by Garry Leech

Over the past five years Colombia has achieved impressive economic growth as foreign investment has increased dramatically. According to most analysts, it is the policies of President Alvaro Uribe that have created the security conditions required by foreign companies to operate in the country. A significant portion of Colombia's economic growth has resulted from investment in the country's extractive sector, reflecting the confidence of foreign investors in the capacity of the Colombian military to safeguard their operations in the country's rural conflict zones. However, analysts who praise the Uribe government for Colobmia's economic growth often ignore the fact that the enhanced security provided by the Colombian military has been achieved through an increase in human rights abuses perpetrated against the rural population.

Following a State Department request, the U.S. prosecutor asked that all drug charges against Colombian revolutionary Ricardo Palmera be dropped. This follows two mistrials where American juries failed to convict Colombian rebel, Palmera. The Bush Administration spent millions of taxpayer dollars on two lengthy trials where the deck was stacked against Palmera. Professor Palmera is an important negotiator for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

By Mick Kelly, Fight Back News

Washington, D.C. - In stunning defeat for the Bush administration, the attempt to frame Colombian rebel Ricardo Palmera on drug trafficking charges ended with a hung jury in Federal Court here, April 21. With the jurors unable to agree, Judge Royce Lambert declared a mistrial.

Meredith Aby, a leader of the Colombia Action Network slammed the Bush administration's Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Colombia stating, "We should oppose the Free Trade Agreement with Colombia because it is an attempt by Bush to promote corporate interests at the expense of the working people of Colombia. Colombia is already the most dangerous place in the world to be a trade unionist. The U.S. has spent billions of dollars supporting the repressive Colombian government which sponsors death squads. These death squads kill and attack trade union organizers and anyone else who questions Colombian President Uribe's right-wing agenda. This free trade deal would be like adding fuel to a fire."