'Mark Penn and
the Clintons: Free Trade Agreement with Colombia'
[El Espectador, Colombia]
El Tiempo, Colombia
Colombians Lose
as Pelosi, Democrats Play Politics With Trade ...
"The debate over the Free
Trade Agreement has been postponed … Behind Pelosi's apparently humanitarian arguments,
it's clear to everyone that petty electoral interests are being concealed … The
condition of unionists in Colombia is just a pretext."
By Alfredo Rangel
Translated By Douglas Myles Rasmussen
April 13, 2008
Colombia
- El Tiempo - Original Article (Spanish)
Mrs. Pelosi has gotten her
way. With her repeated rejection of the Free Trade Agreement, congressional
Democrats are favoring the economic interests of a few U.S. unions and are
sacrificing the general interests of Colombia under the pretext of protecting a
union minority - the alleged victims of a State that has abandoned them. But
behind her apparently humanitarian arguments, it's clear to everyone that petty
electoral interests are being concealed here. The debate over the Free Trade
Agreement has been postponed based purely on domestic electoral calculations,
in order to pressure the government to grant subsidies to certain U.S.
industries. The condition of unionists in Colombia is just a pretext.
In fact as everyone recognizes,
in Colombia there has been an overall improvement in the security situation,
and hence the protection of human rights. And this improvement has been
particularly marked in the case of trade unions. The current government has
made more of an effort than previous governments, and this has been reflected
in the very positive results that have been achieved. Colombia today is far
from being a union firing squad, as unfortunately it was in previous years due
to irregular groups.
That remarkable improvement
has been a result of the combined impact of dismantling the vast majority of
paramilitary groups, the decline in guerrilla violence to less than half what
it was five years ago, the almost complete disappearance of the dirty war
between those irregular groups, greater efficiency in the justice system and
the expansion of programs to protect trade unionists.
[El
Espectador, Colombia]
Consider the facts. According
to the AFL-CIO, the leading U.S. trade union, in 2001 there were 213 union
members murdered in Colombia. According to the Ministry of Social Protection,
in the year 2006 that figure dropped to 60 murders and in 2007 was cut to 26.
Furthermore, according to the U.S. Attorney General's Office, the majority of those deaths were not politically motivated, nor
were there connections between trade unions and the victims. Rather, they were
cases of robbery, crimes of passion or other non-political causes.
According to the latest
report on the human rights situation in Colombia prepared by the U.S. State
Department, Colombia's Government recently appointed 13 prosecutors and 78
special investigators to investigate and prosecute cases of violence against
trade unionists. This new group, along with the three largest Colombian trade
unions, identified the 187 most significant cases of violence against trade
unionists. With such speed it is unprecedented, 25 of these cases were
prosecuted and resulted in conviction and imprisonment for the murderers. In
addition, the Government has included over 1,900 trade unionists in their
protection program.
The numbers are unavoidable.
In Colombia, the overall homicide rate is 33 victims per 100,000, among police
it is 86 and for unionists it is 4. Statistically speaking, this means that in Colombia
the average person is eight times more likely to be a victim of violence than a
union member. So it is simply not true that in Colombia, being a trade unionist
increases the risk of becoming a victim of violence.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
The improvement in security
for union members is so obvious that the Democratic congressmen who oppose the
Free Trade Agreement repeatedly appear ready to set aside the argument about
these "unprotected ones" as long as the Bush government grants enough
subsidies to U.S. industries who might be jeopardized by competition from
Colombian products, with the aim of avoiding layoffs in those industries,
therefore satisfying the gringo unions.
What an example of manipulating
proletarian internationalism!
[Semana, Colombia]
CLICK HERE FOR SPANISH
VERSION
[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US April
14, 09:06pm]
