Colombia may drop anti-drug plan

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Los Angeles Times

Colombia may drop anti-drug plan
A politician says that if the U.S. doesn't pass a free-trade agreement, his country could be forced to withdraw.
By Chris Kraul, Times Staff Writer
May 23, 2007


BOGOTA, COLOMBIA — A prominent politician closely allied with President Alvaro Uribe said his nation should pull out of a U.S.-financed effort to fight drug trafficking and terrorism if the American Congress does not pass a free-trade agreement with his country.

Sen. Carlos Garcia, a presidential aspirant and leader of the largest bloc in Colombia's Congress, said Monday in an interview that the failure to pass the trade accord could force the government to withdraw from Plan Colombia, which has cost the United States about $5 billion over seven years.

"If the U.S. Congress does not support Colombia in expanding its markets, there is absolutely no reason to accept Plan Colombia aid. That's just one component of the solution. The best way out of poverty and the cultivation of illegal crops is the marketplace," said Garcia, who heads Uribe's Social National Unity Party.

The move would salvage "national dignity" and possibly prompt Colombia to move away from its close relationship with the United States and to closer ties with the European Union and Canada, Garcia said.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-colombia23may23,1,3903725.story?coll=la-headlines-world

---

http://abc.senado.gov.co.nyud.net:8090/prontus_senado/site/artic/20060531/imag/FOTO_0220060531190457.JPG

Senator Carlos Garcia Orjuela

[High Plains]

1. Yeah, right. Nice attempt at bluster.