Colombia pushes to save proposed trade deal with U.S.

[Omaha Steve]

Source: USA TODAY

By David J. Lynch, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats who are delaying action on a proposed trade deal with Colombia, saying violence against labor leaders there too often goes unpunished, are acting mostly for "domestic politics," according to Colombian Vice President Francisco Santos.

"We're not extraterrestrials. We understand how politics are done," he said in an interview Thursday with USA TODAY.

Santos said Colombia, which has been embroiled in armed conflict for four decades, has made great progress in recent years reducing violence, including against union leaders. And he disputed claims that most of the roughly 300 killings of labor leaders the past five years were linked to their union activities. This year, for example, 15 of 16 murders of union officials that were prosecuted stemmed from "common criminal issues," he said.

CONTROVERSY: Murder and payoffs taint business in Columbia

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/money/world/2007-11-01-colombia-trade-deal_N.htm

[Vincardog]

1. The murders "that were prosecuted" is the key. In the rest the "common criminal issue"

was the political murder of the union agent.

[Judi Lynn]

2. After death threats, two Colombian journalists flee the country

After death threats, two Colombian journalists flee the country

New York, October 24, 2007—Colombian journalists Hollman Morris and Geovanny Álvarez Castro left the country last week following death threats linked to their reporting. The Committee to Protect Journalists called today on Colombian authorities to conduct a speedy investigation into the threats and to ensure that the two journalists are able to return to Colombia and work safely there.

Morris, an independent journalist and producer of the weekly investigative news program “Contravía” on television station Canal Uno, left Colombia with his family on Sunday, the journalist told CPJ. Morris, who is recognized for his investigative reporting on Colombia’s civil conflict, has previously been the subject of threats and harassment. He and his family are now in the United States.

Morris told CPJ that he received an e-mail message to his personal address on September 26 from a group calling itself Frente Patriotico Colombiano (Colombian Patriotic Front). The group stated that Moris had won a raffle for a coffin. In the message, reviewed by CPJ, the assailants said the journalist was “an anti-patriot, a member of the guerrillas, and a tattletale.” Leftist guerrillas, right wing paramilitaries, and Colombian armed forces have battled each other for five decades, committing heinous human rights violations along the way.
(snip)

Gonzalo Guillén, Colombia correspondent for the Miami-based daily El Nuevo Herald, fled his home in Bogotá earlier this month after receiving more than 20 death threats. The threats came following comments made by President Álvaro Uribe Vélez on several national radio stations. CPJ sent a letter to Uribe on October 11 after the president made public accusations against another journalist, Daniel Coronell. In the letter, CPJ urged Uribe to publicly retract his comments on the two journalists, to respect dissent in the media, and to abstain from publicly attacking journalists who present critical views.

More:
http://www.cpj.org/news/2007/americas/colombia24oct07na.html