Congressional Rebuff of Colombia Accord May Strengthen Chavez

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Congressional Rebuff of Colombia Accord May Strengthen Chavez

By Joshua Goodman and Mark Drajem

April 11 (Bloomberg) -- Congress's decision to delay action on a free-trade agreement with Colombia may strengthen Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's campaign against U.S. influence in Latin America, analysts, lawmakers and business groups said.

``This is going to be too hot a potato for Chavez to leave alone,'' said Gianfranco Bertozzi, an economist with Lehman Brothers Inc. in New York. ``He will say the U.S. slammed the door shut on a close ally, more proof that it doesn't have Latin American interests at heart.''

The Democratic-controlled House voted 224-195 yesterday to deny President George W. Bush's request for a vote on the trade pact within 90 days, likely postponing action until after the November elections. It is the first time Congress has refused a presidential request to pass a trade agreement.

Chavez has railed against Colombian President Alvaro Uribe's support for the war on drugs and the White House's free-trade agenda as he seeks to build an anti-American coalition.

Colombian officials are trying to defuse the political fireworks after Chavez sent troops to the border in retaliation for the killing of a senior rebel in Ecuador.

``I don't know what the reaction would be like in the rest of the continent,'' Trade Minister Luis Guillermo Plata said in an interview yesterday when asked whether rejection of the accord would embolden Chavez. ``But not having a trade agreement is almost like having trade sanctions imposed in the sense that you've been downgraded, or are at least now one level below comparable economies in the continent'' that do have trade deals, such as Mexico, Chile, Peru and Central America, Plata said.

War on Drugs

Bush, when he sent the agreement to Congress earlier this week, highlighted Colombia's strong support for the war on drugs and steps taken by Uribe to slash some of the world's highest kidnapping and murder rates.

``Despite this progress, Colombia remains under intense pressure in the region. It faces a continuing assault from the terrorist network known as FARC,'' Bush said at the White House. ``Colombia also faces a hostile and anti-American regime in Venezuela which has met with FARC terrorist leaders and deployed troops to the Colombian border as a means of intimidating the Colombian government and its people.''

California Republican David Dreier, who led debate before yesterday's vote, referred to the measure as the ``Hugo Chavez rule,'' and a string of other Republican lawmakers said its passage would aid the anti-American leader.

Business groups have also seized on this theme. The Consumer Electronics Association, which represents companies such as Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp., ran advertisements in Capitol Hill newspapers yesterday that showed a smiling Chavez embracing former Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

`Please Reject'

``Please reject the Colombia free-trade agreement!'' a cartoon balloon has Chavez saying.

Still, Democrats who oppose the agreement rejected any link between their rejection of the trade pact with their diplomatic support for Colombia and Uribe.

``Many in Congress have tremendous respect for the progress that President Uribe has been able to make under difficult circumstances,'' Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said April 7. ``It is a major mistake, however, to set up the Colombia FTA legislation as the proxy for support for Colombia, as the Bush administration is trying to do.''

Reaction in Colombia has been more muted. Venezuela and Colombia each serve as the other's second-biggest trading partner behind the U.S., with about $4 billion in annual trade.

Even as trade to the U.S. is declining, Colombia's trade surplus to Venezuela surged to $1.8 billion last year as Venezuelans began to rely on basic food staples from its neighbor to make up for production shortfalls.

Growing Dependence

Despite the bonanza, Colombian exporters are worried about the growing dependence on politically unstable Venezuela, after Chavez during last month's row briefly closed the border to Colombian exports.

``The momentum in the Colombian economy during 2008 and 2009 will be affected by the slowdown in U.S. and world economic growth and by possible future problems affecting Venezuela,'' the central bank said today in minutes of its March 28 board meeting.

Chavez has promoted his Bolivarian Alternative for the People of Our America, known as ALBA, to counter U.S. influence in the region. The alliance was conceived as an alternative to the U.S.-backed Free Trade Area of the Americas, and includes Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua, Dominica and Venezuela as members.

The Venezuelan leader has also pushed the creation of a Bank of the South, in a bid to curb the influence of multilateral lenders like the International Monetary Fund.

`Hero of Anti-Imperialism'

``Chavez will use this to attack the U.S., to attack free- trade agreements, and to once again turn himself into the hero of anti-imperialism and anti-capitalism,'' said Milos Alcalay, Venezuela's former ambassador to the United Nations.

The U.S. rebuff, although a blow to Colombians' pride, is unlikely to rally support for Chavez in the country, even among farmers, unions and human rights groups in Colombia that oppose the accord, Bertozzi said.

Colombia is the U.S.'s closest ally in South America, the recipient of more than $5 billion in anti-narcotics and counter- guerrilla aid since 2000.

To contact the reporters on this story: Joshua Goodman in Bogota at Jgoodman19 at bloomberg.net;

Last Updated: April 11, 2008 13:09 EDT

By sloopskipper on Apr 11, 2008, 18:46 in Politics & the war.

jack_jason says on Apr 12, 2008, 02:24:

Sin palabras. Me da mas tristeza que los Estados Unidos nos ayan clavado la daga, aun sabiendo que eramos el mejor aliado en Latinoamerica. Yo soy neoliberalista y de extrema derecha, y creo rotundamente en que soy yo y no el gobierno el responsable de mi pobresa y es por eso que creo en el capitalismo puro. Pero hay que tener un poquito de orgullo y comenzar a pensar en alternativas comerciales y de orden diplomatico frente a esta cachetada por parte de nuestro "amigo". Ya es hora de comenzar por abrir las relaciones diplomaticas con los gobiernos de izquierda de Latinoamerica, de buscar acuerdos bilaterales. Yo estoy seguro que si el Presidente Uribe le dice a chaves......Chavez, yo no estoy de acuerdo con tigo en muchas cosas, pero ahora, estoy de acuerdo con usted en que los Estados Unidos llevan una politica hipocrita hacia nosotros, eso no lo tolero yo ni ninguno de los Colombianos. Asi que es hora de crear una alianza de naciones suramericana de naciones.

A la final, hay que arrimarse al arbol que mas haga sombra (principio del capitalismo), y en este caso, el arbol que mas hace sombra son los paises donde la izquierda ha sido democraticamente electa.

Que pasaria con el narcotrafico si Colombia desidiera legalizar las drogas?. Los paises extra-suramericanos nos cerrarian las puertas. ah? pero si ya nos las cerraron hace mucho tiempo, entonces no hay nada que perder. Que pasaria con los Estados Unidos? ellos veran, ellos veran que hacen con toda la cocaina barata que les llegaria.

Colombia deberia optar por una politica espejo. Yo te doy si tu me das, yo no te doy si tu no me das. El TLC no es ni sera conveniente para Colombia, no en la forma en que este fue pactado y firmado. A los negociadores Colombianos les falto liderazgo e iniciativa, esto quiere decir que Colombia con el actual TLC no cambiaria mucho su actual nivel de exportacion, ya que el 90% del los productos Colombiano entran a los Estados Unidos sin arancel mientras que los que vienen de estados Unidos a Colombia entran com altos aranceles. Si el TLC se hubiera aprovado, las exportaciones Colombianas seguirian siendo las mismas. Yo colocaria el siguiente analogismo; si yo lograra venderle un computador portatil de 4GB RAM, 240 MGB HD, Pentium y con las mejores es especificaciones tecnicas y el software mas actualizado a un analfabeta, estoy casi seguro que esa persona lo recibiria pero no sabria que hacer con el. Eso le pasaria a Colombia con el TLC, esto quiere decir que Estados Unidos veria la oportunidad de invertir (inversion extranjera en Colombia es llamado salida de capitales de Colombia) y apoderarse economicamente de gran parte de Colombia y usar su mano de obra barata, asi tambien, de introducir un sin numero de productos Estadoundences a bajo costo haciendo que los empresarios Colombianos den un paso atras y decidan vender sus compañias a inversionistas Estadounidences para no perderlas. Tecnologicamente, Estados Unidos esta por encima de Colombia, y en cuestion de años con este TLC, Colombia se convertiria posiblemente en un Estadosunidos dependiente ( o mas bien 100%), en pocas palabras, estariamos en la mano de los Estados Unidos.

Yo estoy a favor de los TLCs. Pero este TLC es un computador de alta tecnologia que lo quiere compra un analfabeta el cual en este caso es Colombia.

El punto aca es, quien es mas beneficioso comercialmente para Colombia, un Estados Undos que te voltea la espalda cuando realmente se necesita (para bien o para mal como es el TLC) o un grupo de paises de izquierda que abririan sus puertas comerciales con un solo......."ok, me les uno".

This is just spanglish, please do not correct me

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