Fall 2009

President Manuel Zelaya, ousted in a coup in June, returned to Honduras on September 21, 2009, after this article was written, taking refuge in the Brazilian embassy.  The coup government in Honduras has responded with violence against his supporters; the situation was deteriorating as we went to press on September 22.

A new report released in late September by USLEAP shows that the Colombian government made virtually no progress in 2008 in addressing impunity for violence against trade unionists.   In 2008, the Colombian government produced sentences in the cases of assassinations of 49 trade unionists.

Members of all of the affiliate unions of the Coordination of Latin American Banana and Agro-industrial Unions (COLSIBA) met in Peru from August 4-8, 2009 to reaffirm the driving mission of the organization and to define new lines of actions for the next two years.  

The experience of Guatemalan and U.S. labor unions with the first labor complaint filed under the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) has amply demonstrated CAFTA’s inability to provide effective protections for worker rights.

The Obama Administration continues to send mixed signals about how soon and how hard it will push for approval of pending Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) negotiated during the Bush Administration.