I would like to repeat my thanks to this committee of the Canadian Parliament for the hospitality you have extended to us, the chance to share with you our points of view on a topic as important as the possibility of a free trade agreement between Canada and Colombia.
Firstly, I would like to explain to you that I belong to the Alternative Democratic Pole, a Colombian party that since its birth has made it perfectly clear that it does not support nor sponsor nor participate in any way in the armed struggle, much less in any way justify abominable acts such as kidnapping. It would seem that in a discussion on these matters of trade, beginning with this might be too much. But in the case of Colombia, I feel that it is not, because it is good to make clear that in Colombia there are not two positions in the political struggle, that of the government and that of the armed forces, but rather three positions—even more, I would say—in these matters of Colombian political life.
Secondly, I would also like to point out that the Alternative Democratic Pole on principle considers it a positive thing for the peoples of the world to relate to one another economically in many ways, and that we also do not have a position against international economic treaties. Nor are we in principle against the importing of goods or exporting of goods and services. We also feel it could be desirable to have foreign investment in the territory of Colombia. All of this is of course provided that a series of conditions are met in those economic exchanges that ensure reciprocal benefit for the various parties involved in those economic exchanges.
Thirdly, I would like to point out that from our point of view, the Democratic Party in the United States is completely correct, as expressed both in the U.S. Congress and by the government itself, that the government of Colombia, the government presided over by Álvaro Uribe Vélez, does not stand up to serious scrutiny with regard to its respect for and attitude towards human rights in Colombia.
It is common knowledge that our country is one of the most dangerous, or probably the most dangerous, in the world for union activity. The number of trade unionists killed is extremely high. In the government there is also a fairly high number. There are serious problems also with respect to the position of the national government concerning the investigations brought by the Supreme Court of Justice against parapolitics. Parapolitics is a term used in our country to refer to the ties between senior political leaders in Colombia and the paramilitary criminal organizations. In at least 80% of cases—and we are talking about dozens of cases—these ties involve senior officials from the parties that are part of the coalition government of Álvaro Uribe Vélez.
In light of more recent events in our country, the U.S. Congress considers the conduct or explanations of the Government of Colombia to be insufficient. These events are referred to in our country as “false positives”. A “positive” in military jargon is an enemy who dies in combat. A false positive arises when a person who is not involved in the war is killed, so that he can be portrayed as a guerrilla fallen in combat, and we are talking about youths from the shanty towns of Colombia. I do not want to go into detail about these events that are so painful and tragic in the life of our country, but what is certain is that we think--as, I repeat, most of the U.S. Congress thinks—that the government of Álvaro Uribe Vélez does not stand up to the scrutiny that it should under such circumstances.
I can understand there are governments in the world that have the right to decide they are not going to take such matters into account when it comes to business, because they think business is business, right? And that is a position a government may assume. However, of course, what I cannot in any way condone is the attempt to say that in Colombia, this test of democratic guarantees for trade unionists, workers, and citizens stands up to objective analysis. Because if such guarantees were put to the test, they would fail miserably.
Nor can it be said that free trade will facilitate the search for peace that is urgently required by our country. In the case of Colombia, specifically of Colombia, we can demonstrate that many of the free trade policies applied in Colombia, beginning with the World Trade Organization agreements, have caused enormous harm to the national economy. As a single example, Colombia was a self-sufficient country in agricultural production—in food production—until 1990, and now we are importing eight million tonnes of food. These imports are of course ruining our businesses, leaving our farm workers without jobs, and also ruining our rural inhabitants and indigenous peoples, many of whom, even if they do not want to do so, are forced by free trade and the destruction of their economies to devote themselves to crops such as cocoa, for example. This, in one way or another, expands the power of drug trafficking, and causes them to become prisoners in a way to the horrors of violence in our country. I am not of those who believe that poverty alone justifies violence, but I do believe that poverty is a breeding ground for violence, and we can show over and over again that in the case of Colombia, free trade inevitably generates poverty.
In the end, in our case, even if there were no violence, there are also no guarantees for our trade unionists. One can show that neither the laws of Colombia nor the government’s interpretation of them favours truly democratic union practices. Organization is impossible in many circumstances. Collective bargaining is denied on many occasions, as is the right to strike, and this obviously negatively affects the defence of labour rights.
Lastly, I would say that I can understand that some national areas in Canada will benefit quite a bit from the free trade agreement, as in the case of Colombia. But I can assure you that the Colombian people will lose a lot. I also think that free trade is not positive for the Canadian people in the medium and long term. I fear that if this continues, Canada will experience loss at some point, such as in its social security system, which today is an example to the world. I think that the world crisis we are experiencing today is also a crisis of free trade and of these policies that adversely affect not only Colombia but all the world’s people.
I therefore hope that the Canadian Parliament will not approve the free trade agreement that has been signed by the two governments, and that we can find a more democratic--and I would say more civilized--means for Canada and Colombia to establish the best possible economic and trade relations.
Thank you very much.