Obama expected to ratify FTA with Colombia amidst labor rights complaints .

[Judi Lynn]

Obama expected to ratify FTA with Colombia amidst labor rights complaints .
Wednesday, 04 April 2012 08:24
Brandon Barrett

The Free Trade Agreement between Colombia and the U.S. is expected to go through as planned in spite of complaints about the country's labor rights abuses, reported radio network Caracol.

U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to announce that Colombia has met its labor rights commitment at the Summit of the Americas to be held this month in Cartagena.

The wide-ranging agreement would eliminate trade tariffs and is expected to boost trade between the two countries.

~snip~

The expected finalization of the agreement comes as one of the United States largest unions, the American Federation of Labor, sent a letter to Obama requesting that the FTA be scrapped due to Colombia's continued labour rights abuses.

More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/economy/23256-obama-expected-to-ratify-fta-with-colombia-amidst-labor-rights-complaints.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. Don't forget contributions made by U.S. companies to Colombia's working class:

Drummond paid to kill unionists: Ex-paramilitary
Wednesday, 14 March 2012 14:00
Mary Cecelia Bittner

A former paramilitary has testified before a U.S. court that coal giant Drummond Ltd. paid paramilitaries $1.5 million to murder union leaders, Colombian media reported Tuesday.

Alcides Mattos Tabares, alias "El Samario," claimed to have taken part in the murder of employees that Drummond ordered the Northern Bloc of the AUC paramilitary group to carry out over several years.

Drummond's union president and vice president, Valmore Locarno and Victor Hugo Orcasita, "had" to be killed because they were organizing a strike that would have generated losses for the company, said Tabares.

From 2002 until his 2005 capture, Tabares patrolled Drummond’s railway lines, where he participated in killings, sometimes directed by Drummond employees, he claimed. He spoke of the trade unionists' murder saying,"I was not exactly the shooter, but I participated in the event as Tolomaida's security chief."

More: http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/22827-drummond-paid-to-kill-unionists-ex-paramilitary.html