Trade deal with Colombia

Colombian leader urges trade deal OK

By David J. Lynch, USA TODAY

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

BOGOTA, Colombia - With a controversial trade deal with the U.S. at risk, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe on Monday rejected charges from congressional Democrats that his government has done too little to combat routine killings of union leaders.

"The murder rate for this specific group is far below the murder rate for the average (person) in Colombia," Uribe insisted in an interview with USA TODAY.

Uribe said killings of trade unionists have fallen from 65 last year to just 23 so far this year, part of a broader decline in violence since he took office in 2002. According to detailed figures Uribe cited, the murder rate for unionists is roughly one-seventh that of the rest of the population.

Congressional Democrats sharply dispute Uribe's accounting and are delaying consideration of a trade deal with Colombia while they demand more aggressive efforts to prosecute paramilitaries believed responsible for the killings. "It is difficult to contemplate a trade deal with Colombia given its continuing record of violence against labor leaders," wrote six Democratic senators in a Sept. 20 letter to Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez.

The senators complained that there have been only two convictions in 236 murders of unionists over the past three years.

Two-way trade between the United States and Colombia was a relatively modest $16 billion in 2006. But the pending treaty is seen as significant because Colombia is the USA's closest ally in Latin America and its drug cartels provide much of the heroin and cocaine sold on U.S. streets. This decade, the U.S. has spent more than $5 billion helping Colombia battle drug traffickers.

Colombia has been embroiled in a multisided civil conflict for more than four decades, involving left-wing guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries with government links, and drug traffickers. In the late 1990s, the annual death toll was an estimated 35,000. Last year, the government says, 17,000 people died.

Since Uribe took office in 2002, the number of murders, kidnappings and urban attacks has declined sharply and the economy is enjoying its eighth-consecutive year of expansion. Still, the threat of violence for union leaders, politicians, journalists and judges remains real. Uribe says his government is making extraordinary efforts to protect those at risk, including unionists. Colombia spends $39 million to help guard around 6,000 individuals, including 1,200 union leaders, Uribe says. "We have recovered the safety for them," he said of union officials.

The Colombia trade deal is one of three agreements with Latin nations that await congressional approval. Congress is expected to act on a deal with Peru next month. According to customary procedures, the Colombia agreement should come up next. But opposition from congressional leaders, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, means it likely will remain stalled, perhaps until after the 2008 election.

Uribe warned that an indefinite delay would imperil all that has been accomplished in recent years. "Delay is as bad as disapproval," he said, saying that it would discourage the investment Colombia needs to cement recent economic gains.

"What I ask from the U.S. Congress, we accept whatever we have to do in addition to what we have done," he said. "But, please, recognize what we have done."