to the further destabilization of that country as well as a swelling of the already-large internally displaced population which is now at 3.8 million people -- the second largest in the world. Thus, the agricultural provisions of the Colombia FTA will require Colombia to accept cheap, subsidized food stuffs from the United States into the Colombian market. As we learned from NAFTA which had similar provisions and which resulted in the displacement of 1.3 million Mexican farmers, small farmers in Colombia (which make up 23% of the Colombian population) will lose their livelihoods and land as a result. This will have a devastating impact on Colombia. In addition, the FTA will lead to an accelaration of the destruction of the rainforests and the indigenous who live there. We see this from Peru and the results there of the free trade agreement which was passed just last year. To learn more about this, check out my post on this subject: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-kovalik/free-markets-free-trade-d_b_132349.html

[STEVE-OC]

Colombia is no longer the most dangerous country in the world, Alvaro Uribe has reduced crime and improved the economy. The Colombian people feel more safe then ever and tourism and increased. This is from someone who is Colombian and has family living there. Go get your facts straight before you attack their labor standards. Who cares if some union leaders were killed? Do you have any proof who committed the murders? Check it out before you start attacking Uribe and the governement. We do business with worse nations like Saudi Arabia. Colombia is abundant in natural resources and doing trade will not lose American jobs like it has with Mexico.

[leeman79]

Who cares if some union leaders were killed? This is not Colombia Steve, this is the United States. As far as doing business with worse nations, we may be. That's why president Obama is going to reevaluate all of our trade agreements. The ones that benefit us (if there are any) need to maintained. All others (which is basically all of them) need to terminated.

[sticksnstones]

Your statement: " Who cares if some union leaders are killed?" indicates an incredible disregard for human life. If this is the prevailing attitude with those Columbians who set national policy, then it is indeed the perfect argument against any FTA. I believe you will find that many in our country care a great deal if some union leaders are killed in Columbia, and I believe the Obama administration will look in disfavor toward an agreement as long as human rights issues continue to be ignored by the Uribe regime.

[leeman79]

Okay. I think I understand free trade now. I buy stuff from country X because it's cheaper. I keep doing this until I don't have a job, because it went to country X because they can make it cheaper. Since I don't have a job, but still need stuff, I put it on my credit card. Now I've got alot of stuff, but I don't have a job, and I've got alot of debt. So I buy more stuff from country X because it's cheaper. I keep doing this until I lose another job, because it went to country X because they can make it cheaper. Since I don't have a job, but still need stuff, I put it on my credit card. Now I've got alot of stuff, but I don't have..........

[lvdragonlady]

Any trade deal, needs to make sure that Americans do NOT lose their jobs.
Thanks to JM and his DHL deal, 7K+ just got laid off, we can not let this happen anymore.

Keep the jobs here, not overseas.....
No more outsourcing without punishment.

[expattam]

Obama would be extremely hypocritical to oppose a trade deal with Colombia as long as he is considering Eric Holder for AG. Huff posted a story a while ago about Holder's defense of Chiquita execs who hired death squad participants to "police" their labor unions. How this man can be even mentioned for AG is beyond me, especially when there is discussion of not signing a trade deal because of the very crimes Holder defended Chiquita execs of.

The Trade deals with ALL of central America, especially Panama, need to be looked at from Humanitarian views as well as business. Panama, for instance, has one of the worst Judicial Corruptions levels in the world and their Human Rights abuses through their archaic prison systems should not be condoned by the Obama administration through trade deals. The head of their General Assembly, which is an appointed position, was held by a man who the US wanted to extradite for the murder of a US citizen during the Noriega years. Panama refused because they had already tried him in their corrupt courts and found him innocent. Does this sound like a good trade partner? Does Colombia?

[Dan Kovalik - Huffpost Blogger]

I couldn't agree more, Ken. As Obama is poised to become the new President, he and the Democrats must send a message to Colombian President Uribe that they will not tolerate labor and human rights abuses in Colombia. The only way to do this is to refuse to extend Colombia the trade preferences provided in the FTA in light of Colombia's continued postion as the most dangerous country in the world for trade unionists and in light of the very recent scandal over "false positives" -- that is, the Colombian military's rampant practice of murdering civilians (around 1000 during the first 5 years of Uribe's tenure as President) and then falsely claiming that they were guerillas. Obama was correct in saying during the final presidential debate that there can be no Colombia FTA so long as unionists are killed in Colombia and so long as the Colombian government fails to prosecute these killings. Given that these conditions have not changed, Congress must stick by its position of denying Colombia the FTA.

[Nayan]

Sadly you propose to punish the people of Colombia for some statistics regarding labor abuses which have actually been coming down year after year. The thing is that unfortunately in Colombia many Union leaders are also guerrillas, it is not so black and white as one would expect. And what is more important, if we dont help them have a strong legal economy that nation will continue to be plagued by drug cartels and violence responsible for much more damage to human rights each year than the governments of the last 40 years combined. You have to go a little bit beyond the far left approach here. Think about it...

[elcid]

Defining this particular trade agreement as good for all Colombians is false and deceptive, just like the brainless twits in this country who scream and moan about how every trade agreement is about "free" trade and will make all our lives better and bring ponies and pots of gold and treasure as soon as we pass it. There is widespread opposition throughout Colombia, and outside the flower industry there are very few industries arguably to be improved. This is a trade agreement most heavily promoted by Uribe and his elite industry backers and not some sort of popular development bill.

Alvaro Uribe's close allies in the right wing narco-paramilitary death squads still control the vast majority of the drug trade, and with 1/3 of the Uribe-allied Colombian Congress either in jail or under Court investigation, and army officers regularly exposed as collaborating with the death squads (most recently kidnapping poor urban youth and shooting them as supposed guerrillas), and paramilitaries now testifying before the Congress that Uribe himself ordered a massacre in 1997, this false and nonsensical praise of Uribe as the Provider of Law and Order and Democracy is laughable.

Since most of the assassinations and massacres are in the countryside, or in the smaller villages and towns of places like the Magdalena Medio, Uribe can stay popular in the cities while the poorer rural population maintains the world's largest population of internal refugees and no one cares, not Colombia's urban population nor the world.

[andresfusion]

As a someone who has been to Colombia several times, I can say that the Colombian people are some of the nicest and more welcoming people you'll ever meet. Not to mention they are our only ally in an increasing hostile region, not only throughout the Bush years but also through the Clinton administration. There is a reason the current Colombian president has almost a 90% approval rating, is because the country had reduced violence dramatically all the while improving their economy. Right now the Colombian economy is one of the best in Latin America. So why can we sign a trade deal with Peru or Chile and not with Colombia? This trade deal will benefit both sides, right now our goods are facing tariff while Colombian goods are tax free.
A great article form the New York Times that makes the case for the trade deal:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/12/opinion/12sat1.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin

[jeffrey678]

Have you noticed that the editorial in the New York Times you provide does not allow comments. Odd isn't it? New York City is full of immigrants forced out their countries because of trade deals. They don't want any of them making any comments.

[Nayan]

I don't think that trade deals have been a mayor factor in the immigration patterns. There is no research to date that points to this. The fact is that FTAs have been around a little over 10 years and immigration was quite strong before the agreements. In Mexico the net result has been job gains. Why would people leave a country that has more jobs being created more than when there were less jobs?

[jeffrey678]

The Columbian Trade Deal is a trap. Major Corporations for the first time can directly sue local, state, and the federal government in the US. They can change US labor, and environmental laws in foreign courts. The tiny island of Antigua sued the US Government for 3.4 BILLION DOLLARS for online gaming and won trade sanctions. LOOK IT UP YOURSELF! This trade deal would allow Corporations to sue directly and change zoning, labor, and environmental laws in the US. It's already happening in Canada.

[guajiro]

I suggest President-elect Obama institute a pre-emptive policy of sending CIA operatives to find evidence of top-ranking Colombian military and administrative officials making them complicit in the murders of these peasant union activists. As in the U.S., a RICO law should apply to any Colombian official caught aiding, abetting, doing business with any group associated with the activists murders.

[Proletarian101]

One of the issues that the Roth neglects to point out is that how many of the trade union members were killed by their own organizations.

[holeybuybull]

guajiro, I suggest that Obama institute a policy to remove our CIA operatives from Colombia. Colombia, under Uribe, is our last outpost of imperialism in Latin America. If we stopped propping up Uribe and his "Disaster Capitalistic" policies, perhaps the people of Colombia could have a real democratic government and institute human rights for all of their citizens, not just the aristocracy.

[sticksnstones]

Consider the real likelyhood that the CIA is actively cooperating with the Uribe regime. Another agency with culpability is the DEA. Our government has trained key members of the Columbian military at the School of the Americas at Ft. Benning, Georgia, in counterinsurgency warfare and tactics. This training includes methods by which authoritarian regimes intimidate and supress dissent through assasination, torture, kidnapping, disappearings, infiltration of union groups, denial of job opportunities to citizens deemed to be in opposition, and the destruction of agricultural assets.

The US has a long and sordid history of actively supporting right-wing regimes in Central and South America, and obviously no change will occur until our government finds it in its best interest to support democratically elected, progressive governments in the Western Hemisphere where basic human rights are recognized and supported. I am hopeful progress in this direction will begin to be made with the help and cooperation of our new administration.

[Hare]

Tell that to the relatives of all the dead workers that were trying to create a better work environment and not just keep working like slaves. Why do you think the workers rather leave than to stay to try to change the system or legitimate organize? Answer, because they value their lives. Kill the poor and then claim they were terrorists. Obama will do good to abstain to do business with Mr. Uribe and his Mafioso friends.

[vicenteduq]

Sooner or Later the New Democrat Coalition has to be pragmatic. The excessive partisanship and moralism obscures reality. Demagoguery is good for elections and getting unions to vote but should be left behind, if the American Economy is going to get out of this slowdown.

A reality check shows that this Free Trade Agreement is a NO BRAINER, Colombian Products reach the USA with no tariffs or taxes, but American Products are taxed when they enter Colombia.

No American Jobs are at risk if the Trade Agreement enters into effect. On the other hand many more American products will be sold in Colombia with a better price than the Chinese, Japanese, Canadian or European products, because of the preference for America implied in the treaty.

For Colombia, this agreement has mainly Political Value, a validation of Friendship and Alliance, and will certainly create inside competition with Colombian Products. Maize, Oats, Rice, Barley and Wheat Farmers will be confronted with cheaper American cereals.

Colombia is the best net buyer of American Cereals and Agriculture.

American Drugs and Pharmaceuticals will enjoy many preferences, protections, rights and royalties.

Colombia always votes for American Policies in all Forums and is the best ally in the region. It blocks the ambitions of several angry autocrats in the region.

Colombia believes in preventive strikes and has killed many terrorists using this method.

The killings of Union Members have diminished by big proportions.

http://milenials.blogspot.com/

http://raciality.blogspot.com/

Vicente Duque

[sticksnstones]

It seems to me that your argument for a FTA with Columbia glosses over a long, well documented history of human rights violations; a supreme example of which is the systematic assasination of labor and community organizers, or for that matter, anyone who opposes the idiologies of the Uribe regime. Your blithe assertion that "killings of Union Workers have diminished by big proportions" does not agree with the facts.

A Free Trade Agreement with this country? I would prefer a UN sanctioned embargo. How's that for "pragmatic"?

[Proletarian101]

Actually vincenteduq is correct. In recent years, the labor movement in Colombia has made strides and also the in-fighting within these organizations has decreased dramatically. They are trying to improve their situation and more open trade and business relations may help them in this endeavor.

[FreedomAgain]

"A reality check shows that this Free Trade Agreement is a NO BRAINER, Colombian Products reach the USA with no tariffs or taxes"

- That means more lost American jobs. You can't buy stuff when the entire American manufacturing workforce is working at wal-mart and taco bell.

Free Trade with Mexico has cost us a lot of factories. My father was one of the people that unbolted the last machine in his factory to ship it to Mexico. He wasn't part of a union and didn't make a lot of money, but still the factory moved to Mexico, and thousands of Americans lost their jobs. Free trade has cost us millions in jobs. We need to add taxes and tariffs coming into this country so that Americans buy US Made goods and more people have manufacturing jobs. Trade tariffs and taxes have been used throughout history to protect domestic industry. Thats what it is for. The only people that make out good on free trade are the executives and business owners that ship their factories to Mexico.

Manufacturers have goods made in China as well in polluting factories and sweat shops, because its cheaper. We need to tax the hell out of those goods and bring back manufacturing in America.

http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/webfeatures_snapshots_20080924

China and Mexico's standard of living has gone up while ours has gone down. Its no mystery.

[Rule Of Law]

All you say is true! Additionally, the increase we've seen of illegal aliens from Mexico is directly related to the passage of NAFTA and the displacement of rural, agricultural Mexicans from their lands. Left with no farms to work and no jobs skills in a tight job market, they are left with only one choice--sneak into America and take whatever jobs our Big Industry gives them. Here they are treated worse than dogs, used to bust the unions and drive down the wages of legal Americans.

These trade treaties are a bad deal all the way around. If we can't place tariffs on products from Columbia to level the playing field here, while our Corporations use their considerable muscle to get into those South American markets without giving our Country away, then perhaps the fault lies with the products, pricing, or demand and the problem should be addressed at the bottom, not the top.

[castrochavez08]

Great post, great topic, great advice.

Pelosi needs to stall this until Obama takes over, and with Rahm at the helm that should be no problem.
If any deal goes through between now and the inauguration, it is guaranteed to be a dirty one.
It is my understanding that despite the occasional bit of spin on protecting workers rights, that Pelosi is really working to advance a bad deal. One that hurts the workers and peasants of Colombia.

This whole process is nowhere near as important as a multitude of issues like war, torture, economic meltdowns and so on. If this, the most hated Congress in our nations history rushes any Colombian deal through this term, it will be just one more crime added to their bloody record.