The year was marked by continuous and increasingly violent attacks by the government, employers and the courts on collective bargaining, the right to strike and social dialogue as a whole. The reform of labour legislation brought a longer working day, reduced payments for overtime and increased labour flexibility. A large-scale restructuring of state enterprises took place, which appeared in most cases solely to be aimed at eliminating the existing collective agreements and destroying the trade union structures.

At the same time, physical violence against trade unionists continued and even worsened. In all, 99 trade unionists - nine more than in 2003 - were killed during the year, mostly in connection with collective bargaining disputes or strikes. Hundreds more received death threats, others were victims of attempted murders or were abducted, many were arrested and some were intimidated by the police and army. The Labour Day celebrations were harshly repressed by the police, leaving 12 people with serious injuries. Four members of an international trade union delegation who had taken part in a solidarity mission in Colombia were deported from the country between the end of October and the beginning of November. Impunity persisted; in almost 70% of the cases, no information was produced on the intellectual or material perpetrators of the crimes. In the other 30%, nine threats were attributed to far right paramilitary groups or state officials, including members of the regular army.