Colombia is currently seeing a strike by many poor farmers in protest
of fair trade agreements with the United States, Canada, European
Union, and more recently Israel. The agreement instituted an elimination
of almost 70% of tariffs on US exports to foreign countries, flooding
their markets with cheap agricultural products.
The National Farmers Strike, or the "Rebellion of the Ponchos"
as it's being called, has spread to the streets of New York City, where
one protester in a Huffington Post interview likened the Colombian
people to a prostitute: "We have our legs completely spread open with free trade agreements with
the E.U., Canada, the U.S., and Israel. So there is no protectionism
that is currently protecting the Colombian economy right now."
The
fear is that poor Colombian farmers will no longer be able to make a
living on staple food products like milk, and corn due to trade
agreements signed by their untrustworthy government officials.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNoKfHzKJKk
The video above shows Colombians who are asking why they now import foreign products at the expense of Colombian farmers.
Colombia
is a country that is rich with natural resources, including a huge
amount of land devoted to agriculture; however, many poor farmers are no
longer able to make money selling their goods due to the fair trade
agreement which is designed to benefit foreign countries at the expense
of the Colombian people.
Colombia needs to straighten
out it's agricultural policies so that they allow farmers to receive
fair prices for their products, without the market influence from huge
over-producers like the United States.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/01/colombia-farmers-strike_n_3852284.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-23892958
No comments:
Post a Comment