Buenaventura will suffer from US-Colombia FTA: NGO

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Colombia Reports

Buenaventura will suffer from US-Colombia FTA: NGO
Wednesday, 07 September 2011 18:09 Travis Mannon

The people of Buenaventura, Colombia's most important port city, will most likely suffer from the passage of the free trade agreement (FTA) between the United States and Colombia, according to a human rights NGO.

A Senior Associate for Colombia from the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), Gimena Sanchez-Garzoli, explained that passing the FTA would have devastating effects on the port city. "The FTA may only exacerbate the inequality and poverty in Colombian municipalities like Buenaventura," said Sanchez.

Sanchez told Colombia Reports that the FTA will "help consolidate a labor structure that is already in place that doesn't allow people to freely associate and unionize."

According to the human rights activist, the Colombian Port Authority was privatized in 1994 and replaced by the Regional Port Society of Buenaventura. The private port authority hires workers from individual contractors and associative labor cooperatives (CTA), which allow them to hire workers without offering them contracts or benefits.

Read more: http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/18845-buenaventura-will-suffer-from-us-colombia-fta-ngo.html

[Fokker Trip]

1. Ahh. Lovely privatization.

Everything that's privatized costs more and produces less good for every dollar spent on it. The filthy Right Wing at it again.

[yngdip]

2. FTA will be a disaster for Afro-Colombians

Buenaventura, and her sister cities throughout Colombia with significant Afro-Colombian communities, will bear the brunt of any trade agreement signed between the US and Colombia. Human rights defenders have documented violations by armed groups and multi-national corporations against Afro-Colombians in Buenaventura consistently in recent years. Heavily impacted by forced displacement in the region, Buenaventura and other port cities require support for domestic economic development, formalized labor options for workers currently employed in the country's growing Associative Labor Cooperatives (CTAs) and greater attention paid to the root causes of violence and displacement aimed at Afro-Colombians.

For more information visit organizations who work in solidarity for the human rights of Afro-Colombian, Indigenous and laborers including www.transafrica.org