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Colombia

Colombia-Canada trade pact needs more thought: Activists
10-Feb-2009
The signed free trade deal between Canada and Colombia could devastate indigenous communities in the South American country if implemented in its current form, says an official with a national Colombian indigenous group in Ottawa Tuesday to lobby government and opposition MPs to delay implementation of the economic pact.
The end of free trade?
5-Feb-2009 Socialist Worker
The US will find it harder and harder to maintain neoliberalism abroad and some sort of financial state capitalism at home. As unemployment grows, it will also become more difficult to use access to the US market as leverage to incorporate client states abroad into the fold of US imperialism. We are at a major turning point. Like most of neoliberal ideology, free trade has lost its allure. However, what will replace it isn’t entirely clear. There are many possibilities, and they all depend on the level of class struggle. In the US, the most crucial question is whether workers get pulled into a nationalist, protectionist "Buy American" campaign—or whether they take an internationalist approach in concert with workers in other countries
No such thing as free trade
5-Feb-2009 Vue Weekly
When Canadian Minister of International Trade Stockwell Day signed the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in Peru on November 21, it was a happy day for Canada’s oil and gas sector, but the deal was celebrated instead as a landmark for human rights and democracy in Colombia.
Green light for Colombia to discuss FTA with the EU
2-Feb-2009 Semana
In the second week of February Colombia will start to negotiate a Free Trade Agreement with the European Union. Semana International interviews Fernando Cardesa García, Ambassador of the Delegation of The European Commission to Colombia and Ecuador.
EU: Agrees to trade agreement with Colombia, Peru
21-Jan-2009 Stratfor
EU ministers from member states’ Fishing and Agriculture Ministries agreed to allow modifications that will enable the European Union to negotiate association agreements and business deals on a bilateral level with Colombia and Peru instead of having to deal with the entire Community of Andean Nations (CAN) as a bloc
Europe: ’Double standards on trade’
23-Dec-2008 IPS
Double standards are being applied in the way that the European Union awards trade preferences to poor countries, an African exporters grouping has alleged.
Colombia: Social conflict replaces warfare
10-Dec-2008 Americas Program
Broad sectors in Colombian society are beginning to understand that accusations by human rights organizations against the Uribe government were not exaggerated.
Canada Colombia Free Trade Agreement should be rejected
9-Dec-2008 rabble.ca
The Harper government pretends that the Colombian Free Trade agreement will advance the human rights agenda in Colombia. But essentially, here is what would happen: in case of abuse, a small fine would be levied by the Canadian government which the Colombian government would then pay to itself.
Europe: What trade can have to do with trade unions
8-Dec-2008 IPS
The European Union has decided to push ahead with plans to secure a free trade agreement with Colombia despite the widespread abuse of labour rights in that country.
Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement Signed
4-Dec-2008
Not a government to fail to live up to its reactionary commitments, the Tories signed Canada’s free trade agreement with Colombia on November 21st. The signing is the culmination of the Tory government’s aggressive campaign to reach a trade deal with the human-rights troubled Andean country. Prime Minister Harper first announced his government’s intention to get a deal with Colombia during his state visit there in July, 2007. Sixteen months and three high-level cabinet-minister visits later, and voila!, mission accomplished.
Trade Deals Will Face More Critics in Congress
29-Nov-2008
Free-trade critics picked up more than two dozen House seats and at least six Senate seats in the Nov. 4 election, a shift that could further endanger proposed free-trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea.
Canada’s deal with Colombia ignores human rights abuses
28-Nov-2008
The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) has joined with other labour and human rights organizations in condemning the Harper government’s approval of a free-trade deal with Colombia. The union is urging MPs in Ottawa to reject the tentative deal.
Selling out Colombia’s ’tierra querida’
26-Nov-2008 Colombia Reports
Colombian indigenous took their protest to Colombia’s capital Bogotá this weekend. Their struggle is about controlling the land in which they have lived and taken care of for hundreds of years.
Canadian Churches signal alarm over free trade deal with Colombia
25-Nov-2008 CNW
KAIROS calls on the government of Canada to conduct a Human Rights Impact Assessment before proceeding any further.
Free trade with Colombia a cruel move
25-Nov-2008 CUPE
Harper says that workers’ protection has been written into the trade deal. But whether these stipulations will be enforced is another story.
Japan, Colombia to start talks on investment pact
24-Nov-2008 TMC Net
Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe agreed Saturday to launch talks on a treaty to increase protection of their bilateral investments, a Japanese official said.
Canada and Colombia sign free-trade agreement
24-Nov-2008 Epoch Times
Canada and Colombia signed a free-trade agreement in Lima, the Peruvian capital, on Friday.
Sign on: "We demand the European Union and the Governments of Peru and Colombia not to desintegrate the Andean Community of Nations (CAN)"
23-Nov-2008 Enlanzando alternativas
Sign-on declaration demanding the European Union and the Governments of Peru and Colombia not to desintegrate the Andean Community of Nations.
Colombia FTA Ratification Now Pertinent
21-Nov-2008
U.S. corn growers could face a significant trade barrier in Colombia as a result of an increased import duty, imposed by the Colombian government this week, from a current 5 percent to 25 percent.
Colombian U’wa indigenous leaders visit US, urging investors and US Congress to respect human rights
21-Nov-2008 Market Watch
The U’wa called attention to indigenous mobilizations in Colombia where some 15,000 are marching to Bogota — to protest their government’s backsliding on indigenous land rights in attempt to make way for the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement.