The case against the Colombian free trade pact

[Judi Lynn]

The case against the Colombian free trade pact
The nation's record of human rights abuses is terrible and would only be worsened by a treaty with the U.S.
May 2, 2011

I just returned from a 10-day human rights delegation to Colombia sponsored by Witness for Peace. While we were in the midst of our intensive meetings in Valle del Cauca, Northern Cauca, and Bogota, we discovered that a high profile-American delegation had just arrived in the capital for its own two-day tour. The U.S. Congressional Ways and Means Committee had sent a bipartisan fact-finding mission to Colombia, co-sponsored by Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer. What an amazing coincidence: two American delegations were gathering facts about Colombia at the same time.

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Could it be that they were less concerned about finding facts and more concerned with the time-honored political arts of airbrushing, white-washing, and rubber stamping? It seems that they only took the time to talk to the primary beneficiaries of all free trade agreements — the privileged elite: President Juan Manuel Santos and his advisors, wealthy businessmen and certain labor leaders. These congressmen have announced that "Colombia has made significant progress in addressing worker rights and violence against workers." They add that they are "confident in Colombia's ability to carry out its commitment." Unfortunately, the people we met on our trip do not share this confidence.

Our all-women delegation went out into towns and hamlets, urban slums and indigenous reserves. We met with grassroots activists, women's groups, indigenous and Afro-Colombian representatives, human rights defenders and organizations representing the victims of state violence. A frightening vision of the political and social landscape of Colombia emerged: the decades-long civil war isn't really over — it's just that the powerful interests have become more skilled at cloaking the abuses.

The people we met showed us compelling evidence that indigenous and Afro-Colombian rights are regularly violated, small farmers are threatened with forced evictions by transnational corporations, workers suffer from a variety of violations, and the state is complicit at every level. Without exception, our hosts agreed that the United States-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement would represent a grave threat to their already vulnerable communities.

More:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-colombia-free-trade-20110502,0,4407069.story