US and Colombia need fair trade, not free trade

To the Editor:

Back in April, The Post-Standard printed George Will's column questioning the clarity and consistency of the presidential candidates' positions about free trade, and specifically, the free trade agreement (FTA) with Colombia.

At the Oct. 15 presidential debate, Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain were clearly diametrically opposed on that FTA. It is fortunate that President Bush will likely not secure passage of the FTA, which will presumably be scuttled if Sen. Obama becomes president and revived if Sen. McCain does.

In April, George Will was right that this FTA is a great deal for U.S. and multinational corporations and is probably a good deal for some U.S. industrial workers and farmers although in this case the "farmers" are usually major corporations, not medium or small-scale producers.

This FTA,however, is a terribly bad deal for the Colombian people, much as NAFTA was a fundamentally bad deal for ordinary Mexicans, especially farmers. These kinds of free trade agreements persistently lead quickly to massive exports of cheap U.S. grain, with the result that Mexican, Central American or Colombian peasants cannot compete and family farmers are the majority in Latin America.

They end up landless and driven deeper into poverty and hunger, as once food-exporting nations become food-importers, and their countries go deeper into debt. A great many of these landless peasants end up coming to the United States as "illegal" immigrants, desperate for work to support their families.

There are more reasons to scrap this FTA. Barack Obama explicitly opposes the Colombia FTA because of the abysmal state of labor rights in Colombia. In the last four or five years, the government of Colombia's Alvaro Uribe has made progress by reducing the number of assassinations of labor leaders and increasing the prosecution of death squad members. But the context must be understood.

In the 1990s and the beginning of this decade, the right-wing paramilitaries effectively murdered a whole generation of labor activists that will not be easily replaced. Intimidation of labor organizing, including mortal threats against leaders and their families, continues. The Uribe government has done little to reverse the hostile atmosphere that leads to so many Colombian workers being unrepresented, underpaid and vulnerable.

Colombia's President Uribe should get credit for what he has done well, but should then be pressed to comply with clear standards for what still needs to be done. The reward for progress on human rights (and on the environment) should not be this FTA, but rather the negotiation of a new fair trade agreement. Fair trade can stimulate commerce that greatly benefits small-scale farmers and their communities, indigenous peoples, small business owners, "green" entrepreneurs and ordinary consumers in both countries.

This time, let the multinational corporations stand next in line for their opportunities. Fair trade with Colombia could benefit the vast majority in both countries and help poor and middle class Colombians make their communities thrive and prosper, rather than feeling that they have to cross the U.S. border in dark of night in order to survive.

Paul Weichselbaum

Syracuse