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Human rights flaws sit heavily on Colombia’s reputation. As COHA Guest Scholar Robert Works has noted elsewhere, the present Santos administration would be wise to launch a mission of framing a law-abiding state in spite of pervasive political corruption. It must also directly deal with the persistent claims of human rights violations made by U.S. and Colombian union leaders, as well as by the UN’s International Labor Organization, ILO, by working closely with human rights organizations in contrast to the belligerent approach featured by former President Alvaro Uribe, who indiscriminately turned on his opponents.