Colombia Confirms It Cannot Meet Necessary Prerequisites for FTA consideration

[Judi Lynn]

Posted December 4, 2008 | 10:47 AM (EST)
Colombia Confirms It Cannot Meet Necessary Prerequisites for FTA consideration

In his final debate with John McCain, President-elect Barack Obama made it clear why he opposed passage of the Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) - because of the problem with union assassinations in Colombia (still the highest in the world) and because the Colombian government has failed to investigate and prosecute those killings. This statement echoed Speaker Nancy Pelosi who, just last year, set forth the yard marks which were necessary for consideration for the Colombia FTA - namely, "concrete and sustained" results in dealing with continued violence against trade unionists, impunity and the role of paramilitary groups in that violence.



Fernando Botero, "Masacre"

On the issue of impunity, the Colombian government has successfully investigated and prosecuted around only 3% of the almost 2700 union killings since 1986, resulting in an impunity rate of 97%. And, recently, the Colombian Office of the Attorney General confirmed that this impunity rate will not be appreciably lowered.

Indeed, as Human Rights Watch recently explained in a letter to Nancy Pelosi, Congressman George Miller and Congressman Charles Rangel, "he Office of the Attorney General reports that as of October 20, the specialized prosecutors unit is only reviewing a total of 1,272 cases involving anti-union violence - including both threats and killings (even though nearly all of the 2,685 reported killings and more than 3,700 threats remain unresolved)." (emphasis added).

In short, impunity will not decrease very much in Colombia because the Colombian government, by its own admission, is not even looking into the vast majority of anti-union violence cases. This is an incredible admission by the Colombian government given its continued full-court press for passage of the Colombia FTA. This admission should finally end Colombia's chances at passage of the FTA, at least so long as Barack Obama is President and Nancy Pelosi is Speaker of the House.

More:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-kovalik/colombia-confirms-it-cann_b_148394.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. More from the same article, which many people don't know:

Further, Human Rights Watch noted that the Colombian government has failed to abide by the order of a well-respected judge to investigate the role played by the Nestle Corporation in the murder of union leader Luciano Romero. The issue of such corporate responsibility in the murder of trade unionists continues even as Colombia, on December 6, commemorates the 80th anniversary of the massacre of striking banana workers in the town of Cienaga, Colombia at the behest of then United Fruit Company (now, Chiquita Banana, a company which has continued to fund atrocities in Colombia). This event inspired Gabriel Garcia Marquez's portrayal of the murder of banana workers in One Hundred Years of Solitude - a book I am told is the very favorite of none other than Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

[Joanne98]

2. YAY