SOTU: Shout Out for Colombia
By Aaron Mannes
In his final State of the Union address, President Bush specifically called on Congress to pass the Free Trade Agreement with Colombia:
These agreements also promote America's strategic interests. The first agreement that will come before you is with Colombia, a friend of America that is confronting violence and terror, and fighting drug traffickers. If we fail to pass this agreement, we will embolden the purveyors of false populism in our hemisphere. So we must come together, pass this agreement, and show our neighbors in the region that democracy leads to a better life.
Unfortunately, this is
unlikely. House Majority leader Steny Hoyer stated that it was “doubtful” the Colombia Free Trade Agreement would be brought to a vote.
While the Democrats have legitimate concerns about the agreement a failure to ratify the Colombia Free Trade Agreement will have a substantial negative impact on American standing (rarely high) in Latin America. Not rewarding Colombia for its progress in a terrible war against the narco-terrorist FARC will send the message to Latin America that cooperation with the U.S. doesn't pay. But this is the wrong message to send a region Latin America with substantial lawless zones, a growing Islamist presence, and being swept with anti-American radicalism.
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