Colombia Urges US Trade Pact But Human Rights Fester

[Judi Lynn]

JANUARY 4, 2011, 4:13 P.M. ET.
Colombia Urges US Trade Pact But Human Rights Fester
By Dan Molinski
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

BOGOTA (Dow Jones)--A top Colombian official Tuesday urged the U.S. Congress to move forward on long-delayed plans for a free trade agreement, but fresh allegations of human rights violations by Colombia's military gave further fuel to lawmakers in Washington who are against a deal.

Speaking to a local radio station in Bogota, Colombian Vice President Angelino Garzon said he plans to meet with U.S. lawmakers, labor unions and human rights groups in Washington later this month to convince them a U.S.-Colombia free trade pact would be a "win-win" for both country's governments, businesses and workers.

"We need for the U.S. Congress to approve the free trade agreement," said Garzon, who plans to visit Washington on Jan. 22.

The proposed free trade agreement between the U.S. and Colombia--Washington's closest ally in the region--was agreed to by both governments in 2007 but never ratified by the U.S. Congress. The global financial crisis and ensuing U.S. recession caused most legislators to look the other way on free trade deals due to worries about expanding the U.S. trade deficit.

More recently, however, many Democrats say they remain firmly opposed to a free trade deal with Colombia due to concerns over the killings of labor leaders by right-wing groups in Colombia. U.S. lawmakers also have expressed concerns about a scandal that began in 2008 in which Colombian soldiers were accused of regularly killing innocent civilians and then falsely presenting them as if they were leftist rebels killed in combat.

More:
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20110104-710933.html

[Wilms]

1. Your post was unrec'd

Perhaps that highlighted part about right-wingers killing leaders was too much to take. :shrug:

[Judi Lynn]

2. We do get visits from pro-death squadders, oddly enough! Go figure.

We've even been lucky enough to be told that a lot of the union workers who keep getting tortured and killed are tortured and killed due to the fact they are poor riff-raff, and likely to be leading rough, violent lives, with the implication they are criminals, these men/women who work far harder for a living than their meager, laughable wages with no benefits whatsoever, not even safety standards, would suggest.

I only hope and pray "what goes around comes around." If that's true, there will be a balancing one day.