Providing for Consideration of Senate Amendment to H.R. 2832, Extending the Generalized System of Preference; Providing for Consideration of H.R. 3078, United States-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement Implementation Act; Providing for Consideration of H.R
Floor Speech
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Mr. McGOVERN. I thank the gentleman from California for providing me the customary 30 minutes, and I yield myself 5 minutes of that time.
Mr. Speaker, today we take up several trade bills. The Rules Committee had a chance to guarantee sufficient time for debate on each agreement and ensure that the time would be equally divided between those who support and those who oppose each bill. That's the way we should be debating these bills. That's the fair and the right thing to do.
But fairness was not part of the discussion in the Rules Committee. Instead, we have a rule that gives more time to those in support of these bills and less time to those who have legitimate concerns about them. And if that weren't bad enough, this rule waives CutGo, just one more broken promise by this Republican Congress.
Mr. Speaker, I strongly support the TAA and GSP bills. These programs provide America's companies and workers with stability and fairness and some minimum resources for those that suffer because of trade agreements. They have earned our support.
But I cannot say the same for the free trade agreements, and I would like to focus my remarks on just one of them, the Colombia FTA.
Mr. Speaker, I've gone to Colombia seven times over the past 10 years. Nearly everyone I talk to--the poor, the most vulnerable, those who defend basic human rights and dignity--they all believe that the United States stands for human rights, that we stand for justice. And I'd like to believe that's always true. But not if we pass this FTA.
Colombia is still the most dangerous place in the world to be a trade unionist. Each year, more labor activists are killed in Colombia than the rest of the world combined. A staggering 2,908 union members murdered since 1986. That's about one murder every 3 days for the past 25 years. One hundred fifty in just the past 3 years. If 150 CEOs had been assassinated over the past 3 years, would you still think Colombia is a good place to invest?
In 2010, 51 trade unionists were murdered; 21 survived attempts on their lives; 338 received death threats; and 7 disappeared. Their bodies may never be found. Forty have been murdered since President Santos took office.
As for justice, well, in Colombia that's still just a dream. Human Rights Watch just released a study that looked at convictions in cases of murdered trade unionists over the past 4 1/2 years. They found ``virtually no progress'' in convictions in these killings. Just six out of 195 cases. And not a single, solitary conviction for the more than 60 attempted murders and 1,500 death threats during that same period. There's a name for that, Mr. Speaker. It's called complete and total impunity.
Just look at the faces of six of the 23 unionists murdered so far this year.
This man in the top right, Luis Diaz, he was a regional leader of the University Workers' Union and a security guard at Monteria Public University in Cordoba. He was assassinated near his home, shot four times.
I was in Cordoba at the end of August. It's controlled by paramilitaries, drug traffickers, and criminal networks. They work hand in glove with wealthy landed interests, and many local officials, judges, prosecutors, and police are corrupt or benefit from the violence. They are also the most likely parties in Cordoba to profit from the Colombia FTA.
Another fellow here, Jorge de los Rios. He was a teacher and an environmentalist who exposed damage to communities by open pit mining. On June 8, he was shot several times on the campus of his school.
This young man right here, Dionis Sierra, was an elementary schoolteacher killed May 15, also in Cordoba.
Carlos Castro, an engineer, murdered in Cali on May 23. He was shot in the neck by two armed men. He was 41 and the father of three.
Here's Hernan Pinto right here, drinking a cup of coffee. He had taken the lead in the farm workers' struggle right before he was murdered in March.
Silverio Sanchez, just 37 years old, also a teacher. He died on January 24 from burns on 80 percent of his body from an explosive.
These men were husbands, fathers, brothers, and sons. If we don't stand up for them, then we also abandon the children, families, workers, and communities they left behind, those who continue to fight for labor rights, human rights, and basic human dignity.
As the old song goes, which side are you on?
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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 25 seconds to respond to the gentleman from California.
In 2009 the number of total murders per capita in the U.S.A. was 5 per 100,000. In Mexico, it was 18.4, and in Colombia it was 37.3. These are all government statistics.
If 23 labor leaders and 29 civil rights leaders and 6 priests were targeted and murdered in Los Angeles so far this year because of their work in the community, I would like to think that the city or the gentleman from California would be up in arms about that. But that's the reality in Colombia.
At this time I would like to yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from New York, the ranking Democrat on the Rules Committee, Ms. Slaughter.
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Mr. McGOVERN. I yield myself 20 seconds.
Mr. Speaker, if Colombia is so safe, then why do 2,000 labor leaders need round-the-clock protection? I mean, if Colombia is so safe, why are there nearly 5 million internally displaced people and over 1 million Colombian refugees in neighboring countries? It is because they're fleeing the violence and civil unrest.
Mr. Speaker, at this point I would like to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Maine (Mr. Michaud).
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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 25 seconds to respond to the gentleman from California.
He mentioned a labor leader, in his remarks before, as saying how wonderful the Labor Action Plan was. I should point out to him that last Monday, on October 3, that same labor leader joined in a press conference with other Colombian unions to express his frustration with the Colombian Government's failure to implement the Labor Action Plan.
I also would point out that the Colombia Labor School also has issued a long statement about how the Colombian Government has failed to enact the Labor Action Plan.
I don't care what the Canadians do. In the United States of America, we're supposed to respect human rights.
Mr. Speaker, at this time I would like to yield 3 minutes to the gen tle lady from Illinois (Ms. Schakowsky).
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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, Congress was right in refusing to take up the Colombia FTA when it was signed in 2006. Supporters of the FTA now talk about those years as Colombia's dark past, but they supported the FTA then just as they do now. The House was right to block the FTA in 2008. Supporters then extolled the virtues of the Uribe government, but Colombia's new Attorney General has revealed mind-boggling corruption in every agency of Uribe's government. Criminal acts were the norm.
I believe the Santos government is Colombia's best chance to bring about much needed reforms and institutional change. I want him to succeed, but goodwill is not enough. We have had promises before. We need time to see if good intentions result in concrete change on labor and human rights.
This is Tito Diaz. He was the mayor of El Roble in Sucre. In 2003, he denounced the links between public officials and paramilitaries. For this, he was tortured and murdered. His body was found strung up like a crucifix and shot 11 times--his fingernails ripped out, his knees bludgeoned, and his mayor's I.D. card taped to his forehead.
His son, Juan David, carried on his father's work, leading the victims' movement in Sucre. He survived four assassination attempts but finally fled the country. Others took his place. Since 2006, five more victims' rights leaders in Sucre have been murdered--two this year.
This is the reality for Colombia's human rights defenders, 29 of whom have been killed this year; 51 priests murdered in the past decade, six so far this year. In this violent reality, Colombian workers attempt to exercise their rights.
I ask my colleagues to think about the lives of all the brave labor leaders, human rights defenders, religious and community leaders. Do not turn your backs on them. Demand concrete change on the ground before approving the Colombia FTA. You know that that is the right thing to do. If the United States of America stands for anything, we ought to stand out loud and four-squared for human rights. Let's remember that as we deliberate on the Colombia FTA. It is just wrong to rationalize, or explain away, the human rights situation in Colombia. We are better than that. We should demand more on behalf of the workers and the human rights defenders in Colombia.
Vote ``no'' on the rule, and vote ``no'' on the Colombia FTA.
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