Chris Hayes writes:
Sobering stuff. And something the United States should demand an end to long before we consider a Free Trade Agreement with Colombia. Whatever you believe about the enforcability of labor standards enshrined in transnational trade legislation, they're obviously a joke if actual Colombians can't even survive efforts to create unions.
Imagine a country where CEO's live in fear. In just the past five years, 400 CEO's -- from manufacturing, banking, real estate -- have been shot down in cold blood. (Thousands over the past 15 years.) Almost none of these murders have been solved. Indeed, over the past five years the percentage of CEO murders simply brought to trial has declined from 30% to zero. CEO's now more or less live in fear.Can you imagine the US have friendly relations with such a place? Can you imagine a president expending political capital to treat that country favorably in an international agreement? Right. Of course not.Of course, such a place does exist, but they're not murdering CEO's.They're murdering trade unionists. EPI even has a helpful graph, complete with a cross-reference of how much energy the Colombian government is putting into the protection of union organizers and the prosecution of their hunters:
Sobering stuff. And something the United States should demand an end to long before we consider a Free Trade Agreement with Colombia. Whatever you believe about the enforcability of labor standards enshrined in transnational trade legislation, they're obviously a joke if actual Colombians can't even survive efforts to create unions. 
