Ludlow being played out in Colombia today

Unfortunately the legacy of violence has been exported to Central America. Trade unionists are being slaughtered in Colombia today, over 2,500 murdered in the past 21 years. Prosecution rates are near nothing. The Economic Policy Institute reports,

This at a time when the Bush administration is pushing a friendly new trade deal for Columbia. As the Columbia free trade act is debated do not forget the murdered unionists from Ludlow and their brothers in Columbia.

As Christopher Hayes writes in The Nation,

Imagine a country where CEO's live in fear. In just the past five years, 400 CEO's -- from manufacturing, banking, real estate -- have been shot down in cold blood. (Thousands over the past 15 years.) Almost none of these murders have been solved. Indeed, over the past five years the percentage of CEO murders simply brought to trial has declined from 30% to zero. CEO's now more or less live in fear.

Can you imagine the US have friendly relations with such a place? Can you imagine a president expending political capital to treat that country favorably in an international agreement? Right. Of course not.

Of course, such a place does exist, but they're not murdering CEO's.

The unionists in Colombia are the heirs to the legacy of the Ludlow mine workers. They are sacrificing their lives in order to win a better future for their children. As the Colombia Free Trade pact moves through Congress remember Ludlow and pressure your Representatives and Senators not to reward murder.