This recent death threat by the Colombian paramilitary death squad Aguilas Negras may be quite shocking for Americans, but it represents a chilling everyday reality for many Colombian labor leaders and human rights activists. Where is the outrage in the American press over the fact that the United States government has funded and continues to fund the militarization of this country through Plan Colombia? Why are major newspapers across the United States now adding insult to injury by editorializing in favor of President Uribe and a pending investor rights agreement that will lock in the existing conditions of state supported violence and terror?

First Commandment: Consume only what is necessary, avoid extravagance, waste, luxury and the desire to get rich.

President Evo Morales told the United Nations that in order to save the planet, we must eradicate the capitalist model, and the North must pay its ecological debt.  This was the first of Ten Commandments presented by the leader during the inauguration of the VII Indigenous Forum of the United Nations during a long speech that received high acclaim by those who attended the annual encounter.  

Condoleezza Rice

U.S. State Department

Dear Secretary Rice,

We, the undersigned, write with concern about U.S. foreign policy towards Bolivia. It is important that the United States appreciate the historical context of changes currently underway in that country and the tensions created. At such a sensitive time, the U.S. must be careful not to appear biased, and should support a peaceful and constitutional resolution in Bolivia.

We ask that USAID and the National Endowment for Democracy stop funding regional government initiatives and opposition groups in Bolivia.

PRESS RELEASE

NEW ORLEANS PEOPLE'S SUMMIT www.summitneworleans.org

NEW ORLEANS (April 22, 2008) - The "Three Amigos" of North America showed once more that they will ignore the growing clamor to renegotiate NAFTA and will continue to push our countries in the same direction through the North American Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP). With the fourth Summit shrouded in more secrecy, the People's Summit gathered to build knowledge and understanding of how what is being discussed inside impacts our daily lives. Over 30 local, national and international organizations and networks hosted the New Orleans People's Summit: Our Response to NAFTA Expansion April 20-22 in New Orleans, LA with participation from groups based in New Orleans, other parts of the U.S., Mexico, Canada, and Quebec.

Dear Member of Congress,

On the occasion of the 4^th Leaders Summit of the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), to be held in New Orleans on April 21-22, we take this opportunity to call on all members of Congress to educate themselves on the SPP, which was never brought to Congress for debate or vote.  Our concerns include the opaque and undemocratic nature of the SPP, its definition of "prosperity" as the expansion of a failed trade model, and its definition of "security" as the expansion of military force and the restricting of civil liberties.   

April 21 - 23, 2008 · New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Coming together for our communities

Linking the Gulf Coast struggle to the fight for the survival of communities in Mexico, Canada, & the rest of the United States

Building collective knowledge and action to transform NAFTA & other unjust economic policies pushed by Bush, Calderon, & Harper

VISIT THE THE"PEOPLE'S SUMMIT" WEBSITE

Address by Elizabeth Garcia Carillo for Ecumenical Advocacy Days March, 2008

As part of our advocacy efforts to stop the U.S. Free Trade Agreement with Colombia, ART hosted Elizabeth Garcia Carillo for a week of visits to key members of Congress in order to speak about the impact of the FTA on indigenous, Afro-Colombian and displaced populations. Elizabeth represents the Confederation of Tryona Peoples, and is a lawyer for the Process for Black Communities, an umbrella organization of Afro -Colombian communities and organizations.

President Bush is threatening to force a vote on the Free Trade Agreement over the objection of Congressional leadership!. Most recently, the Administration has said that it will be introduced immediately after the March recess.

A proposal from North American civil society networks

Politicians throughout North America (Canada, Mexico and the United States) are beginning to recognize what the majority of citizens already know - the North American Free Trade Agreement's (NAFTA) promises have not been fulfilled and new policies are urgently needed. There is growing awareness that quality jobs have disappeared, only to be replaced by insecure and low remuneration employment, while income inequality has risen to almost unprecedented levels.

The people of Colombia are facing a pivotal moment. The Bush and Uribe Administrations and U.S. corporate power have launched an all out campaign to whitewash the human rights situation in Colombia in order to push a Free Trade Agreement between our countries. The U.S. Congress is being skilfully pressured into rubberstamping this flawed agreement. But you can help bring our Colombian partners to Washington to deliver the reality check Congress needs to say no to this broken treaty!

A rally in in support of 5 Peruvian farmers killed by the Peruvian government was held today at noon in front of the Peruvian consulate in NYC. The protesters are asking for the Alan Garcia government to respect the life and the rights of Peruvian farmers in their struggle against the US-Peru FTA - Free Trade Agreement. The protest was sponsored by the NYC People's Referendum on Free Trade.

News from the Nicaragua Solidarity Network (NSN) of Greater New York
NSN page

Campesinos and farmers started an open-ended strike in eight Peruvian departments on Feb. 18, holding marches and blocking highways to demand government measures to ease the impact of a free trade agreement (FTA, or TLC in Spanish) with the US. The action was called by the National Convention of Agriculture (Conveagro), the National Council of Irrigation Users (JNUDR) and the National Agrarian Confederation (CNA). According to JNUDR president Enrique Málaga, the FTA, which is to lift tariffs on heavily subsidized US farm products, will harm more than 1.75 million Peruvian farms. "

From the Stop CAFTA Coalition and the Quixote Center:

In Costa Rica, there has been a call for nationwide actions by farmers, indigenous communities, civic and patriotic committees and diverse social organizations organizing against the US-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA). The action will take place Wednesday the 27th and Thursday the 28th this week. They will be protesting the implementation agenda for the laws required under DR-CAFTA, and they have asked that organizations in the U.S. send letters of support for their movement. Several of us have quickly constructed a letter, which has an initial group of signers. We apologize for the short time line but the Costa Rican groups would like to have this letter to take to the action on Wednesday. We are only asking organizations who can decide quickly to sign on to this.

The deadline is Today Feb 26th 6pm EST! If your organization can sign the letter below, please send your organizational adhesions to: burke@cispes.org.

The undersigned groups and individuals in the United States offer our solidarity with the struggles of the people of Costa Rica and the Patriotic Committees in this moment of decision

Les compartimos el Boletín El Observatorio de los DESC correspondiente a diciembre 2007, en los cual presentamos nuestro seguimiento periodístico mensual a los Derechos Humanos incluidos en el PIDE

Les compartimos el Boletín El Observatorio de los DESC correspondiente a noviembre 2007, en los cual presentamos nuestro seguimiento periodístico mensual a los Derechos Humanos incluidos en el PI

Les compartimos el Boletín El Observatorio de los DESC correspondiente a octubre 2007, en el cual presentamos nuestro seguimiento periodístico mensual a los Derechos Humanos incluidos en el PIDESC.

Here are descriptions of actions and links to the videos made from groups in Chicago, Portland, Louisville and Boston as a part of the call by the World Social Forum to demonstrate widespread opposition to the status quo.

Chicago:
Dear friends:
Many thanks to all the Chicago-based groups that signed on to the letter initiated by the Chicago Trade With Justice Working Group, opposing ratification of the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement. The letter was delivered this morning to the Chicago offices of Senators Durbin and Obama, and it is also being faxed to all members of the U.S. House from Illinois.

You can read the final text of the letter below, or by clicking on this link: http://mingas.info/node/72

Further, in a video just posted on YouTube, members of several of these groups give their reasons for opposing the U.S.-Colombia FTA. We encourage you to view it, give it a rating, and leave a comment to increase visibility on the site:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=HgTzdJ2Rkqs

Please feel free to share the information and these links with others and encourage them to do the same. Select this article to read the letter and see links to the actions of the other groups.

This is a series of seven documents which have been written by RECALCA in Colombia which offers a myriad of reasons why the U.S. should not sign a Free Trade Agreement with Colombia.

This is a series of seven documents which have been written by RECALCA in Colombia which offers a myriad of reasons why the U.S. should not sign a Free Trade Agreement with Colombia.

This is a series of seven documents which have been written by RECALCA in Colombia which offers a myriad of reasons why the U.S. should not sign a Free Trade Agreement with Colombia.

This is a series of seven documents which have been written by RECALCA in Colombia which offers a myriad of reasons why the U.S. should not sign a Free Trade Agreement with Colombia.

This is a series of seven documents which have been written by RECALCA in Colombia which offers a myriad of reasons why the U.S. should not sign a Free Trade Agreement with Colombia.

This is one in a series of seven documents which have been written by RECALCA in Colombia which offers a myriad of reasons why the U.S. should not sign a Free Trade Agreement with Colombia.

This is one in a series of seven documents which have been written by RECALCA in Colombia which offers a myriad of reasons why the U.S. should not sign a Free Trade Agreement with Colombia.

They're killing democracy in Bolivia

Just as Europe learned in a cruelly difficult way, democracy must be lived, reinvented, and constantly defended, not only within our democratic countries but also in the rest of the world. No democracy is an island. Democracies should help each other mutually. This is why today I'm calling on our leaders and our press to declare: Yes, the young Bolivian democracy is in mortal danger.

In Bolivia we find ourselves in the midst of a historic moment.

In spite of recent violent and antidemocratic resistance to change, carried out by a traditional ruling elite who have benefited from a state and society based in exclusion - and in which the majority of the populations lived in servitude -; today the majority of Bolivians, with the support of the government, the determination of social movements and indigenous peoples, and the historic imperative for change in Bolivian society, have finished a first chapter in a process of change - the beginning of a beginning - by approving a new National Constitution.

http://www.ain-bolivia.org/

Bolivia's Constitutional Assembly held a sixteen hour session December 8 and 9 in Oruro, and, according to the assembly members present and the Morales administration, approved the new constitution before the December 14 deadline. However, opposition governors of Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando, Tarija, and Cochabamba and opposition and pro-Sucre assembly members have declared the new charter illegal, because they interpret it as an attempt to consolidate power in the executive, and refuse to recognize it. Moreover, the opposition departments will unveil their own "Autonomy Statutes" from December 13-15. In La Paz, President Morales and assembly members will celebrate the approval of the new constitution. These events will likely incur further conflicts unless the opposition and government begin to dialogue.

We are seeking organizational signatures for the letter below to the World Bank President. Last May, the government of Bolivia took a bold step towards challenging the excessive and anti-democratic powers of global corporations by withdrawing from the World Bank's investment arbitration court. That court is now refusing to respect the Bolivian government's actions and allowing an egregious case brought by a European telecommunications company to proceed.

This past Saturday December 15th, members of the recently formed ‘Chicago Trade with Justice Working Group' paid a visit to the Obama for America headquarters in Chicago. They wanted to tell Senator Barack Obama that they are concerned with his failure to appear at the recent Senate vote on the US-Peru "Free Trade" Agreement. They left a statement for Obama expressing their disappointment that he skipped the vote on the Peru trade pact. They were even more concerned that Obama, along with Sen Hillary Clinton, made public statements supporting the Peru Trade deal and that Illinois Senator from Illinois, Dick Durbin, voted in favor of it.

To see a video of the action, go to:

Hi Res: http://blip.tv/file/544160/
or
YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBw3IVwd58w

Representative Marcy Kaptur has drafted a bill, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Accountability Act, H.R. 4329
This legislation would require evaluation of NAFTA impacts and renegotiation or withdrawal from NAFTA if certain conditions are not met.
The bill is co-sponsored by Representatives: Boyda (D-KS), Hunter (R-CA), Phil Hare (D-IL), Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), Mike Michaud (D-ME), Tim Ryan (D-OH), Betty Sutton (D-OH), and Raùl Grijalva (D-AZ).

Representative Marcy Kaptur has drafted a bill requiring evaluation of NAFTA impacts and renegotiation or withdrawal from NAFTA if certain conditions are not met. Current Cosponsors of this legislati

Sr. Pedro Pablo Quirós Cortés                Lunes, 26 de Noviembre de 2007

Presidente Ejecutivo

ICE

Estimado Señor

Sabemos que usted tiene un conocimiento detallado de las implicaciones que tendrán para el Grupo ICE los dos proyectos de ley que están siendo debatidos en la Asamblea Legislativa, para la Modernización de las Empresas de Telecomunicaciones del Estado y la de Telecomunicaciones; usted las conoce bien porque sus ideas están presentes en ellas, dada su participación activa en su estructuración y redacción.

Señores (as) San José Lunes 26 de Noviembre de 200

Diputados (as) de la

Asamblea Legislativa

Presente.-

Estimados (as) señores (as):

Acudimos a ustedes de manera respetuosa pero vehemente para manifestar nuestra protesta e inconformidad por la forma absolutamente irresponsable con que el llamado bloque de los 38 impuso un trámite, a todas luces irregular, a dos proyectos de ley que afectan sensiblemente al Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad, ICE.

En el marco de las discusiones que ha generado el proceso de ratificación por los respectivos Congresos del Tratado de Libre Comercio suscrito entre los gobiernos colombiano y estadounidense, la administración de Álvaro Uribe Vélez ha difundido entre los círculos gubernamentales de los Estados Unidos la idea de que el movimiento sindical colombiano está dividido y que un sector "mayoritario" apoya el TLC. En este documento les demostraremos que esa idea no corresponde a la realidad del movimiento sindical colombiano.

A los medios de comunicación A los medios alternativos A los pueblos de Oaxaca, del país y el mundo. En los días 17 y 18 de noviembre de 2007 se realizo La tercera asamblea estatal de la APPO en el auditorio del hotel del magisterio, con la participación amplia, abierta y plural del pueblo dicha asamblea, responde a la necesidad de la reorganización desde abajo de manera urgente en torno las demandas siguientes: La libertad inmediata de todos los presos políticos y de conciencia, y la exigencia del castigo inmediato a los asesinos materiales e intelectuales responsables de los crímenes políticos del año pasado.

Se aconseja al Gobierno evaluar el impacto del DR-CAFTA sobre el disfrute de los derechos económicos, sociales y culturales

Ginebra, 26 de noviembre 2007 - ¿Preocupados por el impacto del Tratado de Libre Comercio de América Central- República Dominicana -Estados Unidos (en adelante, TLC) sobre los derechos humamos? También lo están los defensores del Pacto Internacional de Derechos Económicos, Sociales y Culturales.

Government Advised to Assess the Impact of CAFTA-DR on the Enjoyment of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Geneva, 26 November 2007 --Worried about the impact of CAFTA-DR on human rights? So are the guardians of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

During the recent appearance of Costa Rica before the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Committee members raised concerns about the effects of the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) on various economic, social and cultural rights in Costa Rica, including the rights to health, social security, food and water.

San José, Costa Rica, 18 de noviembre del 2007
San José.- El Gobierno de Costa Rica, ante el temor de enfrentarse a organizaciones populares, decidió suspender el acto de la firma del Tratado de Libre Comercio con Estados Unidos -TLC - en el Teatro Popular Melico Salazar, en el corazón de esta capital, programado para el pasado 14 de noviembre. "En un acto en el que participarían todos los poderes del Estado, la Iglesia Católica, invitados especiales de las cámaras empresariales y el Cuerpo Diplomático en pleno, el Presidente Oscar Arias tenía planeado, con fanfarria y champán, darle el "ejecútese", a dicho Tratado". [1]

Call Your Senator during their Thanksgiving recess and tell them the American people want real, not cosmetic changes, to the free trade model.

In last November's elections, the voters sent Congress a strong message that the American people want a change in trade policy. The Wall Street journal reported that six in 10 Republicans in a recent poll agreed with a statement that free trade has been bad for the U.S.

On November 8^th the House of Representatives ignored this mandate and voted 285 to 135 to pass the US-Peru Free Trade Agreement, a NAFTA-style free trade deal which will be devastating to family farmers, indigenous people, workers, the environment and people with AIDS. A vote in the Senate is likely to take place just after the return from recess on December 3^rd.

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) - November 20

Ecuador's leftist President Rafael Correa will control more than 60 percent of an assembly writing a new constitution for the politically unstable nation, according to official election results Monday.

CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA November 2007

Dear Congressional Representatives,

The Costa Rican Patriotic Committees emerged spontaneously in all of Costa Rica -without any association to political parties or personal interests- to oppose CAFTA, since it is detrimental to our country and society.

For immediate release Contact: Tom Loudon (301) 204-9549
November 8, 2007

(27 de octubre, 2007)

Hoy quisiera declarar mi oposición al Tratado de Libre Comercio entre EEUU y el Perú, negociado por la administración Bush y que actualmente está bajo consideración en el Congreso norteamericano para ser aprobado. A pesar de los esfuerzos de muchos congresistas demócratas, organizaciones sindicales y defensores del comercio justo por incluir en el acuerdo normas laborales internacionales, lo que resultó sólo incluía referencias a principios generales y no a normas específicas.

The following statement was sent via email to 1,400 people in Congress on Monday November 5^th, including all the trade LAs, Chief of Staff, Legislative Directors and Congress people. Congratulations to the grassroots initiative behind this statement, especially to Grassroots Global Justice and folks from across the country gathering on regular conference calls to stop the Peru FTA.

The US-Peru Free Trade Agreement is ready to go to Congress for a vote any day. We need your help in sending a strong message that expanding NAFTA and CAFTA to Peru is a bad idea.

Peru, Colombia, Panama, & South Korea "free" trade agreements are being pushed hard by the Bush Administration.

Peru is first: It's out of committee and on the House floor. It is anticipated that it will come to a vote on November 7, 2007. The Peru FTA is bad enough on its own, but if it passes with a big margin, then it will be easier for Bush to get the remaining three FTAs passed.

Published on Wednesday, October 17, 2007 by CommonDreams.org

by Ellen R. Shaffer and Joe Brenner

Center for Policy Analysis on Trade and Health (CPATH)

Elected officials are trailing voters on the critical issues of trade and health. Voters, including Republicans, increasingly oppose the current crop of trade agreements and also support raising taxes to pay for health care, according to recent polls.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Despite the ratification by the government of Peru of all eight ILO core labour conventions, numerous violations of those standards continue to take place, particularly with regard to trade union rights. Fundamental changes are required in order to comply fully with the commitments Peru has made at both the ILO and the WTO.

Aviso de Prensa: October 19, 2007Para difundir de Inmediato! Contactos: Tom Loudon, Alianza para un Comercio Responsable (301) 204-9549

Just over half way through the stipulated time period before certification of the referendum on CAFTA will take place, a meticulous counting of every vote is happening in front of TV cameras, accompanied by a detailed accounting process. For the uninitiated, this provides the illusion of squeaky transparency; how could there be voter fraud here?

However, the fraud was committed long before the voting even started - and so far, there is no institution or mechanism willing to name that.

For Immediate Release: October 17, 2007

Thank you for defending Costa Rican Democracy! We are pushing hard to be able to publish this ad in the Diario Extra by Friday, and you've gotten us a lot closer. We'll keep you updated by email and send you a copy of the ad. We will let you know what happens in Costa Rica.

The Honorable José Miguel Insulza
Secretary General
Organization of American States
17th Street & Constitution Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20006

Manipulation and Pressure Tactics win the CAFTA Referendum

October 7, 2007- As we head out to observe the voting on the CAFTA referendum, it seems appropriate to compare the state of democracy in the U.S. with that of Costa Rica. We have only been here a short time, but we've received an intensive course in Costa Rican history and politics. It has become obvious from this instruction that we in the U.S. have much to learn, if we are to prevent the complete dissolution of the few semblances of democracy which remain in our country.

We quickly learned that the referendum campaign has included a permanent and massive campaign of fear mongering from the Costa Rican and U.S. governments and a large segment of the corporate sector here. There are many examples of this operation.

The scandal that broke yesterday around the funding of the campaign of President Arias provides yet another insight into what is at stake in the referendum on CAFTA. (The source story in Spanish)

By Jessica Walker Beaumont, Alliance for Responsible Trade

October 6, 2007 - the eve before the first ever referendum on a trade agreement

            We headed out of the office at 7am, destination San Carlos, a city about 120 kilometers from San Jose. In addition to giving the delegation a splendid tour, the purpose was to take the latest flyers and stickers to offices there and around the province of Alejuela.  By the end of the day we would feel, up close, the energy of popular participation in this David and Goliath struggle. 

Costa Rica is buzzing with ‘referendum fever.' It is lit up almost as if there were a presidential election. Because Costa Rica has relatively strong institutions, one of which is the Electoral Tribunal, it is possible to have some idea of which side of this life or death debate has had the most funding. Of the $58,000,000. which has been spent on the campaign only about $4,000,000. has been spent by the people who oppose the referendum. It is known that the U/S/ Embassy has poured generous quantities of money into the campaign for passing of the referendum. (This is increasingly their notion of ‘foreign aid')

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I rise to speak in this Chamber about a story unfolding right now in Costa Rica.

Costa Rica is the only country in Central America that has not ratified CAFTA. On October 7th, an historic National Referendum will decide the fate of CAFTA, which is largely opposed by Costa Rican civil society. ART, in coordination with the Stop CAFTA coalition, has organized a delegation to observe the Referendum process.

Last week the Stop-CAFTA Coalition released the report on two years of CAFTA impact at a news conference in Costa Rica, where a referendum will be held on October 7th to decide if CAFTA will be implemented there.

RED REGIONAL DE MONITOREO DE LOS IMPACTOS DEL TLC ENTRE CENTROAMÉRICA REPÚBLICA DOMINICANA Y ESTADOS UNIDOS

Por este medio les estamos compartiendo el Boletín Maíz del Pueblo No. 6, correspondiente al bimestre mayo-junio 2007.

CONFERENCE OBJECTIVES:

THE INTERNATIONAL FORUM ON GLOBALIZATION, THE INSTITUTE FOR POLICY STUDIES, GLOBAL PROJECT ON ECONOMIC TRANSITIONS AND THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY PROGRESSIVE STUDENT UNION ANNOUNCE A TEACH-IN

PRESS STATEMENT 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For Immediate Release
Monday, August 20th 2007

By Jessica Walker Beaumont, Alliance for Responsible Trade

October 6, 2007 - the eve before the first ever referendum on a trade agreement

Dear Friends of Fair Trade:

President Bush appeals to national security in an intensified push to get Congress to pass four Free Trade Agreements (Peru, Panama, Colombia and Korea). On July 18, 2007, the Congress Daily reports, "In an echo of rhetoric rarely heard since the end of the Cold War, the administration plans to increasingly point to trade as a weapon to block the influence of regimes that seek to promote socialist ideas in Latin America."

Citi Bank sends letter to Congress asking for swift approval of the four Free Trade Agreements with Peru, Colombia, Panama and Korea. Stating that the FTA's are essential for "creating new market opportunities and eliminating discrimination for Citi and other U.S. financial institutions," the letter outlines a hefty package of benefits afforded to Citi through the FTA's.

NEW INCREASE OF POLICE REPRESSION AGAINST POPULAR MOVEMENT IN OAXACA! This Monday, 16th July, about 11:30 am, members of the local police, the preventive police and the bank & industry police confronted, with gas bombs and stones, a demonstration from the Popular Assembly of the Oaxacan Peoples (APPO) and teachers from the XXII section of the National Union of Education Workers who tried to get to the Guelaguetza Auditorium, located at the Fortín Hill in Oaxaca City, as part of the popular festival of the Oaxacans.

June 27-July 1, 2007

Not the Way Forward on Trade

Advocates for better trade policy cry foul as the Democratic Leadership Announces a Secret Deal with Bush

ESTIMADAS AMIGAS Y AMIGOS:

Dear Friends:
As you already know Bolivia decided to withdraw from the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in a initiative taken during the Celebration of the First Year of ALBA-TCP the 29th April. The decision was taken toghether with Venezuela and Nicaragua.

ART is a national network of labor, family-farm, religious, women's, environmental, development and research organizations that promotes equitable and sustainable trade and development. ART is the representative coalition to the Hemispheric Social Alliance (HSA), a hemispheric wide organization of coalitions which are challenging the dominant models of power. more about ART

Washington, Apr 17 -2007

WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 17) - Today Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) sent a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, advocating the immediate return of Cuban-exile Luis Posada Carriles to Venezuela to be tried for his acts of terrorism.

Posada Carriles is a CIA-trained operative implicated in a series of terrorists incidents, including the bombing of the Cubana Airlines civilian airliner that killed 73 people on October 6, 1976. In November 2000, Posada Carriles was arrested in Panama for preparing a bomb to explode in the University of Panama's Conference Hall, where Fidel Castro was scheduled to deliver a speech.

"The United States must cooperate with the global community to further the protection of our citizens from terrorists. Posada Carriles should be tried for his crimes and will be if extradited to Venezuela. Releasing Posada Carriles would be a grave mistake," Kucinich said.

"Not only is there a likelihood that he would evade prosecution in the United States and elsewhere, but the United States will be sending the wrong message to the international community. The United States has stated that it will not tolerate the harboring or encouragement of terrorists. We must ensure that this government follows the policies it expounds."

The letter Kucinich sent stated:

OUTLINE OF PRESENTATION for the: "Challenging the Empire and its SPP" Workshop

A table compiled by Scott Sinclair, from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, listing over 40 cases filed against the Canadian government by private investors.

Democrats offer a trade policy that will:

Canada's Part in the Global Integration of Labour Markets
At the September 2006, United Nations High-Level Dialogue on
International Migration and Development, the International Organization
for Migration (IOM) made a proposal for a set of measures to integrate
labour markets around the world, and ultimately make them yet more
flexible.
The ‘International Migration and Development Initiative' emerged from
discussions between the IOM- an inter-governmental organization
established in 1951- the private sector, the World Bank, and some
governments. Moving beyond the weakening of collective agreements,
and of unions in general, witnessed over the past twenty-five years, the
IMDI argues:

The North American Forum on a People-Centered Approach to Trade Summary Report will highlight key messages from the collective perspectives of North American progressive legislators and civil society actors in Canada, Mexico and the U.S.
Participants of the Forum worked to build an inventory of the North American actions which affect the way trade has been managed under NAFTA and to examine the Security and Prosperity Partnership Initiative (SPP), two components of the broader neo-liberal market-driven agenda, a legal bill of rights for transnational corporations. NAFTA and NAFTA Plus serve to prevent our respective governments from doing anything that would interfere with corporations' freedom - even when their activities are detrimental to peoples' economic, social and environmental well-being.

A decade after the North American Free Trade Agreement came into effect, the governments of Canada, the United States and Mexico agreed to develop a new regulatory framework for North America.  The "Security and Prosperity Partnership" is a process of negotiation concerning ongoing economic and political integration in North America. These discussions are being held behind closed doors.  Corporate executives are the only ones who are being consulted on the priorities for further cooperation in North America, while the security interests of the United States shape the boundaries of the discussion.

Despues de haber realizado un analisis colectivo y consensuado sobre la realidad que vive la mayoria de la poblacion salvadoreña, de haber reflexionado que las acciones reactivas a las coyunturas nacionales y/o internacionales, no tienen el impacto politico deseado en la sociedad, de haber constatado, por esfuerzos previos ya experimentados, que actuando coordinanda y sistematicamente podemos lograr mejores resultados, llegamos al reconocimiento de que necesitabamos fortalecer un espacio que aglutinara la diversidad de identidades, institucionales y personales, en funcion de una lucha comun para trabajar por lograr la paz, la justicia social y la equidad de genero, teniendo a la base el reconocimiento de la dignidad de las personas, que cada vez mas en nuestro paiz, esta siendo desconocida.

RECALCA: Colombian Action Network confronting Free Trade and the FTAA
March, 2007.

RECALCA: Colombian Action Network confronting Free Trade and the FTAA
March, 2007.