Delegation to Colombia to Research the Impacts of US Free Trade Policies 1 - 10 August, 2013

Delegation leaders: Jessye Weinstein, Julia Duranti Delegation coordinator: Eunice Escobar Delegates: Sky Bartlett, Peter Bolton, Michelle Brunk, Rachel Dickson, Chelsea Dyer, Arturo Gurrero, Ana Hernandez, Melissa Hernandez, Christina Lewis Delegation partners: Comit de Integracin de Macizo, Colombia (CIMA); Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca (CRIC); Galeria de la Memoria; Comisin Intereclesial de Justicia y Paz (JyP); Movimiento Campesino de Cajibio (MCC); the Nonam indigenous community of Santa Rosa de Guayacn; Procesos de Comunidades Negras (PCN); Ruta Pacifica de las Mujeres; Union Portuaria; and the sugarcane unions Sintrainagro, Sinaltrainal, Sintracatorce, Sinalcaosucol All words, images and layout by Peter Bolton, except where noted.

Introduction
Since the 1990s, the United States has been pushing for greater free trade with Latin American and the Caribbean as the region became a greater focus for U.S. business interests. Starting with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994 which created a U.S.-Canada-Mexico trade bloc, over the last 20 years the United States has signed free trade agreements with Chile, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador and Panama. The origins of free trade with Colombia date back to 2004 when the United States was negotiating an Andean-wide trade agreement. When the talks fell through, Colombia and the United States continued a separate dialogue for a bilateral treaty. The U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement (CTPA) was signed in November 2006 but did not come into force as it was not made law during the presidency of George W. Bush. During the 2008 presidential election then-Senator Barack Obama campaigned against the agreement citing lack of protections for trade unionists within Colombia. However, shortly before his 2012 re-election bid, President Obama sent the treaty to congress for approval and nine days later on October 12, 2011 the law was passed by both houses of congress. It was signed into law by Obama later that month. In the U.S. Congress, supporters of the agreement argued that the CTPA would open up the Colombian market to American goods and services, benefitting American business interests. There were claims that it would bring economic benefits to both countries and improve investor confidence. But congressional opponents pointed to chronic violations of labor rights in Colombia including violence, failure to bring perpetrators to justice and weak worker protections. Witness for Peace and congressional allies pointed out that even without the CTPA, Colombian labor law doesnt respect even minimum international labor standards and that CTPA would further damage Colombias already weak labor protections by lowering the minimum wage, reducing or removing guarantees for overtime pay, and lowering collective bargaining rights and worker compensation. U.S. exporters overwhelmingly support CTPA and lobbied aggressively for its passage on the grounds that they were losing market share, particularly in agriculture, as Colombia had signed similar agreements with other countries, including a free trade agreement Canada which came into force in 2011. On the other side, unions and human rights groups continue to be highly critical of the agreement, arguing that Colombias labor movement is under attack from targeted violence, intimidation, harassment and legal challenges. In an attempt to assuage the concerns of opponents of the agreement, Presidents Obama and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos signed an Action Plan Related to Labor Rights which committed the Colombian government to labor protection, ending impunity and improving worker rights. The agreement came to be known as the Labor Action Plan and led to the creation of a Ministry of Labor and the appointment of labor inspectors to monitor Colombian labor practices. Witness for Peace, a grassroots organization formed in 1983 to promote peace, justice and sustainable development in the Americas, led a delegation from the United States to meet with workers and communities in the Cauca and Valle de Cauca regions who have been affected by this free trade agreement in order to the bring back to the U.S. the truth about its consequences on the ground. Witness for Peace has had a presence in Colombia since 2000 and has seen firsthand the devastating consequences of this agreement as well as the ongoing effects of corporate power and exploitation within the country. They were joined by nine delegates from the U.S. to bear witness to the price that has been paid by workers and vulnerable communities for the profit lust of both American and Colombian business interests which motivates support for the U.S.-Colombia FTA. The group met with indigenous and AfroColombian communities who are facing dispossession from their ancestral lands as corporations and mining companies encroach onto their territories; spoke to workers whose conditions have only gotten worse and who still have the daily fear of threats and violence; learned of the escalation of militarization and its use by corporations; and heard first-hand how the fears of CFTAs opponents in congress have been even worse than thought, and how exploitation and labor abuse continue with impunity in spite of the Labor Action Plan and alleged protections within the agreement.

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La Galeria de la Memoria
After viewing the gallery our hosts gave a powerpoint presentation about Plan Colombia. To them Plan Colombia is about the occupation of ancestral lands to integrate them into the transnational market of capitalism. This process has often been facilitated by violence from the military and paramilitary groups, both of which have a strong presence in the region. Our hosts describe the demobilization of the paramilitaries as a lie. They said its as if a company closed, changed its name and then tried to sell the exact same product. But because they are now considered armed bandits (BACRIM) the government doesnt have to take responsibility to counter them. We learned how Plan Colombia was sold to the world with the objective of combating armed guerrilla groups and drug trafficking but in reality just displaced more people, increased poverty and furthered multinational encroachment onto land. Plan Colombia has led to increased displacement from rural areas to the cities; Cali, for example, is a big receptor of the displaced. This has in turn led to more urban militias. Just 2 months before the delegation there was a massacre in Cali. An example of the unfairness inherent in trade policy is that US farmers get subsidies, while Colombian farmers get no debt relief or assistance and therefore cannot compete. As a result of neoliberalism, 60% of Colombia is now conceded to multinationals. A central worry is that Colombia will go the same way as Mexico after NAFTA which displaced farmers and diminished seed sovereignty as Monsanto brought patented seeds from the U.S. So communities in Colombia are attempting to resist this by organizing seed exchanges, creating local seed patents, and creating urban gardens for the displaced. Another worrying aspect of Colombian society we heard about is the marginalization of social movements. There is a big stigma against activists and human rights groups in Colombia which has weakened many social movements as well as the labor and environmental movements. There is some hope being provided however, by groups such as the Congresa de los Pueblos, a congress that comes together to discuss ideas for the future of Colombia.

Image: jameslake46, flickr.com

On the first day of the delegation after a welcome and orientation, the group headed to the Galeria de la Memoria to learn more about the regions troubled history. The gallerys full name is Galeria de la Memoria: Tiberio Fernandez Mafla, named after a priest, Father Mafla, who was killed in the Trujillo massacre (1987-1994). It describes itself as a holistic place of advocacy, healing, and reparations. Its slogan is Del arbol de la memoria contra el olvido y la impunidad, recogemos semillas de verdad, justicia y reparacion integral which translates as The tree of memory against forgetting and impunity, collecting seeds of truth, justice and repair. The mission of the gallery is to preserve the historical memory of victims of state crimes with its exhibits of major themes in the Colombian conflict. The organization also conducts activities such as accompanying the families of victims and putting on community workshops and popular education programs. The gallery first began in 1995 with a project called Colombia Never Again which had the aim of maintaining victims memories in the hope that what happened to them would not be repeated. Unfortunately, we heard from staff that Colombia Never Again is not as strong as it once was due to targeted violence. One of the central problems that the gallery seeks to highlight is impunity for this violence. We heard how 99% of cases of have gone unpunished. Of those that are, usually only low ranking soldiers are prosecuted, not those who benefit from the crimes or are the intellectual authors.

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The Womens Conference, Cali

On the second day of the delegation, the group had its first meeting, a womens conference inviting a coalition of organizations working for womens rights in Colombia. There were women present from groups representing indigenous, Afro-Colombian and campesino communities. Our host Maria Teresa Arizabaleta gave us a history of the womens movements in Cauca and Valle de Cauca such as the struggle for votes for women and her work in the Womens Peace Route and the National Womens Network. The group discussing militarization talked about how these policies have affected indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities and the womens movement. They focused what militarization has done in the context of the armed conflict and in terms damaging social composition. For instance, the United States drug policy has led to the aerial spraying of coca plants which, despite being used by some to produce cocaine, have traditional uses in some indigenous communities. A participant from the group called for a different face to Plan Colombia, one in which 90% of the investment is going toward social causes. She added that they believe that work needs to be done in the United States, as that is where much of the consumption of drugs is coming from. They also raised the issue of fair trade and investment in productive projects in indigenous communities. They added: We know that here are represented different minority groups but we believe that if we stand alone there are only very few of us. So instead all of us who are indigenous, who are Afro, who are small scale famers, we must unite into one single cause. The group discussing security was made up of a woman from an indigenous community, an Afro-Colombian from Buenaventura, a representative from Pacifica and two members of the Witness for Peace delegation. They said: What the government says is security is not security for us, because their narrative is very limited to security being given through the public forces, through the military, through weapons, whereas we believe that security comes from collective action, from our land and from having sovereignty over our land and that includes food sovereignty.

Delegation co-leader Jessye Weinstein translates as a woman from an Afro-Colombian group discusses the struggles faced by women in Colombia The group discussing the theme of development talked about how development for them as women should be about getting ahead in life and having more guarantees. They said: But the government is only helping multinational corporations to get ahead and allowing these multinational corporations to buy up local businesses at the price of eggs. They also discussed how public services are getting turned over to private corporations. Social security, health, education and communications, for instance, are all being privatized. They also described how the neoliberal free trade model of development has been creating internal fights within communities because multinational companies play off communities vulnerabilities by buying off land from certain people. They stated their opposition to mining being a primary driver of growth in Colombia and their belief that the minerals that are in the earth are the fertilizer for the earth which helps provide communities with food. They said: The mining contaminates our rivers and creates health problems for our children which affects us as mothers. The group also brought up how the free trade agreements have opened up markets for cheap food to invade the country. They said: This food has been making us sick. Its also ended our traditional seeds and its been displacing people, its been forcing people to sell their land and get

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One of the women representing a Colombian indigenous community discusses the symbolism behind the images painted on her groups cloth displaced into cities. They added: When the free trade agreements come it makes it really hard for the small scale farmers to be able to produce their crops because they cant compete with all the cheap goods that are coming into the country. A participant from the group who works with Afro-Colombian women talked about how her organization helps women find ways to employ themselves in ways that dont require them to leave their home so that they can work and be with their families as well. For instance, she has helped women become hair dressers or make crafts from inside their homes. Group four discussed the peace process and what peace and justice means for women. The group was comprised of three indigenous women, three Afro-Colombian women and three Witness For Peace representatives. During their session they shared the context that each of their communities are in right now and found that the armed conflict is impacting many of our communities in similar ways and that some of the same strategies are being used such as megaprojects and monocultures. They discussed specifically the way that women are being displaced, assassinated, sexually assaulted, raped and then facing retaliation are also similar across these different territories of indigenous, Afro and campesino communities. They said: Peace and justice have five different axis or five different lines. The first one being land which is where we can recreate our knowl-

edge and our lives. The second thing would be culture, that that must be respected, recognizing that we are a multicultural society and recognizing that every group has the right to their own culture. We also had autonomy especially for indigenous groups, weve always been autonomous because the 1992 constitution recognizes us as such; and so autonomy must be respected. And we also said that life is one of these major themes, that we dont have a dignified life in our territories and that needs to be true before we can have a lasting peace. And then the last piece is identity that we need to have a strong concept of our identity and that has to be respected whether we are indigenous, Afro, campesino, women, that these are integral parts of our identity. For them peace and justice must be constructed from the ground up and must be a grassroots movement that is coming from communities and from popular sectors of society, from civil society. They said: And peace and justice are inseparable, without justice there can be no lasting peace. And without listening to the voices of women, youth, children, all aspects of civil society it is going to be very difficult to build peace.

During the conference filming began for a documentary project about the effects of the drug trade

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Afro-Colombian Community of Kilometer 9, Bajo Calima

On August 4th the delegation made a journey over unpaved roads to visit the Afro-Colombian community of Kilometer 9, Bajo Calima. This community, since 2010, has suffered encroachment onto its land by the multinational company, Agua Dulce, which is mostly Fillipino capital. The community was never consulted about this companys activities in their territory in violation of their rights as an Afro-descendant community under Colombias Law 70. The presence of the machinery is clear evidence of the Agua Dulces activities in the area. The community has historically used the land to do their traditional small-scale logging and mining work. They have been trying to recover the land but have had problems with a corrupt community council whose leader was bought off by the company. They also attempted to get recourse from other local government bodies such as the public defenders office but were consistently ignored. We learned that in response to this refusal of local authorities to hear their case they had recently formed a new community council called El Porvenir in an effort to put up resistance. Via military proxies, the corporation has resorted to threats and violence to intimidate them into not fighting back. In 2010 the army burned down homes and farms in this area. By the end of 2010 they had burned 22 more and in 2011 they burned them down completely. According to community representatives, the local commander of the army was receiving orders from a colonel who

A community member gives his perspective on the situation facing the people of Kilometer 9 had an agreement with the owner of Agua Dulce. Furthermore, the community had to go for two years without being able to work because the company blocked their access to their road which created an extreme economic crisis. When they attempted to use the road, shots were fired to threaten the community and warn them to stay away. The community attempted to engage with the mayor of Buenaventura. However they learned that both mayor and the governor of the region are shareholders of Agua Dulce. They were unsympathetic to the communitys situation and accused them blocking progress in the region. They have also refused to recognize the legitimacy of the El Porvenir council. The group met and were accompanied by the Justice and Peace Commission (JyP), who are helping the people of Kilometer 9 to deal with this problem. They said that until recently there had been less activity from the companys machinery on the land but starting on July 30, 2013, all of the construction machines began construction again. There are currently seven machines on the main road that passes through the community. Fears have been heightened lately due to the slaying on February 23, 2013, of a community council leader Dimitri Lopez. In the analysis of the Justice and Peace Commission his death had to do with his opposition to the Agua Dulce project.

The machines are left in the area even when not in operation, a reminder of Agua Dulces presence

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Nonam Indigenous Community of Santa Rosa de Guayacn

Setting off from Kilometer 9, the group headed off to meet with the Nonam indigenous community who live in the humanitarian and biodiversity zone of Santa Rosa de Guayacn, situated north of Buenaventura. The communitys proximity to Buenaventura, Colombias largest and most important port (both in terms of legal and illegal volume), has meant that their territory has increasingly become a focus of economic interests. Many business and political interests are in favor of expanding the ports capacity in order to support a higher volume of imports and exports under free trade policies. Groups involved in the drug trade also covet lands in the area for their fertility and suitability for coca cultivation and also their close access to shipping routes. As a result of these forces, the Nonam was displaced in 2010, exactly three years ago to the day that the delegation visited them. The displacement originated with a dispute between two rival paramilitary groups the Rastrosos and the Aguilas Negras (the infamous Black Eagles who were formed in part by demobilized AUC members). One day as some women from the community were on their way up to work they came across hooded armed men who said to them that if they alerted their community to their presence in the area they would kill them. The women went back to the community and informed the others of what they had seen. The community left the land immediately with only the clothes on their back. They took some boats down the river and fled to Buenaventura. They moved from place to place in Buenaventura, unable to pay rent and living in cramped, crowded conditions, often with no running water or electricity, as refugees in their own country. In part due to these conditions, members of the community developed some serious health problems. Because they didnt have running water they were drinking stagnant contaminated water in the neighbourhood, leading to bouts of sickness. There were five cases of tuberculosis diagnosed in the community and two girls died in hospital due to insufficient medical attention. And even though exiled from their land, the community was still receiving threats from paramilitary groups operating

The Nonam have endeavored to maintain much of the traditional way of life including living close to rivers and using them for transport in the area. Like the community of Kilometer 9, the Nonam have received legal assistance from the Justice and Peace Commission (JyP). When JyP first began helping the Nonam community, the mayor of Buenaventuras office and the local government refused to recognize their case as one of displacement. With JyPs help they applied for special provisional protective measures from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights which were granted. Empowered by this victory, the community decided that they wanted to return to their land. With the assistance of the JyP, the Nonam community returned to their land in 2011 to found the humanitarian reserve, Santa Rosa de Guayacan, and were granted a security injunction by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights which ordered the Colombian government to provide for the communitys security. However, despite special protective measures including special communications and satellite antenna, the Colombian government has largely failed to comply with the commissions orders and many of the communitys most significant achievements have been won entirely through their own efforts and organizing. Upon their return they were beset by a further setback when a rising of the river flooded their crops. They have only recently been able to get their crop cultivation fully underway and still are grappling with many of the problems outlined above.

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Union Portuaria, Buenaventura

engaged in advocacy around contracting and union intimidation. Though the firing was in clear violation of the Labor Action Plan, nothing was done to make the company comply. Fines for retaliatory firing were issued but there was no mechanism to make the company pay them. Many of the problems port worker face first began with the privatization of the ports which led to a systematic dismantling of labor rights including increased use of temporary agencies to contract workers and the proliferation of so-called workers collectives. These collectives, a misleading name, force workers to take responsibility for labor rights instead of the company. A similar problem is companies creating subsidiary shell companies such as Simplified Stock Companies. These third party agencies employ workers so that the company itself doesnt have to provide them with rights or benefits. One of the effects of privatization was mass staff cutting. For example, the men assigned to loading and unloading sugar bags (one of the most physically demanding and strenuous activities in the port, as the bags are extremely heavy) was cut from eight to four men. The result was that workers began to suffer injuries on the job, health problems and even heart attacks. Despite this the port society declared that the job only requires three workers to be doing it at any one time. Jhon Jairo said: We consider this as port workers, a form of slavery. Jhon Jairo added that one of the major reasons why things havent improved for workers is that the Port Society is partly owned by some Colombian Senators who are strongly opposed to pro-worker policies. They frequently own the entities that are involved in indirect contracting so the government doesnt have to pay attention, even in the face of mass mobilization that the port workers union plans. He said: We denounce all of these issues to the government, or we denounce how the government is not complying with international labor organization recommendations and requirements and how theres no accountability. With the support of international organizations and accompaniment and international NGOs, we continue in this struggle of trying to bring compliance to these agreements.

Jhon Jairo Castro, a Union Portuaria leader, talks to delegates about the challenges facing his union After the excursions to the rural areas of Bajo Calima and Santa Rosa de Guayacn, the group spent the day learning more about life for workers in the urban port environment of Buenaventura. Buenaventura is Colombias largest port (for both legal and illegal goods) and over 60% of Colombias exports pass through the city. We first had a meeting with Union Portuara, a union established in 2009 to represent workers of the four major seaports in the country as well as workers in non-maritime port operations to organize subcontracted port workers. Union Portuara leader, Jhon Jairo, led the discuss and outlined some of the issues that are faced by his union and port workers in the city. According to Jhon Jairo, by far the biggest problem facing port workers at present is third party contracting. The union has, for more than a year, been spearheading a campaign to formalize contracts in the ports. Around 80% of the workforce in Colombias ports are employed under indirect contracts. Jhon Jairo said: Third party contracting in the ports basically have the workers in slave conditions, their salaries were extremely low, they frequently earned around 50,000 pesos a month which is about $25. He added that this issue was supposed to be a focal point of the Labor Action Plan agreement between presidents Obama and Santos. Despite the promises and high hopes that came from the LAP, much of the agreement is not complied with and this is followed in turn with a lack of sanctions for violations. Jhon Jairo gave an example of a retaliatory firing of a worker who was

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Procesos de Comunidades Negras

After hearing from Jhon Jairo, Danelly Bantu of the Procesos de Comunidades Negras (Black Community Processes - PCN) led a discussion about her work in advocacy for black communities in the area. Buenaventura is over 80% Afro-Colombian and the region has many other Afro communities. PCN works to promote the cultural identity of both urban and rural Afro-Colombian communities and its mission includes projects to develop and fortify Afro-Colombian culture, traditional land holdings, music and education. Also central to its work is the defense of AfroColombian ancestral lands. Many of these lands are coveted by armed actors, multinationals and agroindustries. As a result, Afro-Colombians are disproportionately affected by the armed conflict, and are subjected to high rates of displacements and massacres. Bantu gave the group a detailed list of the effects of the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement on Afro-Colombian communities. Central among these effects is the process of port expansion in Buenaventura. The project is meant to build up infrastructure to allow more shipping containers to move in and out, and also to build tourist infrastructure such as hotels. Much of this development is occurring on ancestral Afro-Colombian land. Some of these communities are located close to the sea with their houses situated next to the ocean front. These traditional wooden structures are held above the ocean on stilts and are part of ancestral practice since the people have historically depended upon the sea. For example, fishing and mussel collecting have been practiced by these communities for generations. Bantu said: They structure their whole houses around the sea to be able to fish and to sustain their nuclear families and their communities around this idea of the ocean. And because in Buenaventura there arent exactly a lot of jobs besides that. Several property development companies have plans to build large hotels, condominiums and related infrastructure on the land. In order to begin construction they need to clear these lands of the communities who presently live there. One such company wants to build a tourist boardwalk along Buenaventuras coast. The government of Colombia and the lo-

Danelly Bantu of Buenaventura PCN (middle) with delegation co-leader Julia Duranti (left) and Harrison (right), also a PCN activist cal government have declared the area a high-risk zone for possible tsunamis and flooding and called for an evacuation. Bantu believes that this designation is just an excuse to clear the area for the building projects. She said: We know that at the bottom of it is the desire to be building infrastructure on these communities lands. She said that the government is essentially trying to undertake a relocation process but without meeting any of the international standards that have to be complied with such as community consultation. She said: For a community whose whole way of life and whole livelihood depends on ocean access and being close to the sea, we see this as a violation of the right to territory. Bantu also discussed the problems that are faced by rural Afro communities because of illicit crop cultivation. Often the presence of coca plants is accompanied by the presence of armed groups. The presence of these groups can lead to displacement and increased violence. It can also lead to social breakdown including increased prevalence of drugs use and prostitution, and undermine traditional authorities in the communities. The chemicals used in the aerial sprayings can also have irreversible effects on crops. Bantu said that fumigation in reality has little to do with eradicating coca but rather is a deliberate strategy to displace communities from their ancestral lands. She added that coca cultivation has also diminished food security in some cases as coca becomes the focus of the local economy rather than food crops.

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Barrio San Jose, Buenaventura

practice. One of our guides gave an example of a single mother who had been displaced from a river basin area and was living in San Jose with her three children. When she refused to leave, her house was marked with an X for demolition. There is presently no electricity or running water in San Jose as cutting off public services has been a tactic used to force the community to leave. One of our guides said: What we see here is a lot of social abandonment by the local, regional and national governments; there is no guarantee of security, of state services for us and no betterment of conditions. What is most strange about the situation for the people of San Jose is that they have offered a compromise whereby a significant part of the land is given over for development. Their proposal, however, has been rejected. A community spokesperson said: Were not opposed to their development as long as it doesnt impede our own. If were permitted to stay in our community and have our traditional ways of life theres not a problem for them to be building their dock. But it has to be an inclusive project. The mayor, despite himself being an AfroColombian, is behind many of the projects leading to displacement. A guide said to us: He has never so much as shown up in our community. Despite the communitys efforts to compromise, the mayor has refused to bend from his position on the expansion project in the area. An elderly community member who had lived in San Jose for decades told the group: We would be willing to give half of this land even, if they want to build this dock. If only the mayor was going to negotiate with us.

The communitys reliance on fishing and harvesting shellfish is reflected in the style of their homes The historic Afro-Colombian area of San Jose was the first neighborhood in Buenaventura and, according to our guides, without San Jose there would be no Buenaventura. San Jose is the community Danelly Bantu of PCN discussed, that is facing relocation due to port expansion and the tourist boardwalk that is planned to be built along the waterfront. The community has been in the area for over 50 years and many settled in the area after being displaced from nearby river basin areas. We heard from the community how in 2007 the tourist boardwalk began construction and how two years earlier the coastline had been declared a high risk zone in order to clear people out. In addition to this we heard how violence has been used to displace the community. For example, in 2012 some families woke up in the middle of the night hearing someone being tortured. Thirty families fled out of fear for their lives and later returned to found that their houses had been completely destroyed. The community has also been subjected to various forms of threats and psychological intimidations. For example, they have been threatened with demolitions. Companies set dates for when theyre going to come in and raise houses in order to pressure families into leaving. The military and police have also entered the community to take away supplies to prevent people from being able to make improvements to their houses. Another form of psychological intimidation is the marking of houses with an X to identify it for demolition. Some believed that it is the mayor and the city administration that is responsible for this

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San Antonio Relocation Project

In order to encourage residents of San Jose to leave the land along the coast that is marked for port expansion, the government built a housing project further inland to resettle people from San Jose. At present about 30% of San Jose residents have been re-housed in this community named San Antonio. As compensation for the homes being destroyed, the government gave the people the houses for free and a member of the family has the title to the property. The resettlement was controversial and there are mixed opinions within the community as to whether it was a reasonable solution to the displacement occurring in San Jose. We heard from one resident that she was generally happy with the arrangement but was still concerned about the lack of economic opportunitues for the residents. She said: I feel good about the living conditions here but not about the economic conditions my family continues to be in. The living conditions are okay but the economic conditions are really just impossible. However, others are strongly critical of the situation, citing poor construction of the houses and lack of consideration of Afro-Colombia customs. One of our guides said: One of the issues is that the government really didnt take into consideration the different social conditions of different groups when they moved them all here. A tradition of many of the families here is to have big families, a lot of them have five or six kids and in these small houses it makes it very difficult for them to live dignified lives. He added: Another problem that our friend from PCN was talking about is that there is just one wall dividing them so you obviously cant expand anywhere and its very thin so you can hear everything in the next room. Another example of this is the location that was chosen, which is far from the ocean and therefore robbing the community of access to their traditional forms of making a living. Our host John Jairo talked about the lack of social services for people living in the community and the governments failure to provide guarantees. He said what you see here is the example of what the government is trying to show you all, the

The filming project continues with Rachel Dickson interviewing residents from San Antonio investment its putting forward, what its trying to show its doing. However, for the people who have been displaced and have had to leave there are still no guarantees for their rights. As the woman here was sharing with you, there is still no school, still no health post, there are no guarantees for the community. So what the government is saying is still full of lies. San Antonio was intended to be a permanent resettlement solution and it is probably too early to say whether the residents are better off rehoused. But the sitution of San Jose and San Antonio shows clearly how Afro-Colombians in the region are affected by corporate expansion. In 2012, the same year that the FTA went into effect, violent displacement rose 83%. In Buenaventura this has been fuelled by the presence of armed groups such as Los Urabeos which currently controls the city.

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Sugarcane Cutters Morning Visit

on how much the company wants, what the production needs are for that particular day. The price per ton of sugar right now is about 7,200 pesos so if youre cutting between 4 and 5 thats about 30 to 35 thousand pesos a day for what theyre cutting (about $17 a day). The sugar sector has been one of the focus industries of the labor action plan but our hosts said that they have seen little enforcement or other progress with labor rights in the sector. Companies have become adept at getting around the provisions of the LAP, for example by creating shell companies with new legal classifications and new identities to directly contract the workers. On paper they have the freedom to join a union an indefinite contract but since employment is through a secondary shell company, the employer is shielded from any challenge to its labor record. They added how the Colombian constitution established spe-

The delegates woke up early to meet sugarcane cutters before they set off for work. All of the workers were members of Sintracatorce, a union representing cane cutters and closely allied with the Polo Democrtico Alternativo. Omar Cedano, a Sintracatorce leader, led the discussion. The group heard how Sintracatorce was born out of one of the countrys most significant sugarcane strikes which took place in 2008. Cedano said: There were two strikes, one in 2005 and the other in 2008 that were basically struggling against the conditions in the sugarcane sector which are akin to slavery, so Sintracatorce was formed. Were an autonomous organization, we have our own leadership and weve been continuing in this struggle to try to pressure the Colombian government to protect worker rights, to recognize the violation of labor rights in this sector and to improve the conditions for workers. The workers talked about some of the problems they faced in their work. For example, cane cutters work long, gruelling hours with no fixed salary and little chance for rest. One of the workers we met with said: We might leave to start work at 4.40 or 3.40 to go into the field for the day and were there cutting with our machetes all day. Then we get home, we eat dinner and we sleep. Then we get up the next morning and do it all again. Its exhausting and sometimes we fall asleep in our chairs while were trying to have dinner. In addition to having no fixed salary they also have no fixed schedule, so their work hours vary enormously according to production needs. One workers said: We dont have a fixed hour because were paid by the ton, by how much sugar we cut each day. In an average day a worker might cut between 4 and 5 tons of sugarcane, it depends

Cedano (right) is the president of the Valle de Cauca chapter of the Sintracatorce union cific rights, a labor code and a ministry of labor but, they said, we dont actually see any of that enacted in practice. Cedano pointed out that other sectors face these challenges in Colombia. He said: its not just the sugar sector that has poor labor conditions in Colombia, its all labor sectors and this is increasingly affected by multinationals, that corporations that come in to exploit that climate. Lack of access to public services is another frequent problem. One worker we met had been trying to get care for his health problems since December yet had been unable to see a specialist; a testimony to the fact that Colombias wave of privatization has spread to the healthcare sector.

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Sugarcane cutters conference

After the early meeting with Sintracatorce, the group headed to a conference that Witness for Peace had organized with the press team of the Polo Democrtico Alternativo in which the four unions representing cane cutters in Valle de Cauca signed a resolution denouncing labor abuses in the sector and agreeing to seven recommendations for action. Leaders of the four unions (Sintracatorce, Sintrainagro, Sinaltrainal and Sintracaazucol) were each given 20 minutes each to speak. They had not met or even been in the same room together since 2011 and, after much coordination by Witness for Peaces Colombia staff, their leaders submitted the joint document which is hoped to be used for advocacy and grassroots organizing in both the U.S. and Colombia. The resolution makes condemnations of violence and impunity against union leaders such as the assassination of Sintrainagro leader Carlos Prez Muz which took place in January 2013. The unions speaker at the event, said: Juan Carlos Prez Muoz was a union member with La Cabana when he got killed, the government hasnt done anything. Theres been no prosecution and no suspects named. Third party contracting was a central theme of the conference with all of the leaders pointing to it as one of the gravest problems facing workers in the sugar sector. Sintrainagro leader Mauricio Ramos pointed out the impunity that has accompanied the continued use of third party contracting. He said: Even though indirect contracts were banned companies will just flat out say to administrative labor that theyre not going to pay the fines and they cant make them. And the government lets that happen. The resolution also denounced new forms of third-party contracting such as the proliferation of Simplified Stock Companies (SAS), ignoring or redefining what constitutes permanent essential work related to production, and the formation of in-house yellow unions. Another way that companies have used to get around direct contracts is the formation of so-called worker cooperatives; a misnomer in which workers are said to be autonomous but in actuality end up worse off in terms of salary, benefits and conditions. Sinaltrainal leader Oscar Bedoya said: Law 50 led to the formation

Leaders of the Sintrainagro, Sintracatorce, Sinaltrainal and Sintracaazucol sign the resolution of worker cooperatives, associated workers cooperatives. Large unions really suffered for that and workers went from having direct contracts with the companies to being part of these worker cooperatives and remained in this condition of being indirectly contracted. The speakers also address the issue of pay. According to Sintracaazucol leader Yermi Micolta, salaries in the sector are down 50% because of the way that cane cutters are paid. He added: We also work on Sundays and holidays and were denied our right to overtime. Omar Cedano, who spoke for Sintracatorce, pointed to unjust firings that continue in the sector. He said that the Providencia company fired nine workers just for attending a union meeting and that the Manuelita company fired 19 members of his union in what he says was a deliberate effort to weaken organizing efforts. Sintracotarce also had mass firings of its members from the San Carlos company this year, with over 300 workers losing their job because of their union affiliation. He spoke in strong terms about the multiple failures of the Labor Action Plan. He said: Even though the government did create a Ministry of Labor, a group which was supposed to be monitoring and going after third party contracting in Colombia, an ongoing problem, and this hasnt really been enforced. None of the labor inspectors who have been nominated have even come to investigate in our sector. So these protections dont exist for us as workers and so in this sense the plan is not being complied with.

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Afro-Colombian Community of La Toma, Suarez

A band from La Toma performs music traditional to Afro-Colombian communities in the region The La Toma Afro-Colombian community in Suarez, Cauca, was founded by runaway slaves in 1636. The region was named the taking because of its richness in gold and the community has since that time been primary engaged in mining gold. In recent times the community has struggled with problems caused by the Colombian armed conflict and with economic forces trying to control their land. After enjoying a performance from the communitys traditional musical group, the delegation heard from community leaders in a roundtable discussion. Leading the talk and accompanying the group on its journey to reach La Toma was Francia Marquez, a community leader and activist with Procesos de Comunidades Negras (PCN). During the administration of former President lvaro Uribe, the mining sector was declared an engine for development by government. Since then over 40% of Cauca has been solicited by or conceded to mining interests. Despite a legal framework that protects rights to ancestral land, multinational investors have begun commercialized mining projects in the area. Right-wing paramilitary groups acting on their behalf have threatened, intimidated, and killed members of the community in order to displace people to make way for largescale mining operations. The group heard firsthand the extent of displacement facing the people of La Toma. One community member said: Only about 70% of La Toma is still here, about 30% is floating around Cali or other cities. Staying in the area is essential for the

community to continue its traditional ways of subsistence, especially artisanal mining. Leaving for life in the cities for community members is characterized by poverty and desperation but also the loss of cultural identity. The community sees itself as caught in the middle of an armed conflict which is increasingly being used as a mechanism for multinational corporations and other business interests to acquire land. One La Toma resident said: We dont see real protection coming from those groups and if anything were more victimized by them. And theyll come in and intimidate people in the communities so that we abandon our territories. One mans wife had been disappeared because Illicit crop eradication further fuels the community0s problems. The community said that the strategy displaces people because any land in which there is illicit crops is a justification for the militarization which powerful economic interests benefit from. Another example of corporate encroachment into the La Toma communitys way of life was the building of a dam. The dam interfered with the communitys ancestral mining practices. One community member said: Rivers are central, rivers are life. And theyre the source of all of our activities. And so having the rivers rerouted or dammed in or changing the water levels is something that causes a lot of displacement. The multinational companies have also caused serious problems with pollution. An activist for womens issues in the community said: Their operations are contaminating the river. You can see that the fish are sick People are drinking water that comes from that river and theyre experiencing health effects, vomiting, diarrhoea and developing allergies. A council member and community leader thanked and paid tribute to the work of Witness for Peace and other human rights organizations. He said: Thanks to the struggle and the visibility on an international level and organizations such as yours here today, human rights organizations, thanks to these organizations and to God we can still be here in our community and that is why we havent yet been pushed out by multinationals and these mining companies.

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Community Alternatives Comit de Integracin de Macizo

Marcela (left), an activist with CIMA, talks to the group about her organizations with in the region On the final day of the delegation the group met with three groups to discuss community alternatives to the neoliberal development model. We first heard from Comit de Integracin de Macizo (CIMA), a social and civic organization based in Popayan that works for regional integration, development and a more dignified life for people in southwestern Colombia, especially small-scale farmers. A central focus of CIMAs work is studying and resisting the impacts arising from the dominance of multinational corporations in the region. CIMA is developing an economic proposal for productive autonomy. Central to this proposal is countering communities dependence on multinationals by producing fertilizers locally rather than relying on the power of multinationals to produce fertilizers and agro-chemicals. CIMA proposes an effort for communities to produce their own organic fertilizers with patents for those fertilizers staying within the community rather than being held by multinationals. In addition to this, CIMA holds community exchanges in which different communities meet and share knowledge and also exchange seeds. The products that come out of those exchanges are often sold in stores. CIMA has also set up schools to train people in understanding their rights and to help inform community leaders. In addition to this, it publishes human rights reports and makes denouncements of abuses. We heard how many of people in Cauca have been affected by the presence of paramili-

tary groups and militarization of the region both of which have been responsible for human rights abuses including state crimes. CIMA has been helping victims of these crimes and is demanding truth, justice and reparations for victims. In line with its focus on vulnerable groups, every report that it puts out has a chapter specifically about women. According to CIMA, almost 50% of homicides against women take place in Cauca. The organization is concerned that the government does not pay sufficient attention to violence against women in the area and has worked to raise consciousness about sexual violence, domestic violence and inter-family violence. CIMA believes that one of the most profound problems facing the region has been the governments failure to provide public services and improve infrastructure. According to CIMA, without having alternatives or infrastructure or services, some people in the communities they represent have started turning to illicit crop cultivation. One CIMA representative said: The presence of illicit crops in the region is a big problem. For many people in the region there are no other options, theres no other productive possibilities, there arent jobs, there isnt a way for people to subsist... And the state doesnt offer them any sort alternatives like irrigation infrastructure. So people turn to coca. Promoting food security has become a central focus of CIMAs work. The U.S. Colombia free trade agreement poses a serious threat to food security as Colombian farmers cant compete with cheap imports from larger, more technologically advanced and subsidised U.S. exporters.

Marcela, from CIMA, discusses her involvement

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Community Alternatives Movimiento Campesino de Cajibio

Also in the community alternatives meeting, the group heard from Movimiento Campesino de Cajibio (MCC), an organization based in Cajibio, Cauca, that works to defend the human rights of campesinos and to promote agrarian reform. It also does investigations to document the effects of multinational agrobusiness, monocultures, FTAs and the armed conflict on small farming communities. Of these issues, multinational agrobusiness has perhaps been the most problematic in terms of labor abuses, and these problems are likely to be augmented by the introduction of the FTA. The group heard how multinational agriculture giant Falcon Farms engages in anti-union intimidation tactics such as buying out union members, aggressively pursuading new workers to not join and witholding pay in an attempt to weaken organized labor. The group heard testimony from an activist with MCC called Herman who worked for several years at a flower growing plant run by Falcon Farms. He explained how the company that has had a presence in Cajibio for about 28 years and throughout this time has had about two-hundred and fifty workers involved in its activities. He said: About four years ago this company has begun to violate our rights, our labor rights and we see this reflected greatly in the lives of the workers. They havent been paying us all our wages. The company just hasn;t been complying with what it is supposed to do.

MCC member Herman discusses problems in the region such as anti-union intimidation Hermans words highlighted the problem between image and reality with regard to multinational presence in poor countries. The companies are seen as benevolent actors in the United States, no doubt contributing to support for the free trade agreement and to corporate lobbying efforts in the U.S. Congress. He said: Multinationals that come and exploit the labor force here in Colombia, we know that maybe theyre seen as being a really good company but weve been really badly treated by this multinational. Another speaker from MCC pointed to the problems caused to small-scale farmers (campesinos) by the economic situation in Colombia. She said: Most campesinos in Cajibio are not living a dignified life. They are living very much on the margins because there are not adequate conditions for them to plant food crops and strengthen local economies or to support themselves off of their crops. She added: Cajibio is a very strong city that has a history of resistance and of social organization but its been hit really hard by all of these factors. As a result of these problems, many smallscale farmers in the region have turned to illicit crop cultivation. We heard how the Colombian state has not provided any kind of conditions for people to market their other crops and have generally failed to provide any clear alternative to coca production.

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Community Alternative - Comisin Intereclesial de Justicia y Paz

displaced and who have been victims of paramilitary structures in our department. She added: We also provide accompaniment to victims of the public forces and the army who do extra-judicial activities. We have court cases and do a lot of legal work so that the state has to guarantee these victims their right to truth, to justice and to the fullest of reparations. We heard how JyP has come into difficulties in conducting its work from various sections including the government. Our host said: This is a very complicated situation, especially for the victims because as they go about reclaiming their rights they can become revictimiszed because they have to show before the Colombian state that they are truly victims. It is the victims themselves who have to do all the work that the Prosecutor Generals office should be doing. As part of their ecological mission, JyP helps communities to develop sustainable life proposals such as creating collectives for biodiversity, making proposals to protect the ecology and developing protective mechanisms to protect their water sources. These protections have the added advantage of serving as mechainisms against the armed actors present in these zones since deliniating territories dissuades the army, paramilitaries or guerrillas from entering. JyP take the position that popular dissatisfaction with the free trade agreement is not cyclical but is to do with structural problems in Colombias model of production and land ownership. They also point out how the armed conflict has intensified in recent years since the entry into force of the free trade agreements with the United States and Canada.

JyP activist Gloria (left), talks to the group Comisin Intereclesial de Justicia y Paz (JyP), is a human rights organization that supports community processes and organizations in communities comprised of Afro descendants, mestizos and indigenous people. It promotes and supports non-violent action in areas of armed conflict, truth verification missions, struggles for justice and reparation, and a negotiated political solution to the ongoing Colombian internal conflict. The group has also worked for environmental causes such as fighting the negative consequences of palm oil production in Colombia which has become a significant problem. JyP has worked extensively on behalf of people who have been displaced from their land. They have made legal complaints and taken action through the justice system on behalf of victims. We had heard earlier in the delegation how JyP has helped communities such as the Nonam indigenous peoples and the Afro-Colombia community of Kilometer 9. We heard how it conducted similar accompaniment work such as working relatives of victims in utilizing the legal system, contacting elected officials and campaigning in the public sphere. One of our hosts said: Within our accompaniment, we support as an organization these communities so that they can strengthen their demands and their advocacy work to the government in order to defend their rights. We also do legal accompaniment for people who have been forcibly

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Totorro Trau Misak

products from the outside invading the less dominant country at lower prices. One of our hosts said: This is very worrisome for our families here. Another criticism that community leader brought up in our meeting is that free trade agreements do not generate employment but rather bring in increased technology and machines that displace people and replace the workforce, leading to unemployment. These machines also have a negative impact on our soils, on our water sources and on our environment, said one of our hosts. Attempts to resist this have been slurred as protectionism even though there is ample evidence that there are advantages to growing food closer to where it is being consumed. Furthermore, the U.S. exporters have not only better technology at their disposal but also subsidies from the U.S. government, giving a huge inbuilt advantage. These factors combined threaten to make it impossible for Colombia farmers to defend their livelihood. And its not just the issue of cheap imports and its subsequent flooding the market that is the only problem that the FTA poses for the Totorro. It also imposes a legal framework that lays waste to traditional agricultral practices. For example, under the guise improving health regulations the FTA outlaws certain forms of agricultural productcs such as raw milk. The law stipulates that producers must demonstrate certain technological capacities and certain health standards. This in practice makes small-scale farming impossible, driving out traditional farming methods, thereby making the cheap imported versions of these products fom agro-business the only products available. The community operates in a very traditional, family-structured way using exchanges to help other members of the community; if one part of the community is struggling, another part will step in to help. This, along with the use of traditional, nonchemical methods is at the heart of the Totorros way of life. While showing the group around the gardens, one of our hosts said: This for us is a way that we are able to resist neoliberal policies and free trade agreements. Everything that you see here is done only through organic fertilizers whereas free trade agreements try to impose chemical fertilizers and things that are not traditional in our culture.

The Totorro are an indigenous community in the Colombian Andes who have preserved much of their original lifestyle and customs since before Spanish colonization. Though they are struggling to preserve their native language they have excelled in other areas such as utilizing traditional ancestral seeds in their agricultural practices. We heard how the free trade agreement poses a number of threats to the Totorros way of life, especially in the area of food sovereignty. One of our hosts, a commmunity leader of the Totorro said of the free trade agreement: It greatly affects us as a community as it impacts on our ability to have food sovereignty as we depend greatly on the land. Furthermore it forces us to leave our agriculture behind and instead become consumers. And this has a huge impact on our political organizational processes, on our economies and on our culture as indigenous peoples. As an example he pointed to some of the communitys productive projects. The community is having difficulty maintaining its production in diverse areas including growing potatoes, cultivating herbs and producing milk. Compounding these problems are the fertilizers and pesticides that are introduced by big agriculture. This technology is costly and therefore difficult to access. One of the central criticisms of the U.S. Colombia free trade agreement is the inbuilt advantage that it will give to U.S. agricultural exporters whose products will push Colombian farmers out of the the market. Free trade agreements lead to

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Conclusion
The findings from the delegation were clear: in the short time that the FTA has been law, it has already begun to reap havoc upon the lives of vulnerable communities across Colombia. We heard at the Memory Gallery how the problems caused to Mexico after NAFTA are already beginning to be mirrored in Colombia with increasing displacement and diminished seed sovereignty. We heard during the womens conference how the FTA has opened up Colombias markets to cheap unhealthy food which poses a risk to public health and the viablility of traditional small-scall farming. We heard from the Afro-Colombia and indigenous communities how multinational interests are pushing them off of their land and threatening their traditional ways of life. And we gained multiple insights from our partners from human rights and labor groups how the guarentees provided by the Labor Action Plan have proved to be nothing but an empty farce. The delegation also uncovered some phenomena that may not be directly tied to the free trade agreement but illustrate how Colombia was already suffering from aggressive corporate exploitation well before the FTA became law. These findings were significant because the free trade agreement will serve to augment the free-for-all situation that has arisen in Colombia that has given rise to extensive displacement, labor abuses, loss of food and seed sovereignty, and environmental damage. Furthermore, the forces of corporate power both within and from outside will be emboldened in their tactics of abuse, illegality and violence to further its interests since the U.S. government has tacitly endorsed these prractices by signing a free trade agreement with a country with such a poor human and labor rights record. But it was the way that events unfolded in the media during and after the delegation that was most telling and served as a vindication of the objections raised by FTA critics. Within days of the delegation ending, a nationwide strike broke out against the free trade agreement and the neoliberal economic policies of the Colombian government. The strike started as a peasant uprising in rural areas but quickly grew to a national strike which included miners, teachers, medical professionals, truckers and students. By its seventh day hundreds of thousands of people had joined the protest which had spread thoughout the country. Truckers and farmers set up roadblocks in an effort to bring the country to a standstill. The escalation of the national paro was met with a brutal counteroffensive. After initially refusing to recognize that a strike was taking place, President Juan Manuel Santos deployed an additional 16,000 military personnel and militarized Colombias capital city, Bogota. Reports quickly emerged of widespread abuse by police, military and other state actors. Human rights organization Bayaca reported shootings, torture, tear-gassing, arbitrary arrests and even cases of sexual assault. Neil Martin from the Bogota-based labor rights organization PASO International said: human rights organizations and YouTube videos have documented military personnel beating protestors, stealing supplies, carrying out vandalism, making arbitrary arrests and generally inciting violence. As is usual in the governments response to social movements, it attempted to justify its use of state violence with unsupported allegations of protestors ties to the armed guerrilla group FARC. At the heart of the protestors grievances were the terms of the U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement. This was especially true for small-scale rural farmers whose livelihoods have been put at considerable risk, if not destroyed altogether, by new competition from U.S. exporters that has been facilitated by the FTA - just as the delegtaion had learned throughout our trip. These U.S.-based exporters are susidized by the U.S. government to the tune of $24 billion per year, leading to an unfair advantage over Colombian farmers, and a cruel irony given the so-called free market intellectual underpinnings of the agreement. Professor of Human Rights Law at the University of Pittsburgh, Dan Kovalik, said of the FTA and national protest: As all of us who predicted who opposed [the FTA], its been a disaster for Colombians and they know it. Thats why youve had this massive round of demonstrations in Colombia. Its grinding up the peasantry. He added: Those free trade policies are speeding up the very process of exploitation of the land by corporations. In addition to the unfair advantage for U.S. exporters, there were also reports that the protes-

Page 18

tors, especially Colombian farmers,were motivated by fears of the threat posed to Colombias food security by the FTA. If foreign exporters achieve market saturation and wipe out domestic producers, the country will be more dependent on, and hence more subservient to, the United States. Similar concerns are that the FTA will leave them more vulnerable to market fluctuations and erode protections for their industry. Common amonst all protestors was a fear that the free trade agreement will lead to a further reduction in market regulations to mitigate the negative impacts of unfettered global capitalism and a further dismantling of the social safety net and public service provisions. Of course, the FTA is a deliberate and transparent attempt to achieve both these goals. As we learned throughout the delegation, the goal of free trade in general is to further augment the global free market system and break the state down to its core functions of corporate enforcement and militarization. In October, two U.S. congressmen, Rep. George Miller and Rep. Jim McGovern, visited Colombia to investigate the effectiveness of the Labor Action Plan. After a busy schedule meeting with workers, union leaders and labor lawyers over several days in Bogota, Buenaventura and Cali, they concluded that the Labor Action Plan has not only failed in its stated objectives but has exacerbated problems and allowed the labor rights situation to worsen. The congressmen, both long-time opponents of the U.S.-Colombia FTA, released a report indentifying the central problems with the LAP. The report stated that indirect employment is pervasive and growing, that the system of inspection and regulation is ineffectual and that the right to organize is still being denied. The report stated: In Colombia, there are 22 million people who work to support themselves and their families, but fewer than 8 million have contracts, pensions or other indicators of formal employment with full labor protections. The remaining 14 million workers lack the most basic labor rights, such as the right to organize. The reports findings are particularly damaging to the U.S. and Colombian governments given that they have both claimed that the commitments of the Labor Action Plan have been accomplished. The report pointed specifically to thirdparty subcontractors, CTA worker cooperatives and agencies that deal in self-employed workers.

Though the LAP purported to ban these entities, the congressmens report documents over 2,890 CTAs and similar entities operating in Colombia in 2012. The congressmen also found in their investigation that there has been a huge proliferation of contracts with yellow unions which the delegation had heard about during our meetings with the sugarcane unions. These bogus unions are formed by the companies themselves in order to flout employer responsibilities enshrined in Colombian labor law, such as social security, health and pension payments, by making the union responsible for those provisions.The report found that these setups have grown from just three in 2009 to aound 400 in 2012. The report also looked into the so-called labor inspectors that were said to have been established by the Labor Action Plan. The LAP established the creation of around 100 to enforce fines for labor violations and perform check-ups on employers. The government purports that this figure has risen and will be close to a thousand in 2014 but the report states that the inspectors credentials are in question and that they were hired from within an existing civil service program. It found that even when violations were actually identified, there was no evidence that punitive measures were being taken effectively: though $73 million worth of fines have been imposed on employers, none of this money has ever been collected. The report gave specific examples of failure to collect fines, with one example showing that aggressive anti-union tactics are used even when abusers have been identified: Large-scale fines were levied against 10 plantation owners for violating basic labor rights; yet not one penny has been collected. Meanwhile, more than 200 labor leaders have had to flee the area either from threats of violence or due to blacklists. The reports findings confirmed earlier investigations within Colombia. During an interview at the site of Rubiales oilfield in Meta, Senator Alexander Lopez spoke of similar investigations he has done into the Labor Action Plan. He said: My office has elaborated three reports regarding the Labor Action Plan. These reports all indicate the same results and that is that labor rights in Colombia havent really been effective. The action plan was an excuse to sign the free trade agreement with the argument that were going to improve the conditions of Colombian workers but the exact opposite has happened. The work conditions here have

Page 19

gotten worse. The Labor Ministry was created to guarantee the rights of Colombian workers but the Labor Ministry isnt serving the workers, its serving the companies. The next month in November, a new round of protests broke out over the governments attempt to further privatize the countrys healthcare system. The move was widely seen as a brazen attempt to further strip down the the social functions of the state in order to enforce the neoliberal vision coming from Washington. Healthcare groups such as the Association of Interns and Residents (ANIR) and the CUT were amongst the lead organizers of the mobilization. The CUT described the reform as profoundly antidemocratic and designed to open up Colombias healthcare system to profiteering from multinational corporations. Senator Jorge Robledo said of the reform: This is the model of the World Bank and the model of neo-liberalism and the Washington consensus and of the free trade agreements. And all the ministers who have been around all these years are connected to this dogmatic club who believe that if there is no gain for the financial capital, then it is impossible to do anything in the world. They cant conceive of a world in which every sector of the state does not pay a toll to the financial capital. But the most worrying of all the developments to take place, the second half of 2013 during which the delegation took place saw the emergence of a whole new host of new free trade agreements being signed between Colombia and other jurisdictions. Just as the delegation was starting in August, the FTA that Colombia had signed with the European Union, one of the largest trade blocks in the world, came into effect. The agreement was heralded by the EU as an opportunity to bring measurable benefits to all parties, promoting growth and jobs and increasing the global competitiveness of the European Union and Colombia. The agreement was presented with the same lofty promises of human rights protections, respect for international labor standards, a framework for environmental protection and juridical stability. But critics such as Alexander Lopez have already pointed to significant problems. He said during the same interview in Puerto Gaitan: The FTA with Europe can include a labor action plan that is twice as extensive as that with the U.S. but here Santos is not going to guarentee that we come through with this. Were not talking about docu-

ments here, were talking about real life facts. The very next month of September saw Colombia sign two more free trade agreements within two weeks of one another. On September 20, 2013, Colombias Minister of Trade, Industry and Tourism Sergio Diaz Granados signed the Colombia-Panama free trade agreement with Panamas Minister of Trade and Industry Ricardo Quijano at a meeting in Panama City. Just ten days later on September 30, 2013, Colombia signed a free trade agreement with one of the worlds worst human rights violators, Israel, a country with which Colombia has long had military connections. The agreement includes clauses to reduce tariffs on agricultural and industrial products traded between the two countries. But most worrying are concerns that the agreement will facilitate further military coordination. There are reports that Israeli-Colombian security cooperation is provided for within the agreement, such as potential importation of Israeli weapon technology to fuel the ongoing civil war and military counter-offensive against guerrilla groups. As we learned on the delegation, military power is often used to futher economic interests of corporations under the guise of anti-guerrilla offensives, with catastrophic human rights consequences. Tellingly, Israeli President Shimon Peres said to President Santos during a recent state visit to Isreal: your visit will provide a renewed push to bilateral cooperation on security, science, technology and agriculture. Finally, the future holds the possibility of even greater integration into the free trade system on a global scale. There are 12 countries including the U.S. currently negotiating entry into a worldwide trade agreement called the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. Together they make up almost 40% of the global economy and one third of international trade. So far, Chile and Mexico are the only Latin American countries to be part of these talks. However there have already been rumors that Colombia may enter into discussions also. Colombia is already a member of a similar international agreement, and precursor to the TPPA, the Pacific Alliance, which also includes Chile, Mexico and Peru. Former Brazilian President Lula Da Silva and Bolivian President Evo Morales have already publicly accused the Pacific Alliance as serving to weaken the integration of South America and privatize services. There will likely be increasing pressure for Colombia and other countries in Latin America to join the TPPA as this unprecedented global trade pact becomes an ever closer reality.

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References
The bulk of this document was made up from recordings taken during the delegation itself along with notes from Chelsea Dyer taken to form her masters thesis in Anthropology on the impact of U.S. militarization on the Colombian conflict . Information was also taken from a series of documents provided by Witness for Peace. The input and follow up of Colombia Julia Durranti and Jessye Weinstein was also invaluable in putting together this report. The introduction section was based on the following sources: The U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement: Background and Issues by M. Angeles Villarreal published on November 9, 2012, by the Congressional Research Service Fact sheet: Colombia-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, published by Witness for Peace The conclusion section was based on the following sources: Colombia Nationwide Strike Against Free Trade, Privatization, Poverty by Sarah Lazare, published August 25, 2012 at Common Dreams US-Colombia Labor Action Plan represents failure with worsened conditions: Report by Daniel Freeman, published October 29, 2013 at Colombia Reports Colombias free trade pact with EU comes into force by Marcus Sales, published August 1, 2013 at Colombia Reports Colombia, Panama kick start free trade era by Nick Ross, published September 24, 2013, at Colombia Politics Colombia and Israel formalize free trade agreement by Taran Volckhausen, published September 30, 2013, at Colombia Reports A Corporate Coup of a Different Order: The Growing Resistance to the Trans-Pacific Partnership by Arthur Phillips, published September 26, 2013, at Toward Freedom Interview with Senator Alexander Lopez conducted by Peter Bolton and Neil Martin in Puerto Gaitan, Meta Interview with Professor Dan Kovalik conducted by Peter Bolton Interview with Senator Jorge Robledo conducted by Peter Bolton