U.S. Democrat Congressman Sander Levin, a strong opponent to the Colombia-U.S.
free trade agreement is in Colombia. During his visit Levin will meet
with Colombian authorities as well as NGOs and workers movements to
assess if he thinks the agreement should be ratified.
As President of the U.S subcommittee on Trade, which
remains the main obstacle to the ratification of the agreement signed
in November 2006, Levin’s position is important. The agreement must be approved by Levin’s subcommittee before it can be ratified by the U.S.
Levin, who is closely involved with U.S. labor union movement, has said that Colombia “must end violence against trade unionism and reduce the high levels of impunity” within the country before a free trade agreement will be considered.
His visit to Colombia follows that of several other U.S. congressmen, who also visited the country to assess if Colombia is meeting the standards that the U.S. requires in order to ratify.
Levin said his visit is a preamble to another visit with a larger group of legislators that will happen later this year. He also said the U.S will give serious consideration to the ratification in 2010, if Colombia has made headway in improving conditions.
