Diaz-Balart courts voters via trade deal
Miami Herald
Diaz-Balart courts voters via trade deal
By Elainde De Valle
25 October 2008
A free trade agreement with Colombia has become a campaign issue in Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart’s bid to hold his seat in the congressional district that represents the largest number of Colombian-American voters in the country.
The Republican has seized on the yet-to-be passed agreement between the South American country and the United States to cast himself as the better candidate for advocacy of that agenda. He is being challenged by Democrat Joe Garcia.
’’It’s an issue that I care deeply about because, to me, it’s a national security as well as an economic issue for the United States,’’ Diaz-Balart said, adding that he has more experience on the matter than his Democratic challenger, whose party has rejected the accord.
He said he has had ’’multiple meetings’’ with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and U.S. officials on the topic.
Earlier this week, he played up the issue, touring the Bouquet Collection, a flower importer and distributor in Doral whose owner says the company would benefit from the pact to ease commerce between the two countries through reduced or eliminated import and export tariffs.
But his opponent, Garcia, said Diaz-Balart has let his Colombian constituents down: This man has been in Congress for six years, and he's harping on one of the many things he hasn't been able to get done?''
DEMOCRATS AGAINST IT
While Democrats blocked passage of the agreement over concerns about human rights violations and labor rights, Garcia said he would work across party lines to make it happen.
Diaz-Balart says he will ''continue to educate'' Democrats he says are stuck to an image of Colombia's past.
'Colombia today is a totally different country . . . where there are human rights, where there are labor rights, where the terrorists' organizations that caused all these issues people are talking about are on the run,'' Diaz-Balart said.
Colombian Americans in South Florida -- many of whose businesses could flourish under the agreement -- say they have confidence that Diaz-Balart will help pass the legislation in the near future.
''Everything in life has its moment,'' said Ricardo Tribín, president of the Colombian American Chamber of Commerce.
One of Diaz-Balart's Spanish-language radio ads features Tribín and other Colombian business leaders in a talk-show format urging listeners to vote for him Nov. 4.
''He has always been present to help our community. He has been a pioneer and a champion for Colombians,'' says business activist Fabio Andrade in the 14-minute piece that aired earlier this month. It cited the congressman's support on immigration issues and the trade agreement, Plan Colombia, the U.S.-funded initiative aimed at curbing the illegal drug trade through military support and coca eradication.
While Andrade does say at the start of the ad that it is a paid political advertisement, Garcia's campaign filed a complaint earlier this month with the Federal Election Commission alleging a violation of U.S. election laws that requires the candidate to verbally approve the ad himself.
GARCIA IRKED BY AD
But what really irked Garcia was that the ad says he is against the trade agreement.He knows as well as anyone — and I don’t know how many times he’s going to try to fool people with this — that I’m for fair trade and getting it done in a way that protects American jobs and American commerce.’’
But while he is familiar among Cuban American voters — in part for his push to lift travel restrictions to the island imposed by President Bush in 2004 — Garcia has not made many inroads with the Colombian community, Tribín said.
’’Who is Joe Garcia? He’s never been here. He’s never called me,’’ Tribín said.
Javier Mesa, owner of the Bouquet Collection — and a registered Democrat — said he would vote for Diaz-Balart because of his efforts on behalf of free trade.
So will Hector Marulanda, a Colombian-American businessman who owns Doral’s Impel Appliances — and who projects that his exports to Colombia would grow by 80 percent under an agreement.
’’He is the one who represents the best interest for us Colombians,’’ Marulanda said, adding that it doesn’t matter that Garcia supports the agreement.
’’He doesn’t have the experience in Congress to convince the others,’’ Marulanda said.
On Thursday, Garcia was chided by the National Republican Congressional Committee for hobnobbing with Democratic House Chairwoman Nancy Pelosi on her visit to South Florida.
’’Garcia’s willingness to campaign with Nancy Pelosi, who stood in the way of the Colombia Free Trade Agreement, exposes his hypocrisy and shows the voters in Florida that he is willing to put partisan politics over the best interests of his constituents and our economy,’’ NRCC spokesman Ken Spain said in a statement.
But Manuel Vives, a South Florida resident who represents Colombian expatriates in their country’s Congress, said he endorsed Garcia.
’’I am solidly behind Joe Garcia and the other Democrats,’’ Vives said by telephone from Colombia Friday.
He said he believes Democrats will work for the agreement’s passage: ``What has to be done is simply reconcile both sides.’’
