Date: 2001-11-16
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding time to me. Mr. Speaker. I am disappointed that the Committee on Rules refused to allow an amendment that I made a request on which would require the certification by the President that Colombia is actively engaged in the investigation of the murder of labor activists in its country. The country. Colombia. has exported many products to the United States. but that is not what it will be remembered for. It will be remembered for the killings that are taking place. During the 1990s. more trade union activists were killed in Colombia than any other country. No other country is even close. The numbers are truly astonishing. Over 1.000 labor activists have been murdered since this trade agreement was enacted. It is not because of this trade agreement. but the fact is. during this 10year relationship. that is what has happened. In this year alone. 131 labor activists have been killed. This cannot just be a coincidence of these people being killed in the firefight that is taking place. I do not diminish the complexity of the problems of violence in Colombia on both the right and the left. but the fact of the matter is that. according to the ILO. these murders have continued. They have not been investigated. People have not been identified. The core ILO agreements have not been dealt with. In fact. the ILO report of last year says that the cases where the instigators and perpetrators of the murders of trade union leader are identified are practically nonexistent. as is handing down guilty verdicts. fl 1000 The point is this. the government is doing little or nothing to try to investigate and identify the people who are killing the labor activists across the country. When labor activists are asking for protection from the government the protection is not forthcoming and the assassinations continue. These people are assassinated at work. They are assassinated in the streets. They are assassinated in their own homes infront of their families. And they are all labor activists. That is what they have in common. The time has come to stop that. We talk about the benefits of the trade agreements. One of the benefits. theoretically. is the labor will prosper. the people have the ability to organize. They will improve their working conditions. They will improve their pay. and they will be able to provide for their families. But that does not happen in and of itself. It happens because labor organizers talk to the workers. They talk to them about the benefits of joining a union. Colombia has a history of union involvement but it is now being eradicated. According to the ILO. it is being eradicated by the paramilitary organizations on the right for the most part. And I think it is time to come where not only we will be investing in Plan Colombia. but we are extending trade agreements to Colombia that we understand the need to stop the assassination in this country of these labor activists. because it just takes away any ability to try and organize the working place so. in fact. people can have the benefits that supposedly free trade is supposed to bring to those countries in terms of the economic opportunity. Thirty members of the Congress joined me in sending a letter to the president of Colombia asking for these investigations. asking for an effort to bring these people to justice. And we have received no response from the president. And I was hoping that this amendment would have been accepted and we could have sent that message to the president requiring those actions to take place in the certification by the President of United States that those investigations were ongoing. Unfortunately. this trade agreement will probably pass. Those investigations will not take place. We are talking about a reign of terrorism in Colombia right under our noses in a country where we are financing a war supposedly to end that. and yet we cannot get the government to participate in the effort to investigate these assassinations and these crimes against labor activists. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me time.