The future Republican candidate for the White House, John McCain, who arrived Tuesday 1st July in Colombia, announced that it had asked President Alvaro Uribe to improve the balance of his government’s human rights and have welcomed his efforts to stabilize Colombia and reduce drug trafficking to the USA.
“I was a militant for human rights all my life and throughout my career,” said McCain spoke after nearly two hours with Uribe in the official residence of the Colombian president in Cartagena, some 650 km from Bogota. “We discussed the issue with President Uribe and we will continue to encourage progress in this direction. I believe that progress is being made and that more must be done,” added the senator from Arizona.
Free Trade Agreement
During this three-day tour which will also lead to Mexico, the senator from Arizona intends to defend the draft free trade agreement with Colombia, currently stalled in Congress by Democrats since April.
The Colombian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fernando Araujo, announced that “the problems of Colombia” would be discussed with McCain and has put forward the good relations of his country with successive American administrations, whether Democrat or Republican. “That is why the door is open to the candidate (Democrat) Barack Obama, if he wants to visit us,” he said.
The Colombian National Police reported that it had deployed 2,000 officers in Cartagena on the occasion of the visit by John McCain.
Anti-drug FARC…
“For me, renounce defend free trade will be betraying the trust. And the main thing that I have with the American people, it gives me confidence,” McCain said before leaving.
With Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, the Republican candidate will also anti-drug and the FARC guerrillas, stated in Bogota the Colombian presidency.
The Democrats, which block the agreement with Colombia to Congress, consider including that Bogota has to offer protections to the most important local trade unionists, including some twenty was murdered there in 2008, and better protect the environment.
McCain has already praised Uribe, believing he had avoided that Colombia is a “bankrupt”. And believes that the poor performance of Bogota on human rights are not a sufficient reason to block the FTA.
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