INTERVIEW

Look at the Alternatives

Colombia's president speaks out on the House's rejection of the U.S.-Colombia free-trade agreement.

By Lally Weymouth | NEWSWEEK

Apr 28, 2008 Issue

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Discuss

Posted By: chinese tibet @ 04/26/2008 10:18:38 AM

Comment: Oppose France, England, Germany, Japan ,USA???
Oppose CNN is not actual report to China!
CNN's Jack Cafferty is a ignorant garbage???

Sustain the Beijing Olympics!
Tibet is inviolable territory in China from time immemorial, China never relinquished control of Tibet.
Dalai Lama is Chinese splittist.

France, Germany, England, Japan, American people does not understand reality of Tibet!
Occidental news is inauthenticity for China.
China is amity, but China is unconquerable come from threaten for fremdness !

Please see the following Web address in the concerning the photo that true of China Tibet:

http://blog.ifeng.com/706796.html
Posted By: chinese tibet @ 04/26/2008 10:18:28 AM

Comment: Oppose France, England, Germany, Japan ,USA???
Oppose CNN is not actual report to China!
CNN's Jack Cafferty is a ignorant garbage???

Sustain the Beijing Olympics!
Tibet is inviolable territory in China from time immemorial, China never relinquished control of Tibet.
Dalai Lama is Chinese splittist.

France, Germany, England, Japan, American people does not understand reality of Tibet!
Occidental news is inauthenticity for China.
China is amity, but China is unconquerable come from threaten for fremdness !

Please see the following Web address in the concerning the photo that true of China Tibet:

http://blog.ifeng.com/706796.html
Posted By: chinese tibet @ 04/26/2008 10:15:42 AM

Comment: Oppose France, England, Germany, Japan ,USA???
Oppose CNN is not actual report to China!
CNN's Jack Cafferty is a ignorant garbage???

Sustain the Beijing Olympics!
Tibet is inviolable territory in China from time immemorial, China never relinquished control of Tibet.
Dalai Lama is Chinese splittist.

France, Germany, England, Japan, American people does not understand reality of Tibet!
Occidental news is inauthenticity for China.
China is amity, but China is unconquerable come from threaten for fremdness !

Please see the following Web address in the concerning the photo that true of China Tibet:

http://blog.ifeng.com/706796.html
Posted By: autobotalex @ 04/23/2008 4:09:39 PM

Comment: The alternative is clear. Spurn the communist Pelosi, the democrat demogogues, and their unionists. Sign FTA with capitalist China. China has already recently signed FTA with ASEAN countries, and Chile, and New Zealand. Next in line in the works are Iceland, Peru, Singapore, South Africa and Australia. Labor unions and communist politicians have no market in China anymore. Remember the old expression "The business of America is business"? Well, I am sorry but that country is not America anymore. It's China. Only those who cannot compete hide behind trade barriers. Instead of working hard, they are politicking hard.
Posted By: autobotalex @ 04/23/2008 4:06:53 PM

Comment: The alternative is clear. Spurn the communist Pelosi, the democrat demogogues, and their unionists. Sign FTA with capitalist China. China has already recently signed FTA with ASEAN countries, and Chile, and New Zealand. Next in line in the works are Iceland, Peru, Singapore, South Africa and Australia. Labor unions and communist politicians have no market in China anymore. Remember the old expression "The business of America is business"? Well, I am sorry but that country is not America anymore. It's China. Only those who cannot compete hide behind trade barriers. Instead of working hard, they are politicking hard.
Posted By: autobotalex @ 04/23/2008 4:06:32 PM

Comment: The alternative is clear. Spurn the communist Pelosi, the democrat demogogues, and their unionists. Sign FTA with capitalist China. China has already recently signed FTA with ASEAN countries, and Chile, and New Zealand. Next in line in the works are Iceland, Peru, Singapore, South Africa and Australia. Labor unions and communist politicians have no market in China anymore. Remember the old expression "The business of America is business"? Well, I am sorry but that country is not America anymore. It's China. Only those who cannot compete hide behind trade barriers. Instead of working hard, they are politicking hard.
Posted By: autobotalex @ 04/23/2008 4:06:07 PM

Comment: The alternative is clear. Spurn the communist Pelosi, the democrat demogogues, and their unionists. Sign FTA with capitalist China. China has already recently signed FTA with ASEAN countries, and Chile, and New Zealand. Next in line in the works are Iceland, Peru, Singapore, South Africa and Australia. Labor unions and communist politicians have no market in China anymore. Remember the old expression "The business of America is business"? Well, I am sorry but that country is not America anymore. It's China. Only those who cannot compete hide behind trade barriers. Instead of working hard, they are politicking hard.
Posted By: Mwalimu @ 04/22/2008 11:41:50 PM

Comment: I just received a newsletter from Fight Back America as well as USW @ Work. Here are the facts I received from thiese sources,.
1. since Alvaro Uribe took office in 2002, "over 480 trad union organizare have been assassinated..In over 99% of these cases no one has been brought to jusice." (Quote from Fight Back America No wonder the number of assassinations of union organizers has gone down. There's no one left to murder. Uribe's statements remind me of what Stalin once said "The people are the problem: no people, no problem."
Incidentally 4 union organizers were killed during the week of March 2 alone (Source USW@Work.)
2. Workers in the oil industry are forbidden to strike. Workers in the public sector are forbidden to form unions - Some of the murdered union organizers were school teachers.
3. Union members are also subject to threats, torture and kidnappings, as well as mass firings. The government does nothing to protect workers trying to form unins
4. In addition, like the anti-union Labor Secretary, Elaine Cho, the Colombian government does everything in its power to prevent wokers from organizing union and more often than not denies government recognition of union without any reasons.
5. Uribe often gives a green light to murder labor union organizers by branding them as terrorists, even though human rights organizations have proben these allegations as groundless.
6. Many of the corporations instituting anti-union terrorism are American corporations, who are planning to use the same tactis in the US

Alvraro Uribe is lying when he claims Colombia is a democracy. It's an oligarchy where a small elite exploit the vast majority of the people - like a rice plantation in ante-bellum South Carolina. I do not care if this country alienates the elite of Colombia - They're a neo-fascist assortment of thugs who do not deserve America's friendship. I do demand that Colombia workers get decent pay and working conditions. I might also add that this demand is echoed in the Bible. James, Chapter 5,verse 4, "Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay. Their cries have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts." The cries of Colombia workers need to resound in the Capitol. We need to cancel this trade deal until there's a total regime change in Colombia.
Posted By: Thoughtful @ 04/21/2008 4:36:04 PM

Comment: Columbia is a murderous country. Try being nonwhite there. The elite are truly vicious and murderous. Anyone who was against them was a communist now anyone who is is a terrrorist. I wonder why the US would deal with such monsters.
- Posted By: tucansam @ 04/24/2008 16:26:31
  
  Comment: You complain that Colombia labels enemies as communists and terrorists, but in the same paragraph you label Colombia as a "murderous country". There have been many abuses in Colombia and the poor are usually those who suffer most. This does not mean that the US should refuse to deal with Colombia. These are issues that should be resolved through economic policies and dialogue, not labeling them as "monsters". The US embargo on Cuba did not bring Castro's regime down, how do you think that it will help resolve tyranny in Colombia.
  I am hopeful that through relations with the rest of the world Colombia will be able to solve the economic and political problems that have caused so much unrest in the country. These problems cannot and will not be solved by calling them monsters and telling them we won't deal with them.
Posted By: Thoughtful @ 04/21/2008 4:34:08 PM

Comment: Columbia is and has been for a long time a gross violator of human rights. They have murdered scores of thousands with impunity. The level of ignorance about Colombia's human rights record is staggering. Don't make the mistake of not being white there. This is truly a monstrous country. The US clearly prefers to do business with monsters.
Posted By: tangledsynapses @ 04/21/2008 1:55:31 PM

Comment: Colombia, has one of the strongest economies in the region, and Europeans are particularly holding investments in the country, as well as Brazilians. Closing a free trade agreement with the US is more on an emotional issue than an economical one. We love the USA and everything that it stands for. In fact, we do not need free trade agreements with the USA to do business with. There is a pact called APTA by which Colombian products enter the USA with low tariff barriers.
Posted By: tangledsynapses @ 04/21/2008 1:55:21 PM

Comment: Colombia, has one of the strongest economies in the region, and Europeans are particularly holding investments in the country, as well as Brazilians. Closing a free trade agreement with the US is more on an emotional issue than an economical one. We love the USA and everything that it stands for. In fact, we do not need free trade agreements with the USA to do business with. There is a pact called APTA by which Colombian products enter the USA with low tariff barriers.
Posted By: nawawimohamad @ 04/21/2008 6:12:07 AM

Comment: But why is Columbia so dependent on the US? Isn't Columbia a sovereign country and can do business with the rest of the world. The only conclusion one can make is that Uribe is a willing puppet of the US.
- Posted By: croberts5707 @ 04/21/2008 09:14:18
  
  Comment: Columbia does do business with the rest of the world. Wanting to increase trade with the world's biggest economy does not make it a "puppet." The real puppets in this situation are House Democrats, who acquiesce to unions regardless of the principles involved. Their refusal to approve this deal and help our best ally in South America is shameful.