Nancy Hugo
EDITORIAL Nancy Hugo A war-torn country with a democratically elected government, plagued by militias, terrorists, and drugs— but one that is steadily making progress against all these...
...It changes the rules so that the Colombia Free Trade Agreement (CFTA), negotiated in good faith between the two governments and inked in 2006, can’t come to a vote...
...Hence the balance of trade isn’t the issue...
...The arguments against the CFTA are laughably weak...
...Politics...
...Today all of them live and work in the cities they govern...
...Colombia’s human rights record is improving...
...exports to Colombia—thus helping U.S...
...The Democrats need union money, and the unions oppose free trade...
...The crisis abated, but there will be another...
...But it wouldn’t look too good if the Democratic Congress belied this irresponsible, hostile-to-foreigners, belligerent—one might say, unilateralist—rhetoric...
...Since 2002, however, the murder of trade unionists has fallen by close to 80 percent...
...Congressional Democrats say the deal would hurt U.S...
...The agreement would “level the playing fi eld” to our advantage...
...Instead we have turned our back on Uribe and the Latin American future he represents, supporting Ch?vez’s claims that the “hegemon” is untrustworthy...
...Thus this moment of relative tranquility was the perfect time for the United States to demonstrate just which side we are on, with passage of the CFTA...
...Memo to Venezuelan dictator Hugo Ch?vez: Send fl owers to the offi ce of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi...
...They may think they are well on their way to achieving this goal...
...It even agreed to support a “trade adjustment assistance” package in exchange for votes on the trade deal...
...It’s an election year...
...This is nonsense...
...Ch?vez wants that future to be socialist, authoritarian, friendly to other dictators, and belligerent toward the United States...
...The Bush administration acts to help this ally...
...Democratic presidential candidates go from coast to coast telling audiences that free trade has devastated our economy...
...They are also about geopolitics: helping friends, strengthening alliances, shaping the future of, in this case, our hemisphere...
...This is called progress...
...If trade were the issue, then the Democratic Congress wouldn’t have ratifi ed the Peru Free Trade Agreement in December 2007...
...What does the Democratic Congress do...
...So the main economic effect of the agreement would be the elimination of tariffs on U.S...
...For years now, he’s been locked in a struggle with Colombian president ?lvaro Uribe over the future of South America...
...What more could the White House have done...
...sponsored “trips to Colombia for more than 50 members of Congress...
...and worked closely with congressional leaders from both parties...
...That in both of these matters the Democrats’ hatred of Bush will redound to the benefi t of enemies of the United States seems not to concern them in the least...
...There’s another reason, too: President Bush...
...Matthew Continetti, for the Editors...
...Congress has now rejected the White House’s two legislative priorities in 2008: a reform in the eavesdropping law that includes immunity for telecommunications fi rms and the CFTA...
...The March strike was a success...
...workers...
...But Uribe has forced it into retreat...
...Congress’s top priority is to make sure voters perceive the Bush presidency as a failure...
...Democrats claim that the White House didn’t go out of its way to cooperate with Congress on the CFTA...
...Free trade agreements are not simply about trade...
...Democrats like California representative Howard Berman say that “Colombia’s troubling history of labor activist assassinations and human-rights violations” requires that the deal be held up...
...Homicides, kidnappings, and terrorist attacks are down...
...Ch?vez’s response...
...EDITORIAL Nancy Hugo A war-torn country with a democratically elected government, plagued by militias, terrorists, and drugs— but one that is steadily making progress against all these evils—wants to strengthen its ties to the United States...
...The administration reports it held “more than 400 consultations, meetings, and calls...
...The two visions could not be more different...
...It used to be that Colombia was so dangerous mayors had to live outside the cities they governed...
...Placed mints on the Democrats’ pillows...
...Uribe wants it to be market-oriented, democratic, and integrated into an international system friendly to freedom and organized and led by the United States...
...But more than 90 percent of Colombian imports already enter this country duty-free...
...Not any more...
...Venezuela and Colombia almost went to war in March, when Colombia struck a terrorist camp run by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) inside neighboring Ecuador...
...The trade agreement rewarded progress...
...That’s simply false...
...workers...
...Why did Pelosi move to let the Colombia deal die...
...The FARC has terrorized Colombians for years, murdering, taking hostages, traffi cking in drugs...
...He massed troops on the Venezuelan-Colombia border and threatened war...
...One estimate says the U.S...
...farm sector alone would reap an additional $690 million per year...
...It is Ch?vez who profi ts most from the CFTA’s demise...
...It killed FARC number two Ra?l Reyes and led to the capture of his laptop, which contained fi les suggesting cooperation between the FARC and Venezuelan military intelligence...
Vol. 13 • April 2008 • No. 31
