The killing of a state governor points up the cruel tactics of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas, who target and often kill civilians in Colombia's internal armed conflict.

The Colombian government should act swiftly to protect witnesses in criminal cases against members of groups that are successors to demobilized paramilitaries in the city of Medellín.

The governments of Venezuela and Colombia should thoroughly and promptly investigate the recent abductions and killings of ten men by an unidentified armed group on the Venezuelan side of the border between the two countries. A separate attack on a longtime Colombian human rights defender in the state of Meta should be fully investigated.

The comments address the concerns of Human Rights Watch in connection with the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and the protection of fundamental rights of workers in Colombia. The comments respond to, but may also go beyond, questions 2 and 3 in the Office of the US Trade Representative’s Request for Comments on the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, published in the Federal Register on July 29, 2009.

The Colombian government should ensure a prompt, independent, and thorough investigation of the killings of 12 members of the Awá indigenous community, and take immediate measures to protect the community.

By ending the double standard on human rights and democracy that marked US policy toward Colombia under President Bush, Obama could go a long way toward restoring US credibility in Latin America.

Colombia has for decades been embroiled in a brutal internal armed conflict involving left-wing guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and National Liberation Army (ELN), paramilitary death squads (previously known as the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC), and the Colombian armed forces. Thousands have been killed, forcibly "disappeared," kidnapped, raped, and tortured.

President Barack Obama should raise human rights concerns on June 29, 2009, during his first official meeting with President Álvaro Uribe of Colombia.