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Condi Rice in Colombia

09:37 H | Topics: Business - Colombia - Politics

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was in Colombia yesterday pushing for the free trade agreement between the U.S. and the country led by President Alvaro Uribe. The FTA, was first signed in 2006, but has not yet been passed by the U.S. Congress. During the trip, she met with President Alvaro Uribe, as well as with trade unionists who are opposed to the FTA. The major reason for the opposition is that the TLC, as the FTA is known in Colombia, doesn't automatically protect the rights of union workers, an important issue in a country where union leaders and activists are getting killed (40 in the last year alone).

Even international organizations like Human Rights Watch have weighed in, asking for the FTA to be put on hold until the Colombian government can prove that it is interested in protecting workers.

More than 700 union members have been killed in Colombia since 2001, according to the government, regularly exceeding the total number murdered annually in the rest of the world combined.
"The dramatic situation of murdering unionists continues," said Carlos Gutierrez, president of the Workers' Central Union, one of seven groups opposing the deal who took part in the meeting with Rice, which lasted about an hour. "There is no country in the world where the martyrdom of union leaders is more evident than in Colombia."
President Alvaro Uribe's government has argued that such cases have diminished in recent years. Statistics for 2007 have not yet been made available by the government, but Gutierrez said 40 unionists were killed.

Via / AP and El Tiempo

Image Via / Forbes

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