In Colombia, according to the last report of DANE, which is the agency responsible for statistics in the country, unemployment has increased to 11.5%. This means that in Colombia there are about 2.5 million unemployed. Likewise, exports to Ecuador and Venezuela, which represent 50% of general exports, have decreased significantly. Recently, we might have gotten to 10% in exports, and this is mostly to Ecuador. It's a simple equation. Our exports to other countries have stayed about the same as before, while during the last year what we sent to Venezuela and Ecuador decreased significantly. This has greatly increased unemployment.
In addition, they are expelling Colombians from Venezuela. In fact, they expelled 400 people from the border area, and every day there is violence against Colombians in Venezuela. This has caused many Colombians residing in Venezuela to return home. That contributes to unemployment in our country, and violence in Colombia has increased. The increase hasn't been great, but it can be attributed to unemployment in the cities and in the countryside. We can see no solidarity whatever with the U.S.
We urge the Canadian government, which is in favour of the free trade agreement, to approve the agreement as quickly as possible so we can proceed with exporting our products to your country.
Thank you.