No Free Trade While Colombian Death Squads Roam

The AFL-CIO has urged Congress to block a free trade pact with Colombia until that country shows progress in prosecuting paramilitary death squads responsible for the murders of some 4,000 trade union officers since the 1980s. The paramilitaries, founded by landowners to "control crime" in rural parts of the country, are funded primarily by drug-traffickers. Only one person has been convicted in the 2004-2006 murders of 236 trade unionists. Since the killings began in the 1980s – involving over 20,000 union members, political leaders, educators, and others – there have been just 31 convictions.

Recent news tying U.S. corporations and allies of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to the death squads has raised concern in Congress. In March, the U.S-owned Chiquita Brands plead guilty to making payoffs to the paramilitaries, and Coca Cola is being sued for being complicit in the 1996 murder of a union leader. More recently, 8 Colombian congressmen with close ties to Uribe were arrested and charged with working with the squads and smuggling cocaine.