The Colombia trade deal

The Administration has announced that it will be pushing the Colombia free trade agreement. USA Today notes that "In Colombia, labor leaders have been subjected to violence." Sometimes that's known by the other name, what we call "murder."

Greg Grandin was ahead of the curve on this and last week at The Nation he previewed it, and why it's so terrible.

Back in 2008 there was a Senator who said:

And I'll also oppose the Colombia Free Trade Agreement if President Bush insists on sending it to Congress because the violence against unions in Colombia would make a mockery of the very labor protections that we have insisted be included in these kinds of agreements.

The junior senator from Illinois, that was. He continued:

So you can trust me when I say that whatever trade deals we negotiate when I'm President will be good for American workers, and that they'll have strong labor and environmental protections that we'll enforce.

That doesn't actually appear to be in the cards.