Bush pushes Colombia trade deal

[Joanne98]

Source: bbc

US President George W Bush has again urged the US Congress to approve a free trade deal with Colombia.
Mr Bush said approval would be in the interests of both the US economy and its national security.

Democrats, who have a majority in Congress, say backing is unlikely until Colombia makes more progress addressing violence against trade union leaders.

They also want the US to back a package of protection for US workers adversely affected by international trade.



Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7304143.stm

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Start getting ready. He's going to hit this hard. Email you're congresscritter right now and tell them if they vote for this trade agreement, they are FIRED in November!

[AlphaCentauri]

1. Since 1991, a total of 2,283 Colombian trade unionists have been murdered

UN demands probe into killing of Colombian guild leaders
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-03/15/content_7793535.htm

[Judi Lynn]

2. Highest in the world, higher than the total of the rest of the world's workers' murders.

Now we wonder why it's a reason to hand them boatloads of U.S. taxpayers' hard-earned money annually. That's the kind of statistic which only appeals to Republicans.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Bush wants protectionist Democrats to heed Harper on NAFTA

Bush wants protectionist Democrats to heed Harper on NAFTA
PAUL KORING

From Wednesday's Globe and Mail

March 19, 2008 at 4:56 AM EDT

WASHINGTON — U.S. President George. W. Bush urged yesterday that protectionist Democrats now controlling Congress heed the "wise words" of Canada's Conservative Prime Minister and pass more free-trade pacts, in particular one with Colombia.

In a speech addressed to dockworkers in Jacksonville, Fla., where ships from Latin American countries crowd the port, the President made a rare reference to Stephen Harper, invoking the Prime Minister's ringing endorsement of the value of unfettered trade.

"I want the members of Congress to hear what the Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, said," Mr. Bush said in his own speech seeking backing for a free trade deal with Colombia, now stalled in Congress.

"He said, 'If the U.S. turns its back on its friends in Colombia, this will set back our cause far more than any Latin American dictator can hope to achieve.' "

Mr. Harper originally made the comment in a speech given last fall in New York to the Council on Foreign Relations.

More:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080319.wnafta19/BNStory/International/home

[mac2]

4. They didn't run for office to be NAFTA supporters.

It was forced on US and Canada.

[Judi Lynn]

5. Bush Prods Congress on Colombia Deal

Bush Prods Congress on Colombia Deal
By BEN FELLER Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush warned Congress on Wednesday that failing to approve a trade deal with Colombia would fuel the anti-American regime of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and cast the United States as untrustworthy and impotent across South America.

The intensity of Bush's rhetoric reflected the importance of the deal to him - and the fact that he's fast running out of time to get it done. Democrats have objected that Colombia's government has not done enough to halt violence, protect labor activists and demobilize paramilitary organizations.

"If Congress were to reject the agreement with Colombia, we would validate antagonists in Latin America, who would say that America cannot be trusted to stand by its friends," Bush said in a speech to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

"We would cripple our influence in the region, and make other nations less likely to cooperate with us in the future," the president said. "We would betray one of our closest friends in our own backyard."

More:
http://news.lp.findlaw.com/ap_stories/a/w/1151/03-12-2008/20080312153502_27.html