Simon Romero, a correspondent for The New York Times in South America, seems to spend most of his time trying to write up the next slanted article against Hugo Chavez. So, it’s no wonder that he lets the obvious evade him. Well, today is different–a bit. I’m going to guess that his editors in New York perhaps have been a little chagrined that the stories of murdered Colombia union activists have been written about in the pages of competitors here. So, they may have said to Simon: "Dude, can we at least write one piece about this?"

    Aha!:

Lucy Gómez still shudders when speaking of the murder of her brother, Leonidas, a union leader and bank employee who was beaten and stabbed to death here last month. His murder was part of a recent increase in killings of union members in Colombia, with 17 already this year.

“I want those who did this to pay for their crime,” said Ms. Gómez, 37, a seamstress, clutching a faded photograph of her brother, an employee of Citigroup’s Colombian unit who was 42. “But I feel in danger myself,” she said. “This is not a country where one can express such a wish without fear of being eliminated like my brother.”

Ms. Gómez’s fear and similar dread felt by union members and their families have long been features of labor organization during this country’s four-decade civil war. More than 2,500 union members in Colombia have been killed since 1985, with fewer than 100 cases resulting in convictions, according to the National Labor School, a labor research group in Medellín.

Now those killings are emerging as a pressing issue in Washington as Democrats and Republicans battle over a trade deal with Colombia, the Bush administration’s top ally in Latin America.

    Well, better late than never, I say. Now, Simon, you’ve done your duty–we await the next screed against Chavez.