Labour leaders report back: No to Colombia FTA

[Judi Lynn]

Labour leaders report back: No to Colombia FTA
by Denis Lemelin, Paul Moist, John Gordon and George Heyman
August 11, 2008

We visited Colombia from July 18-25 on behalf of one million Canadian public sector workers. Our mission, among other tasks, was to see for ourselves whether our opposition to the Canada-Colombia free trade agreement was justified. What we saw and learned confirmed that we are right to oppose this deal and to speak out against it on behalf of Colombian workers and their families.

We met with many sectors of Colombian society, including the Colombian Minister of the Interior and government officials, the Canadian ambassador and embassy officials, leaders of the United Central of Workers (CUT) and trade unionists at all levels, members of the opposition Polo Democratico Alternativo, several non-governmental organizations, groups representing indigenous and Afro-Colombian peoples as well as media reporters and ordinary citizens.

We visited the poorest of the poor families displaced from their homes by paramilitary groups to benefit transnational companies wanting to expand agriculture production, mining and other business interests. We were told that more than 4 million people, 10 per cent of the population, have been displaced without reparations.

We sat with single mothers and grandmothers who have no drinkable water, no sewage, no electricity, little money for food, and no chance of their children ever going to school. These citizens, largely from rural areas, must beg for a living on city streets.

In particular, we visited the slums of Cali, known as Agua Blanca (White Water) and the hillside shanty town of La Onda high above Medellin. There we saw abject poverty created by corporate decisions in far-off countries, decisions that have been condoned by the Colombian government and that often fuel the armed conflict that has plagued the country for 50 years.

More:
http://www.rabble.ca/news_full_story.shtml?x=74124

[Joanne98]

1. YAY