Across the Americas

January 27, 2008

Dear Senators Durbin and Obama:

In light of upcoming Congressional consideration of the pending Free Trade Agreement with Colombia, we write to you today as Chicago-area trade unions and human rights, ecojustice, faith, and community organizations concerned about significant flaws in the current trade model as a whole, and in particular in the U.S.-Colombia FTA.

The Colombia agreement stands out from all other trade agreements negotiated by the United States due to the unparalleled levels of violence experienced by Colombian workers. Colombia continues to be the most dangerous country in the world for trade unionists. In 2006 alone, 72 trade unionists were assassinated in Colombia, out of 136 killed globally. That same year 244 Colombian union members suffered death threats, in addition to forced displacement, violent intimidation, arbitrary detention, kidnapping, harassment, and torture. These forms of violence victimize not only workers but also families and entire communities.

The agreement also poses major threats to the rights of indigenous and Afro-Colombian groups, particularly around issues of land control. In preparation for FTA implementation, the Colombian government has passed new laws that threaten the collective land holdings of these groups. In order to make Colombia more attractive to U.S. investors, indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities that have collective title to their lands will now own only the first three meters of the trees on their land, with the rest made available to loggers.

Further, as the Colombian countryside is being taken over by companies cultivating African oil palm for export, thousands of acres of forest are being destroyed. Increased investment by U.S. companies in natural resource exploitation will only exacerbate this problem. The FTA limits itself to demanding that Colombia’s government comply with its own very lax environmental laws, which have been aggressively weakened in recent years. Global climate change will proceed apace.

The Free Trade Agreement process overrides the democratic processes of both countries. With corporations permitted to sue for damages where regulations and laws diminish their profits, either nation might be required to ignore its own sovereign laws and even provisions of its constitution. Only those who have the money and power end up benefiting under this current model of trade: international corporations and government elites.

Perhaps the most alarming aspect of this particular agreement is the ongoing collusion between the Uribe administration and the paramilitary apparatus in Colombia. As has been demonstrated by the arrests of Colombian Members of Congress and government leaders in recent months, collaboration between paramilitary groups, the Colombian military, and the political establishment has been extensive, reaching deeply into President Uribe’s political circle. Ratifying a trade agreement with Colombia would send a clear signal that the United States is willing to support a terrorist state if there is potential for economic benefit.

The expanded labor and environmental provisions that were added to the trade template do not compensate for the flawed economic model it is based upon. A new vision for trade will have to be grounded in democratic and inclusive processes and a genuine respect for human rights and the environment.

We therefore call on you to take a public, vocal position against the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement and the other pending agreements (South Korea, Panama) based on the current trade model. We hope you will find the courage and clarity to stand with us in calling for real change.

Regarding a large-scale gold mining project in Colombia
by Jorge Enrique Robledo. Bogotá, 11 January, 2008

Millions of Colombians are living at risk. For decades, every winter, more and more inhabited areas are flooded and face crushing landslides, while others await catastrophe at the base of active volcanoes and occupy buildings constructed without anti-seismic techniques, constituting 80 percent of the total. In Armero, 25,000 people died in a foretold slaughter that could have easily been averted. In Manizales, for example, 2,700 homes were constructed on mountains that should never have been developed. Not one person has been held responsible for many disasters described as "natural" but which, in reality, are political and social and manipulated in impassioned appeals to the public's emotions, ignoring the victims.

Nov 4, 2007 -- The leftist Alternative Democratic Pole held on to the mayoral office in the Colombian capital with the Oct. 28 election of former Sen. Samuel Moreno Rojas.

Moreno, grandson of former dictator Gustavo Rojas Pinilla (1953-57), captured 43.7 percent of the votes despite attacks from President Álvaro Uribe, who supported right-wing candidate Enrique Peñalosa, who served as Bogota’s mayor between 1998-2000. Peñalosa won just 28 percent.

06/29/2007 -- “We believe there must first be concrete evidence of sustained results on the ground in Colombia, and Members of Congress will continue working with all interested parties to help achieve this end before consideration of any FTA. Consequently, we cannot support the Colombia FTA at this time." Read the full statement.