Colombia warns over ties to US
Associated Press
Colombia Warns Over Ties to U.S.
By Toby Muse
This Andean nation would be compelled to rethink its close ties to Washington if the Democratic-controlled U.S. Congress refuses to ratify a bilateral free trade agreement, the country’s vice president said Thursday.
While Colombia is willing to consider some changes to the pact that Democrats propose, a flat out refusal to ratify the agreement would, "I’m sure, lead to a fundamental repositioning of relations between Colombia and the United States," Santos said in a radio interview. "Colombia would have no other option."
Failure to approve the treaty would be "a monumental mistake" and "a geo-strategic error by the Democratic Party," he added.
In June, Colombia’s congress overwhelmingly approved a free trade deal with the United States that would eliminate most tariffs and duties on some $14 billion in annual trade in goods and services between the two countries.
But Democrats, who since their takeover in November now control Congress, are holding up a vote on the deal as they scrutinize Colombia’s human rights record and an ongoing scandal linking the country’s political elite to far-right paramilitaries responsible for the majority of the 800 killings of trade union activists over the past six years.
Santos has said similar things in the past but his recent warning comes as President Alvaro Uribe airs frustration not just with the snail-like advance of the deal but also increased pressure from U.S. Democrats to improve Colombia’s human rights record.
"We don’t ask for consideration (from the U.S.) because we’re one of its few allies in the region. We ask for respect because we’re a respectful ally," Uribe said in a RCN (nasdaq: RCNI - news - people ) TV interview. "To say that because of issues over the paramilitaries or the killing of trade union members means that the free trade agreement can’t be approved is an insult."
Colombia is the largest recipient of U.S. aid out side of the Middle East and Afghanistan.
The human rights group Amnesty International released a report this week severely criticizing Colombian authorities for their record in protecting trade unionists.
It said that of the 115 union activists killed around the world in 2006, 77 were murdered in Colombia.
