Tribune – Comment, news and reviews from Britain's democratic left

“Defence of human rights – hear it well – will be a firm and irrefutable commitment of my government…Colombians, I invite you to take part in the construction of a new dawn.” So spoke Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos on his inauguration in August.

The problem is that many of the country’s human rights indicators are heading in the opposite direction. According to union-backed pressure group Justice for Colombia (whose all-singing, all-dancing website relaunched just the other day) 37 trade unionists, civil society activists and children have been murdered in the three months since Santos took power, mostly by the army or paramilitary groups. (The figures haven’t been published online yet).

“Despite the rhetoric, and a sophisticated public relations effort by the Colombian regime, the perpetrators are not being brought to justice. Impunity continues to reign”, says JFC. They’re publicising the killings as part of a campaign to persuade the European Union not to grant Colombia a new free trade agreement.

Santos, for his part, acknowledged at his inauguration that killers’ impunity from prosecution was a problem, calling it “one of the great challenges of our time”.

Meanwhile kidnappings are on the rise – and not just of Colombians but foreigners too – and opposition politicians continue to be killed. The left’s most commonly cited bugbear against the Colombian government, the killing of trade unionists, isn’t looking good either. It will hit a record of over 60 for this year if the kill rate in the first six months of this year is repeated.