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Colombia


Colombia: teachers and students in national mobilization
Some 250,000 Colombian teachers and students and their supporters held marches on May 30 to protest a proposed Law of Transferences and a National Development Project (PND) that they say will cut funding for education and teachers’ pensions, as well as a "free trade" agreement (FTA, or TLC in Spanish) with the US.
Trade agreements would boost state’s pork industry
When it comes to U.S. trade policy, in recent years it has seemed more difficult to gain bipartisan agreement among American policy-makers than to negotiate with foreign governments.
Congress weighs future of Andean trade scheme
U.S. lawmakers have begun talks on whether to extend a 15-year-old trade preference program for Andean countries while free trade deals with Colombia and Peru remain up in the air, congressional aides said on Wednesday.
Labor violence blocks a US-Colombia trade deal
Free trade agreements with Peru and Panama now seem headed toward approval in the US Congress, after the Bush administration agreed to incorporate the basic labor standards long insisted upon by House Democrats. But a separate trade pact with Colombia rightly remains in legislative limbo over a much starker labor problem.
Uribe asks US not to punish Colombia
President Alvaro Uribe has urged the US not to punish Colombia by denying it a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) or reducing military aid because of a deepening political scandal that is engulfing his government.
Colombia says will work with US Democrats on deal
Colombia accepts proposed U.S. changes to a free trade agreement and is ready to take additional steps to address concerns of Democrats in Congress, the country’s vice president said on Thursday.
Mass demonstrations in Colombia
Hundreds of thousands of Colombians joined the national strike in a score of cities on Wednesday to protest against the US-Colombia free trade agreement and Uribe’s neoliberal policies, and to support public education.
Colombia rebels target US trade pact at peace talks
Colombia’s second largest guerrilla movement said on Tuesday it would agree to a cease-fire if the government dropped a free-trade pact signed in November with the United States.
AfroColombians oppose free trade agreement
Ana Valencia still tries to eke out a living as a miner in the hills near the headwaters of Colombia’s Rio Salvajina. Her sisters are gone now to the nearest city of Cali, where they work as domestics. She’s having a hard time hanging on.
Congress urged to OK Peru, Colombia FTAs
The U.S. State Department’s No. 2 official on Thursday expressed hope that free trade agreements with Colombia and Peru will be approved soon by the U.S. Congress.
Prez Uribe recognizes FTA admission problems
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe admitted he has found resistance among US politicians to the approval of a Free Trade Agreement with its country.
Colombia scandals cloud trade deal - US senator
Colombia must resolve US concerns about a paramilitary scandal and the unsolved murders of trade unionists if it wants Congress to approve a free trade agreement, a spokesman for the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on Thursday.
Uribe lobbies U.S. lawmakers on aid, trade deal
With support of U.S. President George W. Bush, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe sought to convince U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday to approve more military and anti-narcotics aid and back a trade deal.
Colombians to protest FTA on May Day
Rejection of the approval of the free trade agreement with the US will be a main motivation for Colombians to celebrate the International Worker’s Day.
Union solidarity forces new look at Colombia trade deal
Prospects for passage of Bush’s free trade agreement (FTA) with Colombia are dwindling in the face of pressure on Congress from U.S. and Colombian unions coupled with widespread reports of anti-labor atrocities, and new evidence of Colombian paramilitary and government collusion with the violent union repression.
The Free Trade Agreement between Colombia and the United States should be rejected by the respective Congresses of both nations
Open letter to US Congress, signed by hundreds of Colombia organizations
Peru, Colombia and Panama lobby for US free-trade pacts
As crunch time nears, Peru, Colombia and Panama have embarked on a nearly unprecedented lobbying effort to salvage their free-trade agreements with Washington.
US Commerce Secy urges passing of LatAm trade pacts
Failure by the US Congress to approve free trade agreements with Latin American countries will have “huge political consequences” in the region, US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez warned Monday.
The FTA between Colombia and the US cannot be salvaged
What remains to be seen is who can exert more influence on the Democratic majority in Congress. Will it be US transnational corporations that apply pressure because of the profits they expect from the FTA, or the democratic sectors and workers who elected Democrats to Congress with their votes?
Moratorium on free trade agreements
At literally minutes to midnight on April 1, the United States signed a free trade agreement (FTA) with South Korean negotiators and rushed it to Congress. Congress now has 90 days to review the Korea, Peru, Colombia, and Panama agreements, before fast track authority expires on June 30.