colombia

BP Faces Damages Claim Over Pipeline Through Colombian Farmland

Ninety-five Colombian farmers are suing the oil company BP in the high court in London for allegedly causing serious damage to their land, crops and animals.

In the first case of its kind, the farmers are claiming that BP Exploration Company (Colombia) Ltd, which joined forces with Colombia's national oil company and four foreign multinational corporations in a consortium to construct the 450-mile (720km) Ocensa pipeline, caused landslides and damage to soil and groundwater, causing crops to fail, livestock to perish, contaminating water supplies and making fish ponds unsustainable.

Posted in agriculture, Equality/Justice, oil, pollution, public health, colombia

Signing of Colombia Bases Deal Could Set the Stage for 'Expeditionary Warfare'

After several months of secrecy and controversy, on October 30th the US and Colombia signed an agreement to allow the United States military extensive access to s

Posted in US military bases, colombia

Colombia Rights Defenders say They're Under Constant Attack

BOGOTA -- Human rights defenders in Colombia are under constant attack for their work, facing murder, death threats, illegal surveillance, arbitrary detentions and prosecutions, activists told a congressional panel in Washington on Tuesday.

Posted in Human Rights, colombia

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 13, 2009
5:49 PM

CONTACT: Broad Coalition

John Lindsay-Poland, Fellowship of Reconciliation, 510-282-8983. johnlp@igc.org
Nnenna Ozobia, Transafrica Forum, 202-553-7186. nozobia@transafricaforum.org
Cristina Espinel, Colombia Human Rights Committee, 202-997-1358. colhrc@igc.org
Robert Naiman, Just Foreign Policy, cell: 217-979-2857. naiman@justforeignpolicy.org
Medea Benjamin, CODEPINK, cell: 415-235-6517. medea@globalexchange.org

Religious and Grassroots Leaders Urge Clinton to Suspend Military Base Talks With Colombia

Bases deal “presents enormous dangers for entire hemisphere”

NATIONWIDE - August 13 - Over one hundred religious, national, community organizations and leaders and academics today called on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to "suspend negotiations for expanded U.S. military access or operations in Colombia," a plan that has generated a swell of protest among Latin American countries, including Colombia, the largest recipient of U.S. military aid in the hemisphere.

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Posted in US military bases, colombia

Half Century of US Military Presence in Colombia

BOGOTA - In the 1960s, it went by the name of Latin American Security Operation, or Plan LASO; today it is known as Plan Colombia. Back then, the aim was to weed out communism; now it is to combat drug trafficking, while at the same time dealing a blow to the guerrillas.

Posted in foreign policy, colombia

Colombia and Ecuador: Two Different Countries, Two Mining Futures

They may have torn relations and be at constant loggerheads, they may have wildly contrasting political cultures and leaders, but Colombia and Ecuador do have at least one thing in common: they both appear destined to become major mining countries. They also have both been slow developers on the mining front, lagging behind countries like Peru and Chile. In 2008, while mining accounted for 7.3 percent of Peru’s GDP and 6.7 percent of Chile’s, the figure for Colombia was just 1.5 percent, and even lower for Ecuador. Both countries, though, have significant mining potential.

Posted in Environment, mining, pollution, colombia, ecuador

Colombia Under Fire From Neighbours Over US ‘Military Aggression’

It is the cocaine deal that threatens to divide a continent. President Uribe of Colombia has brought stability to his country by crushing the Farc guerrilla movement, but much of his drug eradication effort has been a failure.

The Latin American leader has now asked Washington to step in, inviting US forces into Colombian military bases to run operations against the country’s still-thriving narcotics industry.

Posted in US military bases, colombia

Seven New US Military Bases in Colombia Is Hardly a Move to the Left

In a recent edition of the Wall Street Journal, Mary Anastasia O'Grady laments an apparent shift left in the Obama administration's Latin America policy. Clearly, O'Grady hasn't been keeping up to date with current events. If she had been, she would have heard about negotiations underway between the U.S. and Colombia to establish at least seven U.S. military bases in Colombia.

Posted in Militarism, US military bases, colombia

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 1, 2009
1:19 PM

CONTACT: Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA)

Phone: (202) 223-4975
Email: coha@coha.org

Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement Could Be a Lose-Lose Deal

* The Canadian Parliament is on the verge of passing a free trade measure with Colombia * The trade deal faces staunch opposition from human and labor rights bodies

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Colombia could potentially exacerbate flagrant current human rights abuses in the country

WASHINGTON - May 1 - Just a few hours prior to meeting his counterparts from all over the Western Hemisphere at the recently concluded Summit of the Americas, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper reaffirmed Canada’s newfound commitment to the region, most clearly reflected in the newly signed free-trade deals with Peru and Colombia. On March 26, the Canadian government submitted legislation to the House of Commons that would implement the Canada-Colombia Free Trade, Labor Cooperation and Environment Agreements. Ottawa is confident that Parliament will ratify the treaties as early as June.

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Founded in 1975, the Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA), a nonprofit, tax-exempt independent research and information organization, was established to promote the common interests of the hemisphere, raise the visibility of regional affairs and increase the importance of the inter-American relationship, as well as encourage the formulation of rational and constructive U.S. policies towards Latin America.

Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA) Links:

Posted in ccfta, Economy/Trade, nafta, canada, colombia

Colombia: 'Drug Lords' Getting Free Pass on Worse Crimes?

WASHINGTON - Yet another of Colombia’s top paramilitary leaders was extradited to the U.S. Thursday to be brought up on drug trafficking charges despite the objections of some rights groups and questions raised by Colombian politicians visiting Washington.

Éver Veloza García was put on a plane for New York by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, making him the 15th high-ranking paramilitary leader to be extradited.

Posted in colombia