Bush Administration Boosts Pressure to Pass Colombia Trade Pact

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Bloomberg

Bush Administration Boosts Pressure to Pass Colombia Trade Pact

By Mark Drajem

Oct. 3 (Bloomberg) -- The Bush administration is increasing pressure on lawmakers to pass a free-trade agreement with Colombia, pledging new aid to the South American nation, offering to take members of Congress there and showing that murders have declined in the country.

The strategy seeks to counter opposition from Democrats and labor unions who argue that violence against labor organizers and human rights activists in Colombia means the agreement shouldn't be ratified.

The administration plans a series of congressional visits this year to Medellin, a Colombian city that gained notoriety in the 1980s as a drug haven. It also plans a new aid package aimed at beefing up the ability of President Alvaro Uribe to prosecute those accused of killing labor organizers, according to U.S. trade officials.
(snip)

Last year, 72 Colombian labor leaders were killed, according to the U.S. Labor Education in the Americas Project, an independent group that examines data on Colombia for the AFL- CIO. While such killings have dropped by more than half since Uribe took office in 2002, there are still more union officials killed in Colombia than the rest of the world combined, the group says.

The labor federation said that of the 236 killings of trade unionists between 2004 and 2006, perpetrators were convicted in only in five cases.



Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=aFLrz9PHG7VU&refer=latin_america

[unhappycamper]

1. Free trade agreements are nothing more than a fascist entry into a country's economic

system. Only rich folks made out with free trade; everybody else suffers.

[ck4829]

2. Colombia is still number 1 when it comes to killing trade unionists

[Enthusiast]

3. A Democrat that supports...........

Any Democrat that supports a free trade agreement will lose my vote.

[gtar100]

4. "Free" and "Trade" - beyond that don't ask questions

:sarcasm:

"Free" and "Trade" are the only two words you need to get the support of a republican. It gets their greed juices flowing. Their desire for easy money overrides any sense of responsibility for forcing millions of people into poverty. Low wages equates to high return on investments to them, end of story. Never mind that those high returns are nothing more than earnings taken from away from the workers. In simple terms, that's theft.

Labor unions are the only hope we have in overcoming the exploitation of workers by investors. Corporate leaders know that and are willing to kill, if they can get away with it, so they can drive nicer cars, live in bigger homes, wear expensive suits, go on longer vacations. That's why I'm deeply suspicious of the affluent. I don't see success until I know the heart of the individual.

And at this point, I dismiss out of hand any "plans" by the bush administration. They've proven themselves to be the worst of the worst.

[flyarm]

5. oh i am sure (?) * wants this passed to get those drugs from afganistan into the USA

after all * has that new super highway getting ready through the mid west ..to move those drugs in Mexican trucks that he wants to put on our roadways with no checks or balances..or regs that our truckers must follow..

and do remember all the huges drug cartels in Colombia..why is little lord pissy pants pushing this so hard...do the math...and understand the * crime family connections to drug running!

fly