[R-G] Canada-Colombia FTA: When Democracy Gets in the Way, Just Sign It, eh?

[Anthony Fenton]

Canada-Colombia FTA: When Democracy Gets in the Way, Just Sign It, eh?
By: Michèal Ó Tuathail

On June 7 2008, less than one year after Canadian Prime Minister  
Stephen Harper announced the beginning of bilateral free trade talks  
with Colombia, the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and  
International Trade announced the conclusion of negotiations.

While the US-Colombia free trade agreement has been stalled in the US,  
due mainly to the grave human rights situation in Colombia and, some  
say, a US election campaign, Canada has offered transnational capital  
an opening through the back door.

Canada-style, eh?

"The Government of Canada is delivering on its commitment to open up  
opportunities for Canadian business in the Americas and around the  
world," stated the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade  
David Emerson, revealing the true beneficiaries of this agreement.  
Emerson went on to note that "the free trade agreement will expand  
Canada-Colombia trade and investment, and will help solidify ongoing  
efforts by the Government of Colombia to create a more prosperous,  
equitable and secure democracy."

Many Colombians might ask just what "efforts" for a "prosperous,  
equitable and secure democracy" Emerson is referring to. It seems  
obvious that Canadian officials don't understand what those "ongoing  
efforts" look like in Colombia.

In a feeble and superficial attempt to understand the situation in  
Colombia, several Canadian members of parliament made a short and very  
limited trip to Bogotá last month. The delegation didn't leave Bogotá,  
on the advice of the Canadian embassy, but they did meet with trade  
unionists and Colombian president Álvaro Uribe Vélez.

After this very limited foray into Colombia, without further  
investigation into the situation on the ground for communities  
affected by the ongoing armed conflict in Colombia, and also without  
waiting for the completion of a report about the deal being prepared  
by the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade,  
the negotiations have concluded, and the agreement is heading for  
ratification.

NDP International Trade critic Peter Julian told the Toronto Star that  
the Harper government has made "a horribly bad move by signing the  
agreement rather than respecting the procedure, rather than respecting  
the opinion of the committee."

The truth is that the negotiations and the agreement remain shrouded  
in absolute secrecy. All Canadians and Colombians are told is that  
Canadian business will have greater access to Colombian markets and,  
perhaps more crucially, to their resources.

Even if Canadians overlook the current occupations of Afghanistan and  
Haiti, as well as the flaring conflicts between indigenous peoples and  
extractive industries across the country, the latest phase of Canadian  
imperialism also falls short in terms of Canadian democracy. The  
Canadian public will get not so much as a debate, as Harper et al.  
open the back door for capital that has no national allegiances.

The Canada-Colombia free trade agreement is seen as a cornerstone in  
the Harper government's policy of "re-engagement in the Americas,"  
where Canada fancies itself as a "third way" for Latin American  
countries seeking to break the United States' historical grip on the  
region.

Hardly a superpower itself, the Canadian government mascarades around  
the world as an altruistic superhero and human rights defender. Tell  
that to the Haitians, the Afghans, the victims of genocide within  
Canada, and now to the Colombians whose brutal regime the Canucks are  
shaking hands with, taking them under their wing and showing them how  
to "do" democracy.

I have to wonder what kind of democratic lessons Canada has in mind  
for the Colombians when there are no conditions for serious debate on  
free trade, among a slough of other issues, in Canada itself?

Uribe's Colombia: a country for sale

Colombia, the greatest recipient of US military 'aid' in the  
hemisphere, is widely considered one of the last bastions of US power  
in Latin America. In the context of the so-called 'war on drugs' and  
more recent 'war on terror,' there is 'Plan Colombia', implemented in  
2001, marketed as an anti-drug strategy that has at its heart a  
counterinsurgency strategy.

Colombia is home to Latin America's longest-surviving leftist  
guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.  
The Harper government sees increasing economic 'partnerships' with the  
country as part of the road to peace.

However, a trade deal with Colombia in the context of a 60-year armed  
conflict has been controversial to say the least. The Colombian state  
is the greatest perpetrator of violence against civilians in the  
conflict, and the country remains the most dangerous place in the  
world for trade unionists (year after year, more Colombian trade  
unionists are murdered than in the rest of the world combined), the  
much-lauded Colombian democracy is of dubious legitimacy, at best.

Claims that Uribe has toned down political violence in the country are  
contradicted by the increase of 'false positives,' whereby civilians  
murdered by the Colombian armed forces are dressed up as guerrillas in  
order to "gain points."

President Uribe has been condemned for his human rights record by  
international observers in the country, whom he has referred to in the  
press as guerrilla collaborators. The 'demobilization' of paramilitary  
death squads, the same terrorist groups that Uribe himself had a hand  
in creating, have been applauded just as new groups such as the Nueva  
Generación and Aguilas Negras (Black Eagles) emerge, continuing the  
dirty war on civilians, trade unionists (and their family members),  
and Uribe's political opposition across the country. Death squad  
activity is often in response to Uribe's statements in the media and  
in so-called 'community consultations.' In short, a mafia runs the  
country.

I recall one particular election issue that brought Harper's  
Conservative government to power not too long ago: the corruption of  
the long-ruling Liberal Party in the 'sponsorship scandal' that  
Canadians didn't hear the end of. Liberal arrogance had overcome their  
legitimacy to govern, and the answer was, we were told by Harper and  
the media, the 'transparency' of the Conservatives. But in the context  
of an FTA with Colombia, the scandals of Canada's so-called 'friends  
and allies' is conveniently overlooked.

Scandals have shrouded the Colombian government in recent years,  
penetrating to levels as high as Uribe's closest political supporters  
and a family member. At least 65 of Uribe's allies (the number rises  
almost weekly) in the Colombian Congress are being investigated for  
links to right-wing paramilitary death squads, a scandal known in  
Colombia as "para-política." Of that number, 29 are currently in jail  
for proven links.

Another recent scandal has called into question the legitimacy of the  
Uribe regime altogether. The "Yidis-política" scandal involves  
allegations that the president bought the votes of several Colombian  
congress members for constitutional reforms that paved the way for  
Uribe's re-election in 2006. Former Colombian House Representative  
Yidis Medina, who made the scandal public last month, is now in jail,  
and Uribe is under investigation for his role in soliciting Medina's  
vote in exchange for political favours. Previously, consecutive  
presidential terms had been constitutionally forbidden, and the  
constitutional reforms, rejected in a national referendum in October  
2003, were pushed through the pro-Uribe Colombian Congress.

Media Complicity in Colombia

The Canadian mainstream press will no doubt be reporting on Uribe's  
84% approval rating in the country. This distorted figure is a product  
of the gross media concentration in the country, a media owned and  
controlled by Uribe's friends and allies that duplicates on a daily  
basis the message that the FARC are the only problem in the country.

The famous 4th of February mobilizations against the FARC and for the  
release of the hostages they are holding are emblematic of the  
propaganda process in the country. While the release of hostages is a  
position that many Colombian agree with, many sectors of the  
population did not participate because Uribe used the march –  
organized partly through Facebook and supported by the Colombian  
business community by granting workers a day off to attend the march –  
to his political advantage.

Just over a month later, on March 6th, mobilizations were held in  
Colombia in support of the victims of state and paramilitary crimes  
but were largely ignored by the national and international media. Six  
trade unionists and organizers of that march were murdered in their  
homes in the days that followed, more facts ignored by the mainstream  
press. These were seen as messages to the opposition and victims  
seeking reparations and justice: "do not oppose your own extermination."

The approval of a supranational constitution such as an FTA by a  
government that came to power through support from paramilitaries,  
influence peddling, and propaganda indicates the shadowy and shaky  
character of Colombian democracy frequently applauded in Ottawa.

The country's 4 million internally displaced people (nearly 10% of the  
population) is referred to by the United Nations as the greatest  
humanitarian crisis in the hemisphere. Systematic forced displacement  
occurs largely in territories where transnational megaprojects are in  
the works.

The link between displacement and megaprojects has led Colombian  
activists, such as economist Hector Mondragón, to conclude that "it is  
not that there is displacement because there is a war; there is a war  
so that there can be displacement."

In any other context, displacement for profit would be called armed  
robbery.

A Backdoor Agreement

Canadian-Colombian trade relations are nominal in comparison to other  
countries, barely surpassing $1 billion in trade each year. However,  
in terms of sectors engaged in megaprojects, such as mining, oil and  
gas, Canadian multinationals are among the major players. The all out  
war on guerrilla groups, handshakes with paramilitaries and narcotics  
traffickers, and the dirty war on trade unionists, the political left,  
and human rights defenders are construed as "stability" and "security"  
for Canadian investors.

DFAIT reports that, now that negotiations have been concluded, a legal  
review of the texts will be carried out. These negotiations have  
occurred in complete secrecy, and the texts have not been released to  
the public. This begs the question, "if the FTA is so good for the  
Canadian and Colombian people, why aren't they telling us all about it?"

Following the legal review, the FTA will be signed by the Colombian  
and Canadian governments and brought to each country's legislative  
bodies for ratification. In spite of the serious legitimacy crisis of  
the Colombian government, there is little doubt that the FTA will be  
signed there. The Uribe government is in a desperate situation in  
terms of legitimacy, and Canada's endorsement is essential to deflect  
international criticism.

Clearly, the Canadian government has nothing to offer Colombia in  
terms of democracy other than a veneer of credibility unduly enjoyed  
by Canada in the world. But just as real democracy means much more  
than elections every few years, the vitality of debate in any country  
must be viewed from the bottom up, from what is going on in  
communities and among social movements.

Whose resistance is it, anyways?

One day after Democrats in the US House of Representatives froze the  
Bush Administration's attempt to push the US-Colombia FTA through  
Congress, the Association of Indigenous Councils of Northern Cauca  
(ACIN) sent an open letter to US House Representative Nancy Pelosi. In  
that letter, they outlined clear lessons destined for the US public,  
lessons that are no doubt relevant for Canadians as well. The  
indigenous communities of Northern Cauca do not politely ask to be  
heard, they demand it.

On the 5th of March 2005, six municipalities in the department of  
Cauca held the first Popular Consultation on free trade in Colombia*.  
The referendum was monitored by national and international observers  
and included a process of popular consciousness-raising, reflection,  
decision and action.

Ninety-eight percent of the people responded NO to the following  
question: "Are you in favour of the FTA between Colombia and the  
United States?"

Since that popular consultation, others have been carried out in  
different parts of Colombia. In short, an illegitimate regime is  
progressively being replaced by direct democracy in communities in  
resistance.

Imagine the bravery of people who continue to resist and seek  
alternatives in the context of a brutal war, a plan of integral  
aggression directed at displacing them from the territories where they  
live for the benefit of transnational corporations, who seek resources  
and cheap, 'flexiblized' labour from a population living in a state of  
permanent shock.

The Colombian government attempted to discredit the referendum in  
Cauca, taking a position that is racist by inferring that those who  
voted are incapable of understanding and consciously deciding for  
themselves, that they could not understand the fruits of 'free trade.'

Imagine their bravery, and then look in the mirror. What have  
Canadians done? How have they engaged in this issue, or any issue for  
that matter, and taken matters into their own hands? Many Canadians  
may never know the difficulties of people resisting the military  
imposition of an economic model that is ultimately intended for the  
entire planet, or for 'our Mother Earth' as the indigenous peoples in  
Cauca call it. Many Canadians may not know the extent to which they  
are kept in the dark through the entrenched telling and retelling of  
the "Canada the good" mythology.

In some ways, the victims are not only those in Colombia who have  
claimed political agency for themselves at high costs, but also those  
of us in Canada who cannot see the extend to which the atrocities of  
our own history provide the backbone for the perpetuation of war and  
suffering for the benefit of a tiny few.

The Canada-Colombia FTA is just a part of the latest chapter in that  
history. The alarm bells rang generations and generations ago, but  
have we heard them?

It's time to wake up, eh?

*Read more about the Popular Consultation held in Cauca, Colombia, in  
March 2005: http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1224/61/

Michèal Ó Tuathail is a member of the La Chiva Collective (www.canadacolombiaproject.blogspot.com 
), a group of people working in solidarity with Colombian and Canadian  
social movements and communities.