BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia's president sharply criticized U.S. presidential contender Barack Obama on Wednesday for opposing a trade deal with his country, calling the Democrat out of touch with the realities of the South American nation.

The White House is urging Congress to approve the agreement, which would remove most tariffs on American exports and cement Colombia's preferential trade status with the United States.

But Illinois Sen. Obama said Wednesday he would oppose the deal.

The Free Trade Agreement from a nonbusiness perspective

Claudia López, columnist for EL TIEMPO
Tuesday, March 25, 2008

According to President Bush, the FTA with Colombia has become a matter of politics and national security. It's worth evaluating the FTA from this perspective.

Both President Uribe and President Bush have made the doctrine of security a central component of their governments. They've built this doctrine around the fight against terrorism as the supreme and indisputable goal. They argue that this goal justifies legitimate and preventive defense, which includes invading foreign territory that may constitute a terrorist refuge. The U.S. government also established that this goal justifies torture and supersedes the applicability of any type of International Law. Following this pattern, Colombia legalized the use of the death penalty for terrorists, but since the Constitution prohibits the death penalty and summary executions by State agents, the government pays private contractors who are able to carry out executions as an incentive to raise their “killed in action” body count.

talkingunion.wordpress.com

President Bush has said he will send the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement FTA) to Capitol Hill and demand a vote before he leaves office next January.

Despite objections by the Democratic congressional leadership, the administration may formally send the agreement to Congress as early as next week when Congress returns from its Easter recess on March 31. Under Fast Track trade authority rules, the House of Representatives would likely face an up-or-down vote on the Colombia deal before the end of July. Here are five easy pieces to stop it.

Bogotá, Colombia. March 24, 2008

Congresswoman
NANCY PELOSI
Speaker of the House of Representatives

Senator
HARRY REID
Senate Majority Leader

Senator
HILLARY CLINTON

Senator
BARACK OBAMA

by James Parks | aflcio.blog | Mar 24, 2008

With the U.S. economy in near free fall, President Bush has said he will send the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to Capitol Hill and demand a vote before he leaves office next January. Bush has made passing this agreement, which will do next to nothing for the failing U.S. economy, a priority. 

Despite objections by the Democratic congressional leadership, the administration may formally send the agreement to Congress as early as next week when Congress returns from its Easter recess on March 31. Under Fast Track trade authority rules, the House of Representatives would likely face an up-or-down vote on the Colombia deal before the end of July.

Adam Isacson | www.cipcol.org | March 19,2008

As noted before, CIP is not an active participant in the debate over the Colombia Free Trade Agreement. But in the past week the Bush administration has unearthed a “national security” justification for the FTA that can’t be allowed to stand.

“As your national security advisor in that region, I will tell you that it is very important that the free trade agreement be passed from a national security perspective,” the commander of U.S. Southern Command, Adm. James Stavridis, told the House Armed Services Committee last week. “And, I hear that not just from senior people in Colombia, but from my interlocutors in the region. They’re watching very closely to see what happens to a nation that stands with the United States for a decade or more.” The admiral echoed an argument that President Bush used in speeches on March 12 and yesterday.

By Laura Litvan and Mark Drajem

March 13 (Bloomberg) -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said a free-trade agreement with Colombia won't pass Congress unless new assistance is offered to U.S. workers who are harmed by overseas competition.

``Until that happens, I don't see a climate here for passing a free-trade agreement,'' Pelosi told reporters in the Capitol.

AFL-CIO
Executive Council Statement
March 04, 2008

President George W. Bush has declared that passing a free trade agreement with Colombia this year is one of his top priorities. The secretaries of Commerce, Treasury, State, Agriculture and Labor, as well as the U.S. Trade Representative, have been involved in high-pressure lobbying efforts, including leading delegations to Colombia, meeting with members of Congress and speaking publicly about the merits of the agreement and the supposed dangers of not passing it this year. The Colombian government is reportedly spending $100,000 a month lobbying in the United States for passage of the FTA, while business interests also have spent heavily and spoken out frequently.

Democracy Now! Headlines for February 28, 2008

Three activists were arrested Tuesday after they shut down a New York building containing one of Senator Hillary Clinton’s offices. The activists chained themselves to the building’s doors. They denounced Clinton for supporting the Peru free trade agreement while campaigning as an opponent of NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement. Adam Weissman of the Wetlands’ Activist Collective spoke while chained to a door.

by Daniel Denvir

A two-day national agrarian strike against a pending Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United States ended on Wednesday February 20th, leaving four farmers dead after President Alan Garcia declared a state of emergency and ordered a violent crackdown. Farmers are demanding financial support from the government in the face of a predicted increase in the importation of highly subsidized U.S. crops with the passage of the trade deal. 700 farmers were detained, a number of whom face terrorism charges.