Colombia Anti-free Trade Strike Brings Gains for Left
September 25, 2013
A Bolivarian Movement in Colombia?
Colombia Anti-free Trade Strike Brings Gains for Left
by STEVEN MATHER
Four tumultuous and sometimes violent weeks after Colombia’s national agricultural strike began, the most radical section of farmers has forced the government to sit down with its national leadership.
The MIA met the government in the city of Popayán in Cauca department (state) last Thursday and scheduled a series of meetings between now and Christmas. The suspension of the free trade agreements (FTAs) signed with the United States and the European Union is among the farmers’ demands.
It has been a hard and costly fight with twelve protesters killed, 507 injured and 262 arbitrarily detained.
Life is already tough in rural Colombia with 65% of farmers living in poverty and 1% of the population owning 52% of rural land. Travel to many areas of the countryside and you will often find no schools and no doctors. The worst living standards sit side-by-side multimillion-dollar foreign investments.
The US FTA, which came in to affect last year, is squeezing even more economic life out of communities. Rice and milk imports have increased by almost 2,000%, soya by 155% and average agricultural prices are up 70%.
More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/09/25/colombia-anti-free-trade-strike-brings-gains-for-left/
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