In April, President Obama and Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos reinitiated discussions on establishing a free trade agreement. The agreement is now scheduled to be implemented by the end of the year, and the Colombian port city of Buenaventura will likely be one of the most directly affected places, at a high cost to the local community. This article was originally published in the July/August 2011 issue of the NACLA Report on the Americas.

Rather than a “free trade” agreement between the United States and Colombia, the plan that will be sent to Congress should be understood as a corporate and financial liberalization agreement. Workers, in Colombia and the United States, have little to gain, and everything to lose. This article was originally published in the May/June 2011 issue of the NACLA Report on the Americas.

During President Barack Obama's five-day trip to Latin America from March 19-23, many throughout the hemisphere waited to hear whether Obama would demonstrate the new era of “mutual interest and mutual respect” with the region that he had promised during his campaign. What they heard was mostly “más de lo mismo” (more of the same), dressed up in a language of “partnership” and cooperation.