Senator John McCain visited Colombia this month. At issue is the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and Plan Colombia, the multi-billion dollar, U.S.-backed, drug eradication effort designed to halt coca production and end cocaine shipments. TransAfrica urges the 2008 presidential candidates, as well as all U.S. policy makers, to reject the FTA and encourages them to discard the failed Plan Colombia policy.

SUMMARY: The proposed U.S.-Colombia FTA will increase the rights of corporations under Colombian law while increasing food and job instability within Colombia. In light of Colombia’s flagrant human rights record, and in response to mounting pressure by human rights and labor organizations, the United States Congress has delayed consideration of the FTA. The ongoing conflict in Colombia pits the U.S.-funded Colombian military, and its paramilitary allies, against leftist guerrilla groups, and civilians are often caught in the crossfire. A disproportionate number of these civilians are Afro-descendants, who make up over 26% of Colombia’s population. During a week-long visit to Colombia in February 2008, TransAfrica Forum staff talked extensively with Afro-Colombian civil society organizations and learned the following:

• The proposed U.S.-Colombia FTA would further legitimize various laws in Colombia that directly undermine Afro-Colombian rights and security. The Colombian government has put laws into place, in anticipation of the FTA, to attract investment and dismantle these constitutionally protected, legal rights. FTA investment rules will make it too costly to reverse these legal reforms.
• Increasingly, Afro-Colombians are being forcibly removed from their resource rich, constitutionally protected, territorial lands. These lands are being appropriated for the cultivation of monoculture crops (such as African Palm Oil, sugarcane and pepper) that contribute to environmental degradation, devastate local food production and increase food insecurity. Afro-Colombian Community Councils located in the southern Pacific region have been expressing their opposition to monoculture crop cultivation, which has caused them to be permanently harassed by armed groups in the area.
• Plan Colombia has had adverse impacts on Afro-Colombians. The Plan includes the aerial and forced manual eradication of coca crops and exposes food crops, water sources and civilians to harsh and dangerous herbicides. While a mechanism exists for compensation for wrongfully sprayed crops, the dispersal of these reparations has been minimal to date.
• The FTA would harm Afro-Colombian workers. Colombia is the most dangerous country in the world for union and labor organizers. Afro-Colombian union leadership comprises a disproportionate number of union murders annually. The government has demonstrated little will to promote the labor laws and policies which are necessary for the full exercise of international core labor rights.

Passing the FTA will intensify the systematic oppression and exclusion of Afro-Colombians and reinforce the Colombian government’s ability to maintain the status quo. From December 2007 to June 2008, Afro-Colombian communities have been increasingly terrorized by armed groups in the form of constant threats, civil society harassment, control over transportation corridors, food blockades, the censoring of organizational activities, and selective assassinations.

ACTION: Based on these findings, and its determination to stand in solidarity with Afro-Colombian civil society, TransAfrica recommends you call your senators and congressperson at the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 and urge them to:

• Stand firm in opposition to the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement until there is document evidence that:
  • The government of Colombia has followed its own law (Law 70, The Law of Black Communities, 1993), which requires previous consultation with affected communities and participatory approaches in creating development plans.
  • The government of Colombia, as is required by its national laws, recognizes and respects Afro-Colombian bodies of representation as established and recognized under Law 70.
• Call for an investigation of the recent resurgence of attacks on Afro-Colombian civil society leaders and labor organizers by paramilitary and guerrilla groups. The intimidation of grassroots leaders must cease and perpetrators of attacks and extrajudicial killings must be brought to adequate justice under the law.
  • Oppose continued U.S. government funding for military operations in Colombia carried out by U.S. or Colombian governments or private military contractors and redirect those funds toward programs that promote economic and social development.

The United States must hold the Colombian government accountable for not delivering on its promises to do more to protect Afro-Colombians and other vulnerable citizens and for persecuting those responsible for committing crimes against humanity. Without this commitment, the United States sends a clear signal that it tolerates these abuses and condones repression of the same democratic ideals it claims to uphold.

TransAfrica Forum is the leading U.S. advocacy organization for Africa and the African Diaspora in U.S. foreign policy. TransAfrica Forum helped lead the world protest against apartheid in South Africa and today works for human and economic justice for African people on the continent of Africa, in Latin America and in the Caribbean. Contact us: TransAfrica Forum, 1629 K Street, N.W., Suite 1100, Washington, D.C., 2006, 202-223-1960, www.transafricaforum.org.