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 Pacifca de las Mujeres; Union Portuaria; and the sugarcane un-
ions Sintrainagro, Sinaltrainal, Sintracatorce, Sinalcaosucol
All words, images and layout by Peter Bolton, except where noted.
Page 1
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 ne-
gotiating 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 Agree-
ment (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; beneftting American business interests.
There were claims that it would bring economic
benefts to both countries and improve investor
confdence. 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 the introduction of the agree-
ment would further damage Colombias already
weak labor protections by lowering the minimum
wage, reducing or removing guarantees for over-
time 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; includ-
ing 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 organiza-
tion 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 afected 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 frsthand the
devastating consequences of this agreement as
well as the ongoing efects 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 vul-
nerable communities for the proft lust of both
American and Colombian business interests which
motivates support for the U.S.-Colombia FTA.
The group met with indigenous and Afro-
Colombian communities who are facing dispos-
session from their ancestral lands as corporations
and mining companies encroach onto their ter-
ritories; 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 frst-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.
Page 2
La Galeria de la Memoria
On the frst 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 Mafa,
named after a priest, Father Mafa, 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 semil-
las de verdad, justicia y reparacion integral which
translates as The tree of memory against forget-
ting 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 confict.
The organization also conducts activities such as
accompanying the families of victims and putting
on community workshops and popular education
programs.
The gallery frst 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 staf 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 beneft from the
crimes or are the intellectual authors.
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 transna-
tional 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 de-
mobilization 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 be-
cause they are now considered armed bandits
(BACRIM) the government doesnt have to take re-
sponsibility to counter them.
We learned how Plan Colombia was sold to
the world with the objective of combating armed
guerrilla groups and drug trafcking 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 del-
egation 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 neo-
liberalism, 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 Mon-
santo 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 so-
ciety we heard about is the marginalization of so-
cial movements. There is a big stigma against ac-
tivists 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, [Link]
Page 3
On the second day of the delegation, the
group had its frst meeting: a womens conference
inviting a coalition of organizations working for
womens rights in Colombia. There were women
present from groups representing indigenous, Af-
ro-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 Na-
tional Womens Network.
The group discussing militarization talked
about how these policies have afected indigenous
and Afro-Colombian communities and the wom-
ens movement. They focused on what militariza-
tion has done in the context of the armed confict
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 commu-
nities. A participant from the group called for a
diferent 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 rep-
resented diferent 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 representa-
tive from Pacifca and two members of the Witness
for Peace delegation.
They said: What the government says is se-
curity is not security for us, because their narrative
is very limited to security being given through the
public forces, through the military, through weap-
ons, 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 Womens Conference, Cali
The group discussing the theme of develop-
ment talked about how development for them as
women should be about getting ahead in life and
having more guarantees. They said: But the gov-
ernment is only helping multinational corporations
to get ahead and allowing these multinational cor-
porations 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 de-
scribed how the neoliberal free trade model of de-
velopment has been creating internal fghts within
communities because multinational companies
play of communities vulnerabilities by buying of
land from certain people.
They stated their opposition to mining be-
ing 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 prob-
lems for our children which afects 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
Page 4
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 fnd 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 wom-
en 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 communi-
ties are in. They said that they have found that the
armed confict is impacting many of their commu-
nities in similar ways and that some of the same
strategies are being used such as megaprojects
and monocultures. They discussed specifcally the
way that women are being displaced, assassinated,
sexually assaulted, raped and then facing retalia-
tion are also similar across these diferent territories
of indigenous, Afro and campesino communities.
They said: Peace and justice have fve dif-
ferent axis or fve diferent lines. The frst one be-
ing 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 dignifed 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, camp-
esino, women.
For them peace and justice must be con-
structed from the ground up and must be a grass-
roots movement that is coming from communities
and from popular sectors of society. A member of
their group added: And peace and justice are in-
separable, without justice there can be no lasting
peace. And without listening to the voices of wom-
en, youth, children, all aspects of civil society, it is
going to be very difcult to build peace.
One of the women representing a Colombian
indigenous community discusses the symbolism
behind the images painted on her groups cloth
During the conference flming began for a docu-
mentary project about the effects of the drug trade
Afro-Colombian Community of
Kilometer 9, Bajo Calima
On August 4th the delegation made a jour-
ney over unpaved roads to visit the Afro-Colom-
bian community of Kilometer 9, Bajo Calima. This
community since 2010 has sufered encroachment
onto its land by the multinational company Agua
Dulce, which is mostly Fillipino capital. The commu-
nity was never consulted about this companys ac-
tivities in their territory in violation of their rights as
an Afro-descendant community under Colombias
Law 70. The presence of the machinery is clear evi-
dence 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 com-
munity council whose leader was bought of by
the company. They also attempted to get recourse
from other local government bodies such as the
public defenders ofce but were consistently ig-
nored. We learned that in response to this refusal
of local authorities to hear their case they had re-
cently formed a new community council called El
Porvenir in an efort to put up resistance.
Via military proxies, the corporation has re-
sorted to threats and violence to intimidate them
into not fghting 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 com-
munity representatives, the local commander of
the army was receiving orders from a colonel who
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 at-
tempted to use the road, shots were fred to threat-
en 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 unsympa-
thetic 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.
A community member gives his perspective on the
situation facing the people of Kilometer 9
The machines are left in the area even when not in
operation, a reminder of Agua Dulces presence
Page 5
Nonam Indigenous Community
of Santa Rosa de Guayacn
Next, the group set of 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, Co-
lombias 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 in-
terests 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 displace-
ment originated with a dispute between two rival
paramilitary groups: the Rastrosos and the Agui-
las 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 com-
munity 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 fed to Buenaventura.
They moved from place to place in Bue-
naventura, unable to pay rent and living in
cramped, crowded conditions, often with no run-
ning 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 the neighbourhods they were
living in didnt have running water what they were
drinking was often stagnant and contaminated,
leading to bouts of sickness. There were fve cases
of tuberculosis diagnosed in the community and
two girls died in hospital due to insufcient medi-
cal attention. And even though they were exiled
from their land, the community was still receiving
threats from paramilitary groups operating in the
area.
Like the community of Kilometer 9, the
Nonam have received legal assistance from the
Justice and Peace Commission (JyP). When JyP frst
began helping the Nonam community, the mayor
of Buenaventuras ofce and the local government
refused to recognize their case as one of displace-
ment. With JyPs help they applied for special provi-
sional protective measures from the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights which were granted.
Empowered by this victory, the community decid-
ed 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 In-
ter-American Commission on Human Rights which
ordered the Colombian government to provide for
the communitys security. However, despite spe-
cial protective measures, including special com-
munications and satellite antenna, the Colombian
government has largely failed to comply with the
commissions orders and many of the communitys
most signifcant achievements have been won en-
tirely through their own eforts and organizing.
Upon their return they were beset by a
further setback when a rising of the river fooded
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.
Page 6
The Nonam have endeavored to maintain much of
the traditional way of life including living close to
rivers and using them for transport
Union Portuaria, Buenaventura
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 Colom-
bias exports pass through the city.
We frst 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 organ-
ize subcontracted port workers. Union Portuara
leader Jhon Jairo led the discussion 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 par-
ty contracting. The union has for more than a year
been spearheading a campaign to formalize con-
tracts in the ports. Around 80% of the workforce
in Colombias ports are employed under indirect
contracts. Jhon Jairo said: Third party contract-
ing 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 fring of a worker who was
engaged in advocacy around contracting and un-
ion intimidation. Though the fring was in clear vio-
lation of the Labor Action Plan, nothing was done
to make the company comply. Fines for retaliatory
fring were issued, but there was no mechanism to
make the company pay them.
Many of the problems port worker face frst
began with the privatization of the ports, which
led to a systematic dismantling of labor rights in-
cluding increased use of temporary agencies to
contract workers and the proliferation of so-called
workers collectives. These collectives, a mis-
leading name, force workers to take responsibility
for labor rights instead of the company. A similar
problem is companies creating subsidiary shell
companies such as Simplifed Stock Companies.
These third party agencies employ workers so that
the company itself doesnt have to provide them
with rights or benefts.
One of the efects of privatization was
mass staf cutting. For example, the men assigned
to loading and unloading sugar bags (one of the
most physically demanding and strenuous activi-
ties in the port since the bags are extremely heavy)
was cut from eight to four men. The result was that
workers began to sufer 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 inter-
national 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 compli-
ance to these agreements.
Page 7
Page 8
Danelly Bantu of Buenaventura PCN (middle)
with delegation co-leader Julia Duranti (left) and
Harrison (right), also a PCN activist
Procesos de Comunidades Negras
cal government have declared the area a high-risk
zone for possible tsunamis and fooding and called
for an evacuation. Bantu believes that this designa-
tion is just an excuse to clear the area for the build-
ing 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 with-
out meeting any of the international standards that
have to be complied with such as community con-
sultation. 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 displace-
ment and increased violence. It can also lead to
social breakdown including increased prevalence
of drug use and prostitution, and undermine tradi-
tional authorities in the communities. The chemi-
cals used in the aerial sprayings can also have irre-
versible efects on crops. Bantu said that fumigation
in reality has little to do with eradicating coca but
rather is a deliberate strategy to displace communi-
ties 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.
After hearing from Jhon Jairo, Danelly Ban-
tu 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 Afro-
Colombian ancestral lands. Many of these lands are
coveted by armed actors, multinationals and agro-
industries. As a result, Afro-Colombians are dispro-
portionately afected by the armed confict, and are
subjected to high rates of displacements and mas-
sacres.
Bantu gave the group a detailed list of the
efects of the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement
on Afro-Colombian communities. Central among
these efects 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 infra-
structure 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 struc-
tures are held above the ocean on stilts and are
part of ancestral practice since the people have
historically depended upon the sea. For example,
fshing 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 fsh and to sustain their nuclear fami-
lies 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-
Barrio San Jose, Buenaventura
The historic Afro-Colombian area of San
Jose was the frst 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 addi-
tion 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
fed out of fear for their lives and later returned to
found that their houses had been completely de-
stroyed.
The community has also been subjected to
various forms of threats and psychological intimi-
dations. For example, they have been threatened
with demolitions. Companies set dates for when
theyre going to come in and raze 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
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 of 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 se-
curity, 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 ofered a
compromise whereby a signifcant part of the land
is given over for development. Their proposal, how-
ever, has been rejected. A community spokesper-
son said: Were not opposed to their development
as long as it doesnt impede our own. If were per-
mitted to stay in our community and have our tra-
ditional ways of life theres not a problem for them
to be building their dock. But it has to be an inclu-
sive project.
The mayor, despite himself being an Afro-
Colombian, 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 eforts to compromise, the mayor
has refused to bend from his position on the ex-
pansion 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 fshing and harvest-
ing shellfsh is refected in the style of their homes
Page 9
San Antonio Relocation Project
The flming project continues with Rachel Dickson
interviewing residents from San Antonio
Page 10
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 re-settle 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 be-
ing 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 impos-
sible.
However, others are strongly critical of the
situation, citing poor construction of the houses
and lack of consideration of Afro-Colombia cus-
toms. One of our guides said: One of the issues is
that the government really didnt take into consid-
eration the diferent social conditions of diferent
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 fve or six kids and in these small
houses it makes it very difcult for them to live dig-
nifed 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 every-
thing in the next room.
Another example of this is the location that
was chosen, which is far from the ocean and there-
fore robbing the community of access to their tra-
ditional 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 guaran-
tees. He said: What you see here is the example of
what the government is trying to show you all: the
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 com-
munity. So what the government is saying is still full
of lies.
San Antonio was intended to be a perma-
nent resettlement solution and it is probably too
early to say whether the residents are better of re-
housed. But the sitution of San Jose and San Anto-
nio shows clearly how Afro-Colombians in the re-
gion are afected by corporate expansion. In 2012,
the same year that the FTA went into efect, 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.
Sugarcane Cutters Morning Visit
cifc rights, a labor code and a ministry of labor. But
they said of the situation: 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 increas-
ingly afected 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 De-
cember, yet had been unable to see a specialist; a
testimony to the fact that Colombias wave of pri-
vatization has spread to the healthcare sector.
The delegates woke up early to meet sugar-
cane cutters before they set of 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 signifcant
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 strug-
gle 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 prob-
lems they faced in their work. For example, cane
cutters work long, gruelling hours with no fxed
salary and little chance for rest. One of the work-
ers we met with said: We might leave to start work
at 4.40 or 3.40 to go into the feld 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 ex-
hausting and sometimes we fall asleep in our chairs
while were trying to have dinner.
In addition to having no fxed salary they
also have no fxed schedule, so their work hours
vary enormously according to production needs.
One workers said: We dont have a fxed hour be-
cause 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 on
how much the company wants, what the produc-
tion 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 (about $17).
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 provi-
sions of the LAP; for example by creating shell com-
panies with new legal classifcations and new iden-
tities to directly contract the workers. On paper
they have the freedom to join a union an indefnite
contract but since employment is through a sec-
ondary shell company, the employer is shielded
from any challenge to its labor record. They added
how the Colombian constitution established spe-
Cedano (right) is the president of the Valle de
Cauca chapter of the Sintracatorce union
Page 11
Sugarcane-cutters Conference
Page 12
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 sugarcane-cutters in Valle de
Cauca signed a resolution denouncing labor abus-
es in the sector and agreeing to seven recommen-
dations for action.
Leaders of the four unions (Sintracatorce,
Sintrainagro, Sinaltrainal and Sintracaazucol)
were each given 20 minutes 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 staf, their leaders submitted the
joint document which is hoped to be used for ad-
vocacy 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 any-
thing. 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 accom-
panied the continued use of third party contract-
ing. He said: Even though indirect contracts were
banned companies will just fat out say to adminis-
trative labor that theyre not going to pay the fnes
and they cant make them. And the government
lets that happen.
The resolution also denounced new forms
of third-party contracting such as the prolifera-
tion of Simplifed Stock Companies (SAS), ignoring
or redefning what constitutes permanent essen-
tial work related to production, and the formation
of in-house yellow unions. Another method that
companies have used to get around direct con-
tracts is the formation of so-called worker coop-
eratives; a misnomer in which workers are said to
be autonomous but in actuality end up worse of in
terms of salary, benefts and conditions.
Sinaltrainal leader Oscar Bedoya said: Law
50 led to the formation of worker cooperatives.
Large unions really sufered for that and workers
went from having direct contracts with the com-
panies to being part of these worker cooperatives
and remained in this condition of being indirectly
contracted.
The speakers also addressed the issue of
pay. According to Sintracaazucol leader Yermi Mi-
colta, 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 frings that continue in the sec-
tor. He said that the Providencia company fred
nine workers just for attending a union meeting
and that the Manuelita company fred 19 members
of his union in what he says was a deliberate efort
to weaken organizing eforts. Sintracotarce also
had mass frings of its members from the San Car-
los company this year, with over 300 workers losing
their job because of their union afliation.
He spoke in strong terms about the multi-
ple failures of the Labor Action Plan. He said: Even
though the government did create a Ministry of La-
bor, a group which was supposed to be monitoring
and going after third party contracting in Colom-
bia, 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.
Leaders of the Sintrainagro, Sintracatorce, Sinal-
trainal and Sintracaazucol sign the resolution
Page 13
Afro-Colombian Community of
La Toma, Suarez
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 confict
and with economic forces trying to control their
land.
After enjoying a performance from the
communitys traditional musical group, the delega-
tion 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 Pro-
cesos de Comunidades Negras (PCN).
During the administration of former Presi-
dent lvaro Uribe, the mining sector was declared
an engine for development by the government.
Since then over 40% of Cauca has been solicited
by or conceded to mining interests. Despite a le-
gal framework that protects rights to ancestral
land, multinational investors have begun com-
mercialized 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 large-scale mining operations.
The group heard frsthand the extent of dis-
placement facing the people of La Toma. One com-
munity member said: Only about 70% of La Toma
is still here. About 30% is foating around Cali or
other cities. Staying in the area is essential for the
community to continue its traditional ways of sub-
sistence, especially artisanal mining. For members
of the La Toma community, leaving for life in the
cities 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 confict which is increasingly
being used as a mechanism for multinational cor-
porations and other business interests to acquire
land. One La Toma resident said: We dont see real
protection coming from those groups and if any-
thing were more victimized by them. And theyll
come in and intimidate people in the community
so that we abandon our territories. One mans wife
had been disappeared because Illicit crop eradica-
tion further fuels the communitys problems. The
community said that the strategy displaces people
because any land in which there is illicit crops is a
justifcation for militarization, which powerful eco-
nomic interests beneft from.
Another example of corporate encroach-
ment into the La Toma communitys way of life was
the building of a dam. The dam interfered with the
communitys ancestral mining practices. One com-
munity member said: Rivers are central; rivers are
life. And theyre the source of all of our activities.
And so having the rivers re-routed 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 activ-
ist for womens issues in the community said: Their
operations are contaminating the river. You can
see that the fsh are sick People are drinking water
that comes from that river and theyre experiencing
health efects, 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 human rights organizations
such as yours here today, 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.
A band from La Toma performs music traditional
to Afro-Colombian communities in the region
Community Alternatives -
Comit de Integracin de Macizo
On the fnal day of the delegation the group
met with three organizations to discuss community
alternatives to the neoliberal development model.
We frst heard from Comit de Integracin de Ma-
cizo (CIMA), a social and civic organization based
in Popayan that works for regional integration,
development and a more dignifed 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 domi-
nance of multinational corporations in the region.
For instance, it is developing an economic proposal
for productive autonomy. Central to this proposal
is an attempt to counter regional communities
dependence on multinationals by producing fer-
tilizers locally, rather than relying on the power of
corporations to produce fertilizers and agro-chem-
icals. It proposes an efort for communities to pro-
duce their own organic fertilizers with patents stay-
ing within the community rather than being held
by multinationals. In addition to this, CIMA holds
community exchanges in which diferent com-
munities meet and share knowledge and also ex-
change 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 people in Cauca
have been afected 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 help-
ing 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 specif-
cally about women. According to CIMA, almost 50%
of homicides against women take place in Cauca.
The organization is concerned that the govern-
ment does not pay sufcient attention to violence
against women in the area and has worked to raise
consciousness about sexual violence, domestic vio-
lence and inter-family violence.
CIMA believes that one of the most pro-
found 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 is a big problem. For many people in the re-
gion 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
ofer them any sort alternatives like irrigation infra-
structure. So people turn to coca.
Promoting food security has become a cen-
tral focus of CIMAs work. We heard how the U.S. Co-
lombia free trade agreement poses a serious threat
to food security as Colombian farmers cant com-
pete with cheap imports from larger, more techno-
logically advanced and subsidised U.S. exporters.
Page 14
Marcela (left), an activist with CIMA, talks to the
group about her organizations with in the region
Marcela, from CIMA, discusses her involvement
Page 15
MCC member Herman discusses problems in the
region such as anti-union intimidation
Also in the community alternatives meet-
ing, 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 efects
of multinational agrobusiness, monocultures, FTAs
and the armed confict on small farming communi-
ties.
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, ag-
gressively pursuading new workers to not join and
witholding pay in an attempt to weaken organized
labor.
The group heard testimony from an activ-
ist with MCC called Herman who worked for sev-
eral years at a fower 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 ffty 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
refected greatly in the lives of the workers. They
havent been paying us all our wages. The compa-
ny just hasn;t been complying with what it is sup-
posed to do.
Community Alternatives -
Movimiento Campesino de Cajibio
Hermans words highlighted the problem
between image and reality with regard to multina-
tional 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 eforts 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 (campes-
inos) by the economic situation in Colombia. She
said: Most campesinos in Cajibio are not living a
dignifed life. They are living very much on the mar-
gins because there are not adequate conditions
for them to plant food crops and strengthen local
economies or to support themselves of of their
crops. She added: Cajibio is a very strong city that
has a history of resistance and of social organiza-
tion but its been hit really hard by all of these fac-
tors.
As a result of these problems, many small-
scale 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.
Page 16
Community Alternatives - Comisin
Intereclesial de Justicia y Paz
Comisin Intereclesial de Justicia y Paz
(JyP) is a human rights organization that supports
community processes and organizations in com-
munities comprised of Afro descendants, mestizos
and indigenous people. It promotes and supports
non-violent action in areas of armed confict, truth
verifcation missions, struggles for justice and rep-
aration, and a negotiated political solution to the
ongoing Colombian internal confict. The group
has also worked for environmental causes such as
fghting the negative consequences of palm oil
production in Colombia, which in recent years has
become a signifcant problem.
JyP has worked extensively on behalf of
people who have been displaced from their land
and has 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 indig-
enous peoples and the Afro-Colombia community
of Kilometer 9. We heard how it conducted similar
accompaniment work such as working with rela-
tives of victims in utilizing the legal system, con-
tacting elected ofcials and campaigning in the
public sphere.
One of our hosts said: Within our accom-
paniment we support as an organization these
communities so that they can strengthen their de-
mands and their advocacy work to the government
in order to defend their rights. We also do legal ac-
companiment for people who have been forcibly
JyP activist Gloria (left), talks to the group
displaced and who have been victims of paramili-
tary structures in our department.
She added: We also provide accompani-
ment to victims of the public forces and the army
who do extra-judicial activities. We have court cas-
es 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 difculties
in conducting its work from various sections includ-
ing 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 re-victimized 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 of-
fce should be doing.
As part of their ecological mission, JyP helps
communities to develop sustainable life proposals
such as creating collectives for biodiversity, mak-
ing proposals to protect the ecology and develop-
ing protective mechanisms to protect their water
sources. These protections have the added advan-
tage of serving as mechainisms against the armed
actors present in these zones since deliniating ter-
ritories dissuades the army, paramilitaries or guer-
rillas from entering.
JyP take the position that popular dissatis-
faction 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 confict has intensi-
fed in recent years since the entry into force of the
free trade agreements with the United States and
Canada.
Page 17
Totorro Trau Misak
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 ex-
celled in other areas such as utilizing traditional an-
cestral 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 afects
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 ag-
riculture behind and instead become consumers.
And this has a huge impact on our political organi-
zational 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 difculty maintaining its production in
diverse areas including growing potatoes, cultivat-
ing herbs and producing milk. Compounding these
problems are the fertilizers and pesticides that are
introduced by big agriculture. This technology is
costly and therefore difcult to access.
One of the central criticisms of the U.S. Co-
lombia free trade agreement is the inbuilt advan-
tage 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
products from the outside invading the less domi-
nant country at lower prices. One of our hosts said:
This is very worrisome for our families here.
Another criticism that community leaders
brought up in our meeting is that free trade agree-
ments 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. govern-
ment, giving a huge inbuilt advantage. These fac-
tors 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 fooding 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 tradi-
tional farming methods, and thereby making the
cheap imported versions of these products from
large agro-businesses the only products available.
The community operates in a very tradition-
al, 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 Totor-
ros 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.
Page 18
Conclusion
The fndings 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 vul-
nerable 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 viablil-
ity of traditional small-scall farming. We heard from
the Afro-Colombia and indigenous communities
how multinational interests are pushing them of
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 phe-
nomena that may not be directly tied to the free
trade agreement but illustrate how Colombia was
already sufering from aggressive corporate exploi-
tation well before the FTA became law. These fnd-
ings were signifcant because the free trade agree-
ment 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 neolib-
eral economic policies of the Colombian govern-
ment. The strike started as a peasant uprising in ru-
ral 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 efort to bring
the country to a standstill.
The escalation of the national paro was
met with a brutal counterofensive. After initially
refusing to recognize that a strike was taking place,
President Juan Manuel Santos deployed an addi-
tional 16,000 military personnel and militarized Co-
lombias capital city, Bogota.
Reports quickly emerged of widespread
abuse by police, military and other state actors.
Human rights organization Bayaca reported shoot-
ings, torture, tear-gassing, arbitrary arrests and
even cases of sexual assault. Neil Martin from the
Bogota-based labor rights organization PASO In-
ternational said: Human rights organizations and
YouTube videos have documented military person-
nel beating protestors, stealing supplies, carrying
out vandalism, making arbitrary arrests and gen-
erally inciting violence. As is usual in the govern-
ments 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 ex-
porters are susidized by the U.S. government to
the tune of $24 billion per year, leading to an un-
fair 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 Uni-
versity 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 Co-
lombians 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 19
tors, especially Colombian farmers,were motivated
by fears of the threat posed to Colombias food se-
curity by the FTA. If foreign exporters achieve mar-
ket saturation and wipe out domestic producers,
the country will be more dependent on, and hence
more subservient to, the United States. Similar con-
cerns are that the FTA will leave them more vulner-
able to market fuctuations 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 delega-
tion, 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 Co-
lombia to investigate the efectiveness of the Labor
Action Plan. After a busy schedule meeting with
workers, union leaders and labor lawyers over sev-
eral 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 oppo-
nents of the U.S.-Colombia FTA, released a report
indentifying the central problems with the LAP. The
report stated that indirect employment is perva-
sive and growing, that the system of inspection
and regulation is inefectual 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 re-
maining 14 million workers lack the most basic la-
bor rights, such as the right to organize.
The report pointed specifcally to third-
party 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 investi-
gation that there has been a huge proliferation of
contracts with yellow unions which the delega-
tion had heard about during our meetings with the
sugarcane unions. These bogus unions are formed
by the companies themselves in order to fout em-
ployer responsibilities enshrined in Colombian la-
bor law, such as social security, health and pension
payments, by making the union responsible for
those [Link] report found that these set-
ups 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 es-
tablished by the Labor Action Plan. The LAP estab-
lished the creation of around 100 to enforce fnes
for labor violations and perform check-ups on em-
ployers. The government purports that this fgure
has risen and will be close to a thousand in 2014,
but the report states that the inspectors creden-
tials are in question and that they were hired from
within an existing civil service program.
It found that even when violations were ac-
tually identifed there was no evidence that puni-
tive measures were being taken efectively. Though
$73 million worth of fnes have been imposed on
employers, none of this money has ever been col-
lected. The report gave specifc examples of failure
to collect fnes, with one example showing that
aggressive anti-union tactics are used even when
abusers have been identifed. The report stated:
Large-scale fnes 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 fee the area either
from threats of violence or due to blacklists.
The reports fndings confrmed earlier in-
vestigations within Colombia. During an interview
at the site of Rubiales oilfeld in Meta, Senator Alex-
ander Lopez spoke of similar investigations he has
done into the Labor Action Plan. He said: My ofce
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 efective. The action plan was
an excuse to sign the free trade agreement with the
argument that were going to improve the condi-
tions of Colombian workers but the exact oppo-
site has happened. The work conditions here have
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.
Page 20
During the next month of November a new
round of protests broke out over the governments
attempt to further privatize the countrys health-
care system. The move was widely seen as a brazen
attempt to further strip down the the social func-
tions 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 anti-
democratic and designed to open up Colombias
healthcare system to profteering from multina-
tional 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 be-
lieve that if there is no gain for the fnancial capital,
then it is impossible to do anything in the world.
They cant conceive of a world in which every sec-
tor of the state does not pay a toll to the fnancial
capital.
But 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 be-
ing signed between Colombia and other jurisdic-
tions. Just as the delegation was starting in August,
the FTA that Colombia had signed with the Euro-
pean Union, one of the largest trade blocs in the
world, came into efect. The agreement was herald-
ed by the EU as an opportunity to bring measur-
able benefts 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 hu-
man rights protections, respect for international
labor standards, a framework for environmental
protection and juridical stability.
But critics such as Alexander Lopez have al-
ready pointed to signifcant problems. He said dur-
ing 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 Co-
lombia 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-Pana-
ma 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 viola-
tors, Israel, a country with which Colombia has long
had military connections. The agreement includes
clauses to reduce tarifs on agricultural and indus-
trial products traded between the two countries.
But most worrying are concerns that the
agreement will facilitate further military coordi-
nation. 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-ofensive 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
ofensives, with catastrophic human rights conse-
quences. Tellingly, Israeli President Shimon Peres
said to President Santos during his recent state visit
to Isreal: Your visit will provide a renewed push to
bilateral cooperation on security, science, technol-
ogy 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 world-
wide trade agreement called the Trans-Pacifc Part-
nership Agreement. Together they make up almost
40% of the global economy and one third of inter-
national 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 Co-
lombia may also enter into discussions. Colombia is
already a member of a similar international agree-
ment, and precursor to the TPPA, the Pacifc Alli-
ance, which also includes Chile, Mexico and Peru.
Many of the regions leaders have already publicly
denounced the alliance. Former Brazilian President
Lula Da Silva said that it is an attempt to bring the
Washington Concensus back to the continent, Bo-
livian President Evo Morales accused the alliance of
being a conspiracy to weaken the UNASUR nations
and Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa stated that
its intension is to created cosumers not citizens.
There will likely be increasing pressure for
Colombia and other Latin American countries to
enter the TPPA as this unprecedented global trade
pact becomes an ever closer reality.
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. mili-
tarization on the Colombian confict . 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 Free-
man, published October 29, 2013 at Colombia Reports
Colombias free trade pact with EU comes into force by Marcus Sales, published August 1, 2013 at Colom-
bia 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 Diferent Order: The Growing Resistance to the Trans-Pacifc 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