by Annalise Udall Romoser
on May 17, 2012

Last night, 4, 200 boxes of beautiful flowers took flight on a plane from Bogotá, Colombia to Miami, Florida. They arrived early this morning to US shores and represent the first product to enter the US under the Colombia-United States Free Trade Agreement (FTA). The agreement went into effect today.
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by Eric Oliver
on April 20, 2012
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by Aldo Cívico
on May 11, 2012
El homicidio el pasado 27 de abril en Florida, Valle , de Daniel Aguirre Piedrahíta fue un asesinato de alto perfil. Él fue uno de los principales voceros de los corteros de caña y el secretario general de una de las más importantes organizaciones sindicales, Sinalcorteros. De origen campesino y un antiguo trabajador de Incauca, desde 2004 participó en todas las negociaciones con los directivos de los ingenios. Fue uno de los líderes de las huelgas de 2005 y 2008. Su lucha fue a favor de la contratación directa, la estabilidad laboral, los servicios sociales, las inversiones para la comunidad y el derecho a la unión sindical, entre otros.
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by Eric Oliver
on April 20, 2012
 “Very few people have been found, so the question’s always there: how do we talk about them? Is or was? Presence or absence?”
It’s hard to understand what exactly it means to be disappeared. One day a daughter, father, or aunt is there, and the next they aren’t. Families are left to search endlessly for their loved ones, meeting immense resistance from the government, and all the while never knowing if their loved one is across town or across the country, dead or alive.
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by Washington Office on Latin America
on May 01, 2012
On April 27, 2012, labor union leader Daniel Aguirre was murdered by an assailant who shot him in the head twice while he was walking home in the town of Florida in Valle del Cauca, Colombia. Mr. Aguirre was Secretary General of the SINALCORTEROS union and had been a leading figure in the sugarcane cutters’ movement since 2005.
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by Lisa Haugaard
on April 12, 2012
I can tell you what should be on the table for discussion at the Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia: The safety of the region’s human rights defenders.
Alexander Quintero campaigned for justice for the victims of Colombia's 2001 Naya River massacre, committed by paramilitary forces. “He brought us all together, indigenous, Afro-Colombian and mestizo communities,” said a colleague. “It could have been any of us,” a sobbing defender said, as she told me about his May 2010 murder.
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