Contradictions on the Colombia Free Trade Agreement

It’s so wonderful that USTR believes that the Colombian government has demonstrated in the past two months that it is turning around on a dime to end violence and impunity and respect the basic rights of workers in Colombia after two decades of being the most dangerous country in which to be a trade unionist.  Oh, wait, maybe USTR is thinking about getting the free trade agreement passed and maybe it’s not an unbiased assessment.  The Obama Administration can’t argue that violence against trade unionists has declined since Candidate Obama defended his opposition to the Colombia trade agreement precisely because of the violence.  Now the Administration has put forth a Labor Action Plan that doesn’t actually require concrete progress in reducing violence and impunity before getting a thumbs up from USTR.  Check out Citizens Trade Campaign, the Latin America Working Group and others who are helping lead the fight against the Colombia free trade agreement.

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