Colombian Labor Lawyer Gunned Down Friday Raises Questions Of Timing Of Trade Agreement, Senior House Dems Say

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In light of Friday’s attempted assassination of a lawyer representing sugarcane workers, U.S. Reps. George Miller (D-CA) and Jim McGovern (D-MA) asked the Obama administration today to reassess their timetable for sending the Colombian trade agreement to Congress. This shooting comes only five weeks after the Colombian government agreed to implement the U.S.-Colombia Labor Action Plan.

According to reports from local human rights groups, labor lawyer Hernán Darío was shot five times in Cali by perpetrators on motorcycles and remains in critical condition. Sources in Colombia believe that the shooting is connected to Darío’s representation of a group of sugarcane workers who led a strike in 2008.

“Violence and intimidation are utilized in order to silence labor rights defenders in Colombia. When high-profile figures like Mr. Darío are attacked, it becomes evident that there are no guarantees for workers that peacefully and legitimately defend basic labor rights,” Miller and McGovern wrote. “Their vulnerability is symptomatic of a labor environment where the rights of workers do not matter.”

The sugar industry in Colombia has been the focus of a number of serious conflicts over the years between the industry and workers. In 2008, 18,000 sugarcane workers protested and demanded basic labor rights and working conditions in Balle del Cauca and Cauca. These strikes met with resistance from the industry and government officials and resulted in criminal charges against the strike leaders, represented by Darío.

As a result of this historic violence, the sugar industry is one of the five sectors signaled out for increased scrutiny in the recent U.S.-Colombia Labor Action Plan.

“This shooting, along with the murders of other trade union activists this year, calls into question whether there has been sufficient progress on the labor rights situation in Colombia to advance this agreement in Congress,” the letter continued.  “Without demonstrable reductions in the level of violence, threats and murders, and clear cut evidence that workers can effectively exercise their rights, the Action Plan represents a set of administrative actions and paper rights.”

In an April, six members of Congress questioned whether the  U.S.-Colombia Labor Action Plan was adequate, and reaffirmed their recommendations made in March on actions that Colombia and the U.S. should take in order reduce violence against union leaders in Colombia and uphold the rule of all for the thousands of acts of violence against union members over the years.

Last week, Miller spoke on the House floor calling the Colombian agreement as written unfair to both Colombian and American workers. Watch the video and read the speech.

Read today’s letter.