Elections Revamp Trade Agenda

The November congressional elections are expected to delay if not kill Congressional approval of more Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), including an agreement with Colombia officially signed the day before Thanksgiving. Democratic leaders have stated that pending FTAs would have to be renegotiated to include enforceable worker rights conditions, which have been opposed by the Bush Administration.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe flew to Washington in November in a failed effort to persuade Congressional Democrats to permit a vote on the Colombian agreement, arguing that murders of trade unionists were sharply down. His stated figure of 13 to date contradicted the "over 55" murders that his own government was simultaneously reporting to a USLEAP delegation in Colombia. Colombian trade unions and NGOs report a number of over 70 assassinations as of early December, exceeding the pace set in 2005.

USLEAP issued a press release rebutting President Uribe's claims, stating that he was either misleading the US Congress or didn't care enough about the issue to check with his own people. In addition to the continuing high level of murders, the Colombian government has made no discernable progress on impunity in the past year.