Category Archives: News

By Maria Teresa Ronderos

WASHINGTON, June 10, 2005 — Colombia is a country of extreme news, as evidenced by just one day’s headlines: 17 military killed in a guerrilla ambush; U.S. soldiers caught smuggling cocaine out of the country; 19 of Bogotá’s 20 deputy mayors fired by the mayor while most of them were under investigation on allegations of corruption. Too many stories to cover, all of them surprising, intriguing and hard to follow. Trails are sometimes treacherous and can become dangerous in the least likely places.

So far in 2005, two reporters have been killed. Maybe it was for what they published, maybe not. Hernando Marné Sánchez Roldán, 62, covered weddings, baptisms, celebrations and the like for El País, one of Colombia’s major dailies. On February 19th he was going to Tuluá, a town about 450 kilometers or 300 miles southwest of Bogotá, when a hit-man fired several shots, killing him almost immediately. According to Colombia’s Foundation for the Freedom of the Press (FLIP), it is unclear why someone would want to kill a social photographer. But as El País reported, by that date a war between the two main drug lords of the region had already left 43 homicides officially recorded in Tuluá for the year.

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From the Inside US Trade article, “Thomas Threatens No Vote On DR-CAFTA In Committee, As House Whip Count Lags”:

… a House vote count shows supporters of DR-CAFTA are about 16 to 17 votes short of approval, according to informed sources. They said 194 to 195 Republicans are supporting or leaning to support the deal, and six Democrats are in favor.

The House Ways and Means Committee today announced it will hold a vote on the final implementing legislation on Thursday (June 30), but a floor vote will not take place until after the July recess. Approval by Ways and Means would give the House 15 legislative days to approve DR-CAFTA under fast-track rules.

WASHINGTON — The Labor Department kept secret for more than a year government studies that supported Democratic opponents of the Bush administration’s new Central American trade deal, internal documents show.

The studies, paid for by the department, concluded that several countries the administration wants to be granted free-trade status have poor working conditions and fail to protect workers’ rights. The agency dismissed the conclusions as inaccurate and biased, according to documents reviewed by The Associated Press.

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From earlier this morning:

The Senate Finance Committee completed its markup on CAFTA about half an hour ago. Bingaman announced in the beginning that he would be voting for CAFTA. He received a letter from USTR with commitments on funding and monitoring of enforcement of labor standards, and funding for assistance to subsistence farmers displaced as a result of CAFTA. The letter will be part of the Committee record and will probably be posted on the Senate Finance web site soon. Kyl and Lincoln also made statements in favor. There were also a couple of long exchanges, involving comments by Grassley and Baucus, primarily in response to Bingaman’s statement, about the need for Congress to address the problem and the root causes of the trade deficit.

In the end, Grassley called for a voice vote and CAFTA was passed. Baucus registered his objection to the voice vote but did not insist on a roll call because he knew that Grassley had the votes to pass it with Bingaman, even if Thomas were to vote against. Clearly, calling a voice vote was the way to avoid forcing Thomas and Crapo to register their votes, since no sugar deal has been reached. Thomas and Crapo were not in the room when the actual vote took place. In fact, there seemed to be only one lone voice heard against (Baucus), even though Schumer and Snowe were also there. That is not to imply that the previous no votes may have changed, but just to say that the vote process itself seemed to be a bit of a farce.

Notes from Stephanie Weinberg, Trade Policy Advisor, Oxfam America

From the June 27, 2005 issue of Washington Trade Daily:

House supporters of the US-Central America free trade agreement remain far short of the minimum 218 votes needed for approval – and the only way to get those votes appears to be for the Administration to strike a deal on sugar and get tough on China (WTD, 6/24/05).

According to WTD’s ongoing informal poll of members’ offices, 110 members now say they will or are likely to vote for CAFTA. That number includes 104 Republicans and six Democrats.

Opponents, meanwhile, are within striking distance of bringing the trade pact down. Some 204 members will or are likely to vote against CAFTA – 32 Republicans, 171 Democrats and one Independent.

Despite the sizeable vote shortfall, the Administration opted to start the 90-day legislative clock for final passage by submitting formal implementing legislation (HR 3045, S 1307) to Congress. Under the “fast track” legislative process of Trade Promotion Authority, the House has 60 days to vote. That vote is now expected to take place sometime in July – although supporters had been making noises about holding the vote before the Independence Day recess that begins this Friday.

The Senate has an additional 30 days to act after House passage.

A sizeable pool of members have yet to make up their minds on CAFTA – which gives supporters increased optimism. WTD’s poll shows 85 undecided members – 67 Republicans and 18 Democrats. Thirty-five members have not responded.

The House Ways and Means Committee is holding a hearing tomorrow. The Committee has posted a collection of background documents on CAFTA on their web site. The Committee will have a live webcast of the hearing tomorrow.