[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 40 (Monday, March 10, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H1435-H1437]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                U.S.-COLOMBIA TRADE PROMOTION AGREEMENT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Weller) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WELLER of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I rise to support the U.S.-
Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement, to urge the Speaker of this House 
to bring the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement to this House 
floor for a vote.
  And let me tell you this: this agreement is good for the State that I 
represent. It's good for Colombia. It's good for the United States. 
It's good for Illinois farmers. It's good for Illinois workers. And 
it's good for Illinois manufacturing.
  And I would note that in my district I have 8,000 Caterpillar 
workers, union Caterpillar workers who are manufacturing workers. And 
under this agreement, I note under the U.S.-Colombia Trade Agreement 
that our machinery exports see their tariffs imposed on Illinois-made 
construction equipment eliminated on day one. Now, you think about it, 
mining equipment used in Colombia is $1 million equipment, that's a 
$100,000 tax on U.S.-made products eliminated on day one.
  Currently, Illinois exports $214 million to Colombia, and that's just 
the beginning. According to the International Trade Commission, 
Illinois is a big winner. Pork products will increase 72 percent, 
according to their economic analysis. Corn and soybeans will see 
increased sales to Colombia. Fabricated metal products, processed 
foods, and chemicals will all see increases. And, again, it's expected 
that machinery, manufactured machinery, like products made by John 
Deere and Navistar and Caterpillar, will increase 15 percent.
  Agriculture. The leaders of agriculture will tell you the U.S.-
Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement is the best for agriculture in the 
history of all trade negotiations. And let's not forget that 80 percent 
of U.S. exports are currently taxed when they enter Colombia, and they 
will become duty free immediately. That will allow us to

[[Page H1436]]

become competitive with China and Asia and other competition.
  We know Colombia, a democracy, as a reliable partner and ally. We 
know that Colombia is the oldest democracy in Latin America. And we 
also recognize that President Uribe of Colombia is our hemisphere's 
most popular elected official with over 80 percent approval ratings. 
Compare that to this Congress, which has a 15 percent approval rating. 
Big difference.
  Now, there are those who oppose the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion 
Agreement. They say that Colombia, amongst all the good things it's 
done, just hasn't done enough regarding violence against labor leaders. 
Let's remember that Colombia has had 40 years of civil strife driven by 
left-wing gorillas trying to overthrow the democratically elected 
government of Colombia. But today, 71 percent of Colombians say they 
feel more secure under President Uribe; 73 percent say Uribe respects 
human rights. Those are Colombians, not Americans, saying that.
  Homicides are down 40 percent in Colombia; kidnappings are down 76 
percent. The murder rate today in Medellin, once the poster child of 
violence in Colombia, one of the most dangerous cities on the planet, 
today has a lower murder rate than Washington, DC, or Baltimore.
  But let's look at the facts on labor violence. President Uribe has 
made major changes, beginning with reforming the judiciary. He has had 
hired 418 new prosecutors, 545 new investigators. In fact, in the 
Prosecutor General's Office, responsible for targeting those who are 
responsible for the violence in Colombia, they've added over 2,000 new 
posts.
  Funding has gone up 75 percent in the last few years alone under 
President Uribe. And quoting Carlos Rodriguez, president of the United 
Workers Confederation, a labor leader in Colombia: ``Never in the 
history of Colombia have we achieved something so important.'' Again, 
that's a Colombian labor leader.
  President Uribe and Colombia, under the government initiatives, have 
worked to protect labor leaders, giving them special protections. Last 
year, they spent over $38 million for body guard protection for labor 
union leaders; 1,500 union members and activists received special 
protection, the second largest protected group in Colombia, and it's 
been successful. For labor activists under this program, none have lost 
their lives. And I would note that the murder rate today for labor 
unionists is lower than the national murder rate for everyone else.
  So progress has been made.
  And I would note that crimes categorized as anti-union violence often 
are not union related, but regular crime that everyone in Colombia has 
contended with, many are the responsibility of the leftist FARC.
  I would note that the International Labor Organization has removed 
Colombia from its labor watch list. Colombia has agreed to a permanent 
ILO representative in Colombia. And perhaps most telling, 14 Colombian 
labor leaders have given their support to the trade agreement.
  The bottom line is, ladies and gentlemen, this agreement is good for 
Illinois workers, it's good for Illinois manufacturers, it's good for 
Illinois farmers. Let's bring it up for a vote. I ask my colleagues to 
support this important trade agreement. And I will also include for the 
Record a copy of an ``Economist'' article talking about President Hugo 
Chavez and the FARC and their opposition to this agreement.

                                     House of Representatives,

                                   Washington, DC. March 10, 2008.
       Dear Colleague: Please read this informative recent article 
     from The Economist about FARC narcoterrorists in Colombia and 
     troubling links with the Chavez administration in Venezuela. 
     As noted below, ``Mr. Chavez, still with oil money but 
     politically on the defensive, may have thrown in his lot with 
     an outlaw army of drug-traffickers.''
       Now more than ever we must support the pending Trade 
     Promotion Agreement with our neighbor and friend Colombia.
           Sincerely,
                                                     Jerry Weller,
     Member of Congress.
                                  ____


                   (From The Economist, Mar. 6, 2008)

Colombia Is Moving Closer To Breaking the FARC--Unless Venezuela Stops 
                                   It

       On few, if any, other occasions has a head of state issued 
     detailed orders for military mobilization as jauntily as if 
     he were ordering pizza, and on live television. That is what 
     Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's president, did on March 2nd, after 
     Colombian forces bombed a camp just inside Ecuador, killing 
     Raul Reyes, a senior commander of the Revolutionary Armed 
     Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas.
       ``Minister of defence!'' bellowed Mr. Chavez, on ``ALo 
     PRESIDENTE'' (``Hello President''), his weekly radio and 
     television programme. ``Send me ten battalions to the border, 
     including tanks.'' He also ordered the forward deployment of 
     his new Russian fighter-bombers, threatening that if 
     Colombia's president, Alvaro Uribe, tried a similar raid on 
     Venezuelan soil he would ``send over the Sukhois''. The next 
     day he broke diplomatic ties with Colombia.
       Venezuelan troops and tanks duly moved to the more 
     populated points of the long border between the two 
     countries. Customs officials halted Colombian trucks at the 
     busiest crossing point, between Cucuta and San Cristobal.
       What made this performance odd was that it was Ecuador, not 
     Venezuela, whose sovereignty had been violated. True, 
     Colombia has often accused Venezuela of harbouring guerrilla 
     leaders and tolerating camps near the border similar to the 
     one bombed in Ecuador. But did Venezuela's president have a 
     guilty conscience?
       ``Maybe he knew what was coming,'' wrote Teodoro Petkoff, a 
     guerrilla leader in the 1960s who now edits an opposition 
     newspaper in Caracas. Mr. Chavez's apparent over-reaction was 
     a pre-emptive attempt to ``throw a veil over the revelations 
     he suspected might come from Raul Reyes' computer,'' 
     suggested Mr Petkoff.
       With Ecuador's president, Rafael Correa, following Mr. 
     Chavez's lead, this week's events sent Latin America's 
     diplomats scurrying to prevent war enveloping the 
     neighbourhood. But they also laid bare that Colombia's 
     government is coming close to breaking the back of the FARC, 
     and in the process threatening to shine light on its murky 
     relations with neighbouring governments.
       When Mr. Uribe took office in 2002, the guerrillas were 
     rampant. His predecessor had just halted peace negotiations 
     because the FARC had used a ``demilitarised'' zone created to 
     host the talks as a base for recruitment and for kidnapping 
     (many of the politicians it has held hostage were seized 
     during the talks). The guerrillas had some 17,000 troops; 
     they blocked main roads and bombarded small towns, kidnapping 
     and killing almost at will. To make matters worse, the 
     state's inability to provide security had spawned murderous 
     right-wing paramilitary groups.
       Mr. Uribe's ``democratic security'' policy has achieved a 
     dramatic change. By expanding the security forces, he has 
     driven the FARC from populated areas, while persuading most 
     of the paramilitaries to demobilize. Officials reckon they 
     have reduced the FARC's ranks to fewer than 11,000. But the 
     guerrillas withdrew to the vast tropical lowlands, to areas 
     they have controlled for 40 years. There they resisted a two-
     year offensive by 18,000 troops. The army could not get near 
     the FARC's seven-man governing secretariat, of which Mr. 
     Reyes (the NOM DE GUERRE of Luis Edgar Devia) was a member.


                        SEEKING THE SECRETARIAT

       Thwarted, the security forces refined their strategy. They 
     put more effort into seeking the FARC's leaders using 
     information from guerrilla deserters and infiltrators, and 
     from sophisticated bugging equipment provided by the 
     United States. Over the past year, this has started to pay 
     off. Two FARC regional commanders have been killed and one 
     captured. In January and February alone, the army claims 
     to have killed 247 guerrillas and captured 226, with 
     another 360 deserting. This pressure has pushed FARC units 
     to the borders with Ecuador, Venezuela and Panama.
       Last month the government received a tip-off that Mr. Reyes 
     was in a camp less than two kilometers (1.25 miles) inside 
     Ecuador. Mr. Uribe authorized a bombing raid by Brazilian-
     made Super Tucano aircraft, which killed at least 21 
     guerrillas. Colombian troops then crossed the border to 
     recover Mr. Reyes's corpse--and his laptop computers. (They 
     left three wounded women guerrillas unattended.)
       Most Colombians were jubilant that the government had 
     struck at the very top of the FARC at last. Mr. Reyes handled 
     the guerrillas' relations with the outside world; he was one 
     of three deputies to Manuel Marulanda, the FARC's elderly 
     leader. For the first time the security forces have shown 
     that they are capable of infiltrating and defeating the 
     guerrillas tough systematic strikes, said Roman Ortiz of 
     Fundacion Ideas para la Paz, a Bogota think-tank.
       Mr. Uribe doubtless thought that Mr. Correa could be 
     mollified over the cross-border raid. But spurred on by Mr. 
     Chavez, Ecuador's president sent 3,200 troops to the border 
     and cut diplomatic ties. He demanded an emergency meeting of 
     the Organization of American States (OAS) to condemn 
     Colombia, and set off on a tour of regional capitals seeking 
     support.


                            THE LAPTOP LODE

       Almost as important as the killing of Mr. Reyes may be the 
     capture of his laptops. Apart from inside information on the 
     FARC, according to Colombian offIcials, they contain 
     documents which--if true--are embarrassing to Mr. Correa but 
     highly damaging to Mr. Chavez. As the FARC's top negotiator,

[[Page H1437]]

     Mr. Reyes appears to have met representatives of many 
     governments. According to one e-mail, he met Gustavo Larrea, 
     Mr. Correa's security minister last month. Mr. Larrea is 
     alleged to have proposed a formal meeting in Quito to discuss 
     securing the border and negotiating the release of some of 
     the FARC's 700-odd hostages. Mr. Larrea said that Colombian 
     offIcials knew of his meeting, which was purely to talk about 
     the hostages.
       Ecuadorean officials having swapped complaints with their 
     Colombian counterparts about their mutual inability to 
     prevent the FARC from crossing the border. Ecuador claims to 
     spend $160m a year containing the spillover. It is also angry 
     about Colombia spraying coca fields on the border with 
     weedkiller, which it says drifts south on to other crops.
       Nevertheless, Ecuador has given some help to Colombia. Mr. 
     Correa claimed that last year his forces dismantled 47 FARC 
     camps inside Ecuador and on three occasions carried out joint 
     operations with Colombian troops. American surveillance 
     aircraft still patrol over Colombia from an air base in 
     Ecuador, although Mr. Correa has promised not to renew the 
     lease for this when it expires in 2009.
       By contrast, Mr. Chavez has recently been unambiguous in 
     his support for the FARC. He fell out with Mr. Uribe last 
     year over his attempt to act as a mediator for the hostages. 
     Since then he has cast aside his previous stance as an honest 
     broker seeking a peaceful solution to Colombia's internal 
     conflict. When the FARC turned over two hostages to him in 
     January, Mr. Chavez hailed the guerrillas as a ``true army'' 
     whose status as belligerents should be recognised. No other 
     government in the region, not even Cuba's, echoed this call. 
     On ``ALo PRESIDENTE'' Mr. Chavez held a minute's silence in 
     honor of Mr. Reyes, whom he said he had met three times over 
     the years. He declared that Colombia needed to be 
     ``liberated'' from its ``subservience'' to the United States.
       Another document allegedly on Mr. Reyes's computer showed 
     that Mr. Chavez paid (or planned to pay) the FARC $300m. An 
     (unrelated) e-mail to Mr. Reyes suggested that the FARC were 
     trying to obtain uranium for a ``dirty bomb''. All this 
     prompted some far-fetched exchanges. Mr. Uribe said that he 
     would denounce Mr. Chavez for ``financing genocide''; in 
     return, Venezuela accused Colombia's police chief, who 
     revealed the contents of Mr. Reyes's laptop, of being a 
     ``drug trafficker''.
       ``This is * * * a microphone war,'' said General Raul 
     Salazar, a former defense minister. Like many other 
     Venezuelans, he doubts that it will become a real one. That 
     is not least because many army officers do not want war with 
     Colombia and find Mr. Chavez's actions an ``embarrassment'', 
     said another former defense minister, General Raul Baduel, 
     who is now a prominent opponent of the president.
       So what is Mr. Chavez's game? One possible answer is his 
     obsessive search for an external enemy to shore up his waning 
     popularity at home. In December, his political blueprint for 
     a socialist Venezuela, with indefinite presidential re-
     election, was defeated in a referendum. This came only a year 
     after he won a second six-year term with 63 percent of the 
     vote, and was the first time he had lost a national vote.
       In November Venezuelans are due to vote for mayors and 
     state governors. They are increasingly discontented about 
     crime, an inflation rate that has surged to 25 percent and 
     shortages of basic goods, including food and cooking gas. 
     Because of Mr. Chavez's mismanagement of agriculture, 
     Venezuela imports much of its food from Colombia. Any lasting 
     interruption of trade would hurt both countries. Reputable 
     pollsters say that Mr. Chavez's popularity has fallen well 
     below 50 percent. Visible faction fights have broken out in 
     his newly formed Unified Socialist Party of Venezuela.
       Picking a fight with Colombia and supporting the FARC are 
     unlikely to win him friends. One poll, by Hinterlaces, showed 
     89 percent opposed to a war and 87 percent opposed to the 
     FARC. So the reason for his military mobilization may be to 
     deter Colombia from moving against the FARC camps in 
     Venezuela where some Colombian officials believe that Mr. 
     Marulanda is based. A more worrying, though improbable, 
     hypothesis is that Mr. Chavez, a former army officer, is 
     throwing off all pretence at being a civilian democrat and, 
     fearing that he may not remain in power for long, wants to 
     launch an assault on what he sees as American imperialism and 
     its regional stooge, Mr. Uribe.
       Although George Bush gave public support to Mr. Uribe, 
     other governments in the region, led by Brazil, tried to 
     drive a wedge between Mr. Correa and Mr. Chavez. There were 
     signs that this might work. On March 5th Ecuador agreed to an 
     OAS resolution criticizing, but not formally condemning, 
     Colombia. The OAS also agreed to investigate the bombing. 
     Once the region's diplomats have patched things up between 
     these two countries, they face another, more intractable 
     problem: Mr. Chavez, still with oil money but politically on 
     the defensive, may have thrown in his lot with an outlaw army 
     of drug-traffickers.

                          ____________________