Every time I hear one of our Congressional leaders talk about improved labor standards on these NAFTA-style trade deals, something like this reminds me we are far from that...

MORALES, Guatemala, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Masked gunmen dumped a

Guatemalan banana picker's bullet-ridden corpse yards from fields of
fruit bound for the United States, a grim reminder of the risks of
organizing labor in the Central American country.

Marco Tulio Ramirez, killed last month, was the fifth Guatemalan
labor leader murdered this year.

Activists say the deaths show promises to protect labor rights under
a U.S. trade pact have changed little at a time President George W.
Bush is pressing for similar deals in other Latin American nations
with bad labor records.

The Central American Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA, was approved by
the U.S. Congress in 2005 after a tough battle with Democrats who
argued that worker safeguards in the agreement were too weak.

CAFTA breaks down tariff barriers between Central American countries
and the United States. It has increased Guatemala's export revenues
and improved the investment climate in the country, the government says.

Guatemala, which began implementing the pact last year, was notorious
for labor abuses during its 36-year long civil war and rights are
still weak.

Opponents of CAFTA both in the United States and Central America
complained that Washington should not encourage trade with countries
like Guatemala without tougher rules to protect workers.

The U.S. Trade Representative gave $40 million to spend in Guatemala
on strengthening the labor ministry, resolving industrial disputes
and monitoring work-related abuses. But little has changed.

"Organizing a union in Guatemala is life-threatening," said Noe
Ramirez, Marco Tulio's brother and the head of the banana workers'
union SITRABI.

"We know the Central American Free Trade Agreement has a chapter on
labor protections, but it is not followed," he said, at the union's
office in the town of Morales.