Human Rights Watch reported that Colombia had the highest murder rate of trade unionists in the world and 4,000 disappearances last year. Nevertheless, Time Magazine reported that kidnappings are down ten-fold in the past four years, and the annual murder rate has dropped from 28,000 to 17,000. —Dorothy Kosich writing in "Nine Colombian geologists kidnapped by leftist FARC"

Another triumph of American foreign policy. Now that Chiquita Banana has withdrawn from Colombia and cut off its contributions to the right-wing AUC ("United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia"), the paramilitaries will need sources of income other than what they receive more or less directly from the U.S. The country is ripe for tourism.

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Tags: * Colombia murder rate unions right-wing paramilitaries death squads AUC