Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg will turn a blind eye to rampant human rights abuses today when he touches down in Colombia on a mission to sell British goods to its blood-drenched regime.

The Lib Dem leader is to schmooze President Juan Manuel Santos - but has snubbed calls to visit members of the civil society groups on the receiving end of a brutal state crackdown.

Thousands of trade unionists and activists remain jailed by the Santos government on what campaigners say are trumped-up charges. Dozens more have been killed.