(Reuters) US labor group: Colombia trade deal "not fixable"

[Eugene]

US labor group: Colombia trade deal "not fixable"
16 Mar 2007 21:33:52 GMT
Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON, March 16 (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress should not accept
a pending free trade deal with Colombia even if the pact's labor provisions
are strengthened because of the country's "atrocious" record of violence
against unionists, the largest U.S. labor federation said on Friday.

"No renegotiation of the U.S.-Colombia (free trade agreement) would
adequately address the violence confronting trade unionists in that
country," said the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial
Organizations, or AFL-CIO, in a letter sent this week to the Senate and
U.S. House of Representatives.

The group says President Alvaro Uribe, a U.S. ally in Latin America, has
not done enough to stamp out violence that killed around 200 trade
unionists since talks on the trade deal began in 2004.

-snip-

The letter also comes just days after President George W. Bush paid Uribe
a visit during a Latin American tour. In Bogota, Bush promised more trade
and greater aid for Colombia.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N16173831.htm

[Judi Lynn]

1. Only a criminal would encourage our whole country to overlook these stats

and throw more money into that black hole. From the article:

The group says President Alvaro Uribe, a U.S. ally in Latin America, has not done enough to stamp out violence that killed around 200 trade unionists since talks on the trade deal began in 2004.

More than 4,000 Colombian union leaders have been assassinated since 1986, according to the U.S. State Department, the world's highest such murder rate.
(snip)

The people who live there are not in the dark about what has been going on. Why keep rewarding their oligarchy?

[Robbien]

2. Isn't the elephant in the room

the fact that men on Uribe's team have been convicted of paying death squads to kill off these type of enemies of the capitalistic state.

[Judi Lynn]

3. They've been really hot on the trail of these creeps recently.

Acquiring a laptop containing paramilitary/politician information has accelerated the process, no doubt...

I've read the politicians targeted already have been found giving LISTS of people they wanted murdered to death squad members. That really cuts down the excessive campaign costs, doesn't it, if you can simply have your opponent assassinated?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Colombia's Uribe Faces Crisis on Death Squads
by Juan Forero

All Things Considered, March 16, 2007 ·
When President Bush was in Colombia, he showed confidence in President Alvaro Uribe, who is mired in the most serious political crisis of his six years in office. So far, eight congressmen, all tied to the president, have been jailed for working with right-wing death squads.

A governor who has links to the paramilitaries was charged this week; others are in prosecutors' sights. The question is not only how far the probes will go, but how much credit should go to Uribe as the scandal continues to widen.
(snip/)

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=8959516

[ret5hd]

5. Hey, if Chiquita Banana only has to pay a fine for the exact same thing...

why is it such a big deal if he does it too?

Hell, i figure two maybe three hundred grand, everything would be even steven, don't you?

[Unvanguard]

4. Purely coincidentally, Colombia is also a major recipient of US aid. n/t

[Judi Lynn]

6. Raid on FARC Camp Highlights Limits on U.S. Forces in Colombia

Raid on FARC Camp Highlights Limits on U.S. Forces in Colombia
Carmen Gentile 16 Mar 2007
World Politics Watch Exclusive

MIAMI -- U.S. forces in Colombia may have pushed the outer envelope of their rules of engagement by accompanying Colombian troops on a recent raid of a rebel stronghold where American civilians were being held, said some experts.

Others, including officials on Capitol Hill, maintain that the operation was well within the rules of engagement for U.S. military personnel operating in the restive South American country.

According to Colombian newspaper El Tiempo, which first broke the news over the weekend, American troops and their Colombian counterparts in late January entered a rebel base where three U.S. contractors have been held prisoner by leftist guerillas for more than three years. Civilian military contractors Marc Gonsalves, Tom Howes and Keith Stansell were captured in February 2004 when their plane went down.
(snip)

"Those concerned about whether the United States is finding itself on a 'slippery slope' in Colombia are expressing concerns" about the recent raid and questioning just how close U.S. troops are to the front lines in Colombia's protracted civil war, noted Pike.
(snip/...)

http://worldpoliticswatch.com/article.aspx?id=633