As Oil Money Flowed, Clinton Turned Back on Rights Abuses in Colombia: Report

[Judi Lynn]

As Oil Money Flowed, Clinton Turned Back on Rights Abuses in Colombia: Report

Published on Thursday, April 09, 2015

by Common Dreams

'This much is clear: After millions of dollars were pledged by the oil company to the Clinton Foundation, Secretary Clinton abruptly changed her position on the controversial U.S.-Colombia trade pact.'

by Deirdre Fulton, staff writer

A new investigative look at the ties between big business interests in Colombia, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and her family's charitable foundation are raising troubling questions about the role that corporate trade deals and big oil may have played in softening the powerful Democrat's position on human rights in the South American country.

During her time heading the State Department, presumptive 2016 presidential nominee Clinton stayed silent on reports of violence and threats against labor activists in Colombia, even as her family's "global philanthropic empire" was developing—and benefiting from—private business ties with a major oil corporation accused of worker-intimidation in the country, according to new reporting published Thursday by International Business Times.

In addition, the IBT investigation shows that after millions of dollars were pledged by the oil company to the Clinton Foundation, Clinton reversed her position on a U.S.-Colombia trade pact she had previously opposed on the grounds that it was bad for labor rights.

As IBT journalists Matthew Cunningham-Cook, Andrew Perez, and David Sirota report:

At the same time that Clinton's State Department was lauding Colombia's human rights record, her family was forging a financial relationship with Pacific Rubiales, the sprawling Canadian petroleum company at the center of Colombia’s labor strife. The Clintons were also developing commercial ties with the oil giant's founder, Canadian financier Frank Giustra, who now occupies a seat on the board of the Clinton Foundation, the family’s global philanthropic empire.

More:
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/04/09/oil-money-flowed-clinton-turned-back-rights-abuses-colombia-report

Good reads:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1016119784

[OBblueMeanie]

1. Well

You can always vote Republican (eyeroll)

[Judi Lynn]

2. She was a campaign worker for Barry Goldwater, during her "yout' ". Disappointing. n/t

[leftofcool]

3. Another anti-Hillary thread good for trashing.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Don't expect Democrats who watch Latin American policy to support ANTI-LatAm PEOPLE policy. n/t

[Judi Lynn]

5. Clinton changed stance on Colombia trade deal after receiving oil money: Report

Clinton changed stance on Colombia trade deal after receiving oil money: Report
Apr 10, 2015 posted by Talor Gruenwald

Former United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ended opposing a free trade agreement with Colombia after the largest private oil company operating in the South American country pledged $100 million to the Clinton Foundation, according to The International Business Times.

Clinton initially opposed the deal while running for president in 2008, but changed her position in 2011 as Secretary of State after Frank Giustra, the Canadian founder of Pacific Rubiales, pledged to donate to the Clinton Foundation.

The pledge came at a time when Pacific Rubiales was being lambasted for their involvement in an effort to suppress a strike among workers of Pacific Rubiales. To end the strike, the Colombian military allegedly threatened the workers with violence if they failed to disperse.

Additionally, Colombia’s largest oil union, the USO, at the time was reporting death threats from a paramilitary group.
Surprisingly, the US State Department subsequently praised the human rights record of Colombia despite the recent events, stating that the “Colombian government continues to make progress on improving respect for human rights, both within the Armed Forces and in Colombia at large.”

More:
http://colombiareports.co/clinton-changed-stance-on-colombia-trade-deal-after-receiving-oil-money-report/