Obama, Santos confirm US-Colombia trade pact takes effect May 15

[Bacchus4.0]

in an otherwise inauspicious summit for Obama, the trade agreement with Colombia is one item of accomplishment regardless you favor it or not.


A free trade agreement (FTA) between the U.S. and Colombia will take effect May 15, Presidents Barack Obama and Juan Manuel Santos confirmed Sunday.

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk had earlier announced that according to the U.S. government Colombia had complied with labor conditions clearing the way for the FTA to come into force.

"This means misslions of jobs" for the U.S. and Colombia, Santos said at a joint press conference held after a meeting with Obama.

The U.S. President said that those who will most benefit from the free trade agreement are the people of both countries.




http://www.colombiareports.com/colombia-news/economy/23432-us-colombia-trade-pact-to-take-effect-may-15.html

[COLGATE4]

1. It's a great step in strengthening our relations

with our biggest ally in Latin America.

[Bacchus4.0]

2. Colombia really wanted it

we'll see how it works out. the secret service seems to have gotten early start on some trading, but apparently they didn't realize it was not "free".

[cqo_000]

3. Workers flee Colombia after US certifies labor conditions

Sunday, 15 April 2012 17:54 Adriaan Alsema


Borders checkpoints with Venezuela and Ecuador clogged Sunday as tens of thousands of workers were trying to flee Colombia after the announcement of a free trade agreement with the U.S..

According to Venezuelan news network Telesur, at least one out of three of the border-crossing Colombians were workers belonging to a union who fear they have become sitting ducks for anti-union violence.

"We thought the labor action plan [officially aimed to reduce anti-union violence and labor rights violations] was supposed to increase our protection so we decided to sit out the death threats until measures were taken, but now that we suddenly are certified as safe we have to leave. We prefer to be jobless in Venezuela than dead in Colombia," one emigrant, who wouldn't reveal his name, told the network.

http://colombiareports.com/opinion/disinformation/23434-disinformation-workers-flee-colombia-after-us-certifies-labor-conditions.html

[Bacchus4.0]

4. Disinformation is Colombia Reports' satire section.

Disinformation is Colombia Reports' satire section. Photos in this section may be manipulated and information may be completely false. If you want to contribute to this section, feel free to send us your ideas.

http://colombiareports.com/opinion/disinformation/23434-disinformation-workers-flee-colombia-after-us-certifies-labor-conditions.html

[cqo_000]

6. duh :)

[COLGATE4]

5. The SS boys just learned life lesson #23A:

Anything that's for 'free' is usually very expensive.