Since the scandal broke about the behavior of some Secret Service members responsible for looking after President Obama during his recent visit to Colombia, the purpose of the president’s visit has been overshadowed.
Last year I traveled to Cali, Colombia, for the second time in my tenure as an elected official. The purpose of my trips was to offer the perspective of political leadership in the U.S. as a minority and to bring back information about the status of Afro-Latinos in South America. Cali, Colombia, has the largest percentage of Afro-Latinos in South America, right behind Brazil. These citizens have retained a great amount of their African heritage, more so than African Americans.
During my most recent trip in 2011, I met Vice President Angelino Garzon, a former union organizer. As an organizer, he saw many union members, their families and their friends targeted and often killed while fighting for equal rights and decent working conditions.
Vice President Garzon has worked diligently to ensure the Afro-Latino population has more support than in past administrations. Union members and Afro-Colombians have been kicked around and displaced for more than five centuries. They have been killed and made to feel as if they were third-class citizens. They were forced to move to an area called the Pacifico, isolated miles away from inland access. The Pacifico is made up mainly of Afro-Latinos. Now that paramilitary groups are “non-existent,” former members have resorted to living off the land where Afro-Latinos have lived for centuries.
Afro-Colombians have tried to sustain their lives by creating and manufacturing products derived from the land. Colombia’s informal market is one where poor people can make a decent living without government interference. Government interference has historically meant that businesses are shut down and people starve. As I attended events in Colombia, I was approached by people who had products they wanted to sell overseas. Many of these business people asked for guidance and wanted me to encourage our federal government to sign the U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement so their people would have a mechanism to thrive economically.
The significance of the free trade agreement between our countries is that President Obama convinced Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos to approve Colombia’s fulfillment of the terms protecting its workers, allowing both sides to proceed with the agreement. The agreement provides a valuable opportunity to stand up for the rights of workers throughout Colombia, including the Pacifico. The free trade deal between our two nations could provide as much as $1.1 billion for U.S. exports when it takes full effect on May 15, 2012.
According to U.S. trade representatives, the new Colombian labor certification will lead to the establishment of a new labor ministry, give workers the right to organize, prosecute past cases of violence against unions and provide protections. The U.S. will offer Colombia assistance as it implements the new labor protections and rules. Obviously this agreement is a work in progress, but it is a step in the right direction. Hopefully this agreement can be used as a blueprint for neighboring nations as they enter the global marketplace, while still protecting their citizens and workers from unfair working conditions and economic barriers.
I am proud of our president in this instance and the men and women of Colombia who are standing up for their rights. Trade agreements between the U.S. and developing countries benefit each in their own way, but we must ensure that the workers in these nations enjoy the same protections and rights that American workers have secured. Signing trade agreements with nations that exploit their workers benefits no one and harms America’s reputation. When workers in other countries like Colombia, are protected, so are American workers, because then American companies do not have an incentive to relocate to places where they don’t have to worry about the rights of employees.
Chappelle-Nadal is a State Senator.
