[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 38 (Thursday, March 6, 2008)]
[House]
[Page H1400]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   U.S.-COLOMBIA FREE TRADE AGREEMENT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Lincoln Diaz-Balart) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, after thousands of 
kidnappings and murders inside Colombia carried out by the terrorist 
organization known by its initials as FARC, Colombia finally had 
enough. And when it learned that key heads of the terrorist group that 
were being given sanctuary inside Ecuador by the government of that 
country, when Colombia learned that the terrorists were 1,800 meters 
from Colombia, Colombia decided to strike. It did so from Colombian 
airspace. And, in fact, the FARC shot at the Colombian Air Force, which 
permitted the Colombian Air Force to pinpoint the exact spot where the 
FARC terrorists were, where they had been, and from where they were 
attacking Colombia.
  Colombia struck, and the second-ranking FARC terrorist head, Luis 
Edgar Devia-Silva, alias Raul Reyes, was killed. Reyes was killed along 
with approximately 20 other terrorists. Unfortunately, one brave 
Colombian soldier fighting in defense of freedom, Carlos Hernandez 
Leon, was also killed during the operation.
  It is as tragic as it is condemnable. It is, in fact, criminal for 
the Governments of Ecuador and Venezuela to provide sanctuary for 
terrorists who systemically commit murder and kidnappings inside 
Colombia, and then those terrorists return to Venezuelan and Ecuadorian 
soil.
  President Bush and the United States of America have stood by and are 
firmly standing by our great democratic ally and friend Colombia and 
its twice overwhelmingly elected President Alvaro Uribe. Unfortunately, 
that is not the case with much of the rest of our hemisphere. I commend 
President Bush for his steadfast support of our great ally President 
Uribe.
  Now, Mr. Speaker, it is time for this Congress to act. We need to 
renew and to increase our security aid to Colombia, which has been 
known for a decade as Plan Colombia, and the majority leadership of 
this Congress must immediately schedule a vote on U.S.-Colombia Free 
Trade Agreement, an agreement that is in the interest both of the 
American and the Colombian peoples.
  The majority leadership of this House must stop preventing a vote on 
the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement. The position on that critical 
issue of the majority leadership of this Congress is petty and is 
ultimately irresponsible. The chairman of the House Ways and Means 
Committee was quoted recently as saying, referring to trips that 
Members of Congress have been taking to Colombia to find out for 
themselves how the Free Trade Agreement would affect our two countries: 
``It is not the facts on the ground that are important; it is the 
politics in the air.'' How sad, Mr. Speaker. How sad.
  It is time for this Congress to send a clear sign of support and 
solidarity to our good friend Colombia. It is time to stop blocking the 
FTA with Colombia and for the majority leadership of Congress to 
schedule a vote on the Free Trade Agreement with Colombia now.

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