BOGOTA, COLOMBIA — A prominent politician closely allied with President Alvaro Uribe said his nation should pull out of a U.S.-financed effort to fight drug trafficking and terrorism if the American Congress does not pass a free-trade agreement with his country.
Sen. Carlos Garcia, a presidential aspirant and leader of the largest bloc in Colombia's Congress, said Monday in an interview that the failure to pass the trade accord could force the government to withdraw from Plan Colombia, which has cost the United States about $5 billion over seven years.
"If the U.S. Congress does not support Colombia in expanding its markets, there is absolutely no reason to accept Plan Colombia aid. That's just one component of the solution. The best way out of poverty and the cultivation of illegal crops is the marketplace," said Garcia, who heads Uribe's Social National Unity Party.
The move would salvage "national dignity" and possibly prompt Colombia to move away from its close relationship with the United States and to closer ties with the European Union and Canada, Garcia said.
Asked whether he spoke for Uribe, Garcia answered, "I believe he feels the same way. It would be a logical consequence."
The Uribe government is incensed over the diminished chances for a bilateral free-trade agreement, which it has long viewed both as the main path to the First World and a reward for carrying on the drug fight under Plan Colombia.
Congress and the Bush administration made a deal this month that eased the way for passage of bilateral trade accords with Peru and Panama, but put Colombia's on hold.
Uribe told an audience of national police Friday that Colombia would not accept treatment as a "pariah" and pointedly told representatives of the U.S. Embassy in attendance to "take that message back to your Congress."
The harsh tone of Uribe's remarks was unusual.
A week before, Vice President Francisco Santos said the failure to pass a free-trade agreement would force Colombia to redefine its relations with the U.S.
"From a slap-in-the-face standpoint, it would be pretty bad for Colombia," said Gary Hufbauer, senior fellow at the Institute for International Economics in Washington. "The foreign policy repercussions for the United States in rejecting a Colombian agreement also would be severe.... You're talking about adding another unfriendly government down there."
