The Shoemakers' Protest

'No more Chinese shoes,' marchers demand.

A cross on Plaza
Bolivar blames
contraband shoes..

Shoemakers marched down Ave. Septima today to protest against the importing of cheap Chinese-made shoes.

Many of Bogotá's shoemakers, concentrated in the low-income Restrepo neighborhood, are unsophisticated people with home workshops, who evidently can't compete with large scale Chinese factories - even tho the Chinese have to ship their shoes halfway across the globe.

It sure seems like a bad deal for Colombia to put a lot of skilled craftspeople out of work just to have slightly-cheaper shoes. And, without good jobs, who'll buy those shoes, anyway?

But the solution isn't subsidies, as the government has doled out to potato, coffee and other farmers. That's an unsustainable solution. Instead, perhaps they could provide these people training and business advice, tax incentives and other assistance.

A requiem for the Restrepo neighborhood, known for shoemaking and other leatherworks.

A protester carries a model bus. I have no idea why.

A shoemaking workshop in the Restrepo neighborhood.

A man in his home shoemaking workshop in the Restrepo neighborhood.

Colombian or Chinese imports? A shoe store in Bogotá

The sign says 'Mr. President, We Are Victims.' 'No to Chinese products.'

The protesters' banner says 'No to Asian products.'

Protesters march down Ave. Septima today.... 

...with riot police close behind.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

A Poor Year for Free Trade

'United States beats Colombia in first year of Free Trade Agreement,' headlines Sunday's El Tiempo.

The numbers are in, and they don't look great for Colombia.

After one year of the Free Trade Agreement with the United States imports from the US have shot up, but Colombia's non-traditional exports to the U.S. have risen little.

Potato farmers protest the Free Trade Agreement
recently in Bogotá.

The advocates, who called the FTA key for Colombia's economic growth, point out that the United States' economy has had a troubled year, which has generated weak imports. And, in fact, the first year's results show some hopeful signs: hundreds of small Colombian businesses have exported their products to many different parts of the U.S. And, encouragingly, the exports being sold to the gringos include manufactured products like vehicle parts, which generate skilled employment back here in Colombia. Close to 200 new products are being exported to the States, according to the Colombian government's count.

The benefits weren't equally distributed, however. While hundreds of companies based in big cities including Bogotá, Barranquilla and Cartagena started exporting to the States, traditionally poor regions like El Cauca and El Chocó benefited little.

'Exports to the U.S. didn't grow,'
reports El Espectador.

On the other hand, some Colombian exports, including agricultural products, declined.

But I've seen relatively little attention to the new imports, which are heavy on agricultural products, and their impacts. That's not surprising, since the U.S. heavily subsidizes its farming industry. A neighborhood nut seller told me that the importer he buys from has switched from Chilean to U.S. suppliers. Some of the US nuts were good quality, he said, but others didn't match the Chileans' quality.

I'd like to know what proportion of these agricultural imports are making healthy foods less expensive and more available, and what proportion is adding to the flood of cheap junk foods, which benefit nobody but their marketers. And then there are the cheaper cars, to jam Colombia's roads and poison its air.

And how about the victims, such as potato farmers, who now have to compete with mechanized U.S. megafarms, which receive huge subsidies from Washington?

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

March of the Milk Makers

Pedaling milk

Today, milk producers and sellers marched and pedaled in protest against a free trade agreement and laws prohibiting the sale of raw milk.

Cow costume

Down with the decree against raw milk!

Campesino farmers throughout Latin America have protested against free trade agreements, which they say open their markets to unfair competition from subsidized foreign products. Colombia recently signed a free trade agreement with the E.U., where many nations, like the U.S., subsidize their farmers, (although the E.U. promises to phase out the subsidies). Rich nation farmers also use more sophisticated farming methods and generally farm on a larger scale, reducing costs. On the other hand, Colombian farmers have happily exported milk to Venezuela.

The farmers also protested against proposed laws prohibiting the sale of raw milk, which may contain dangerous microbes , but which others claim brings health benefits. Some Bogotanos, mostly in poor neighborhoods, call raw milk 'real, real milk' and swear by it. But government inspectors have found that much raw milk doesn't meet health standards. The raw milk industry employs hundreds of people in Bogotá. The raw milkers won their battle, as the government backed off of its prohibition plans.

Colombia's conservative governments have eagerly pursued free trade agreements. A FTA with the U.S. has sat mired in the U.S.'s Congress for years because of concerns of U.S. unions, environmentalists, human rights activists and others. The delay has created tensions between the two governments.

A indigenous Guambiano milk marcher

Milk men and women

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours