The US Congress passed long-delayed neoliberal free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea—despite the vocal opposition of unions and progressive forces in all three countries.
Tens of thousands of striking workers were joined by students in marches through Bogotá, Medellín, Cali and other cities across Colombia to demand the right to unionize, public health care and education, and an end to labor contracting.
The AFL-CIO has initiated a “call-in day” Oct. 4 against the pending US free trade agreement with Colombia, and similar deals with South Korea and Panama. Obama is expected to send the Colombia FTA for approval to Congress in the coming weeks.
Local authorities in Peru’s southern region of Tacna called for a halt in protests to give the government time to meet demands that a permit for expanded mining operations be dropped—but pledge a general strike next week if demands are not met.
Four students and two police agents were injured in a confrontation between students and the notorious ESMAD riot police at Pamplona University in Colombia’s northern department of Norte de Santander.
At least 25 were injured as National Police fired shotguns and tear-gas bombs on local campesinos blocking access to the Toquepala copper mine, in Peru’s southern region of Tacna, to protest a planned expansion of operations.
A federal judge in Miami sentenced Bolivia’s former top anti-drug official, Gen. Rene Sanabria, to 14 years in prison for cocaine trafficking—although the “Colombian drug lords” he thought he was dealing with were really undercover DEA agents.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez criticized the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) as a tool of “the imperial power” for ruling in favor of presidential hopeful Leopoldo López, thereby allowing him to run for office.
Days ahead of the release of a White House report singling out Venezuela for insufficient narcotics enforcement efforts, the US Treasury Department accused four close allies of President Hugo Chávez of assisting Colombia’s FARC guerillas.
The international price of copper is soaring as strikes halt operations at two of the world’s largest mines, Cerro Verde in Peru and Grasberg in Indonesia—both owned by the multinational Freeport McMoRan.
US diplomatic cables from Bolivia and Peru, released by WikiLeaks, warn of an “anti-system movement” in the Andean region, with indigenous peoples moving towards “self-governance and control over land and resources.”
Protests over pollution and lack of local investment shut down the operations of Petrominerales, Colombia’s fourth largest oil producer, with residents and workers erecting roadblocks around the Corcel and Guatiquia oilfields in Meta department.
