VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSJ #1106/01 1392213
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 192213Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY SAN JOSE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5125
INFO RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA PRIORITY 3571

UNCLAS SAN JOSE 001106 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR WHA/CEN JMACK; WHA/AND COLOMBIA DESK 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV ETRD CS CO
SUBJECT: COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT URIBE DISCUSSES FREE TRADE 
AGREEMENT WITH CODEL BURTON 
 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  In a May 8 meeting with the six members 
of CODEL Burton on the margins of Oscar Arias's presidential 
inauguration, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe urged rapid 
U.S. Congressional action on a free trade agreement with 
Colombia.  He said that a failure to act quickly would 
bolster Hugo Chavez's efforts to create an alternative 
trading bloc.  End summary. 
 
¶2.  (U) Colombian President Alvaro Uribe through his 
Ambassador to Costa Rica requested to meet with CODEL Burton 
on the margins of Oscar Arias's May 8 presidential 
inauguration.  The meeting took place at the Ramada Herradura 
Hotel and was attended by Uribe, Foreign Minister Carolina 
Barco, Presidential Aide Fabio Valencia Cossio, Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs Protocol Director Ambassador Barrantes, 
Colombian Ambassador to Costa Rica Luis Guillermo Fernandez, 
and Director of the Central American Office for the Promotion 
of Exports Ricardo Tirana.  On the U.S. side were six members 
of the U.S. House of Representatives, including Dan Burton 
(R-IN), Gregory Meeks (D-NY), Todd Akin (R-MO), Dianne Watson 
(D-CA), Kenny Marchant (R-TX), Madeleine Bordallo (D-GU), 
Congressional Staffer Dan Getz, DCM Russell Frisbie, and 
Embassy notetaker Janae Cooley. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Uribe opened the meeting by expressing concern 
about Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and pointing out that 
any U.S. Congressional delay in approving a free trade 
agreement with Colombia would greatly damage the GOC,s 
credibility and its position regarding Venezuela. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Uribe asked what kind of timeframe the House was 
looking at to approve the free trade agreement, and 
Representative Burton responded that it took a long time to 
get the 218 votes to pass the Central American Free Trade 
Agreement (CAFTA).  He asked Uribe what would happen if the 
U.S. did not pass the agreement.  Uribe responded it would be 
harder for Colombia to export next year since Colombia,s 
benefits under the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug 
Eradication Act (ATPDEA) end on December 31.  Second, it 
would complicate Colombia,s relationship with Venezuela. 
Third, it would send a "difficult" political and economic 
message to the region that would be hard for his 
administration to manage.  He suggested that investors would 
go elsewhere.  Uribe concluded that he did not even want to 
consider the consequences of failing to pass a bilateral 
trade agreement; he told the delegation that such a failure 
"would be fatal to our democracies (in the region)." 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Burton asked whether extending existing trade 
preferences during the free trade agreement negotiations 
would help, and Uribe responded that, while such an extension 
would be useful, what he really wanted was prompt 
implementation of a bilateral free trade agreement.  Uribe 
added that he had spoken to Costa Rican President Oscar Arias 
about the agreement, and Arias supported it. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Meeks and Watson echoed Burton's comments on the 
difficulty of passing a free trade agreement.  Watson added 
that CAFTA split the Congress, and there are several internal 
issues that the House has to resolve prior to approving 
another such accord.  She added that Uribe should not 
interpret the House's actions as "being out of sync with what 
you are trying to do.  The impact of democracy in the region 
has meaning for us."  Uribe told Watson that the relations of 
the countries within the region should be the "number one 
priority for the U.S. because democracy itself hangs in the 
balance." 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Meeks told Uribe that it was unrealistic to expect 
the Congress to pass a bilateral free trade agreement before 
the U.S. elections in November.  Meeks explained that the 
results of the Peruvian presidential elections would also 
likely impact the passage of a free trade agreement, because 
Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee want Peru to 
obtain the next bilateral free trade agreement.  He added 
that some Democrats would like to combine Peru and Colombia 
and pass one trade agreement including both countries, while 
other Democrats disapprove of the idea.  Meeks said he 
personally would like to see a U.S.-Colombia-Peru agreement, 
and he suggested that Uribe speak to the new Peruvian 
president about that possibility. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Meeks also expressed his concern about the poor 
living conditions of Colombia,s Afro-Colombian population. 
He explained that the Black Caucus was "eager to protect 
them" and ensure that they "get back the land that was taken 
from them."  Meeks said that Colombia should match the trade 
capacity-building money the USG is investing to improve the 
living conditions in the Colombian Pacific coastal areas.  He 
 
told Uribe that the Colombian Ambassador in Washington should 
include these concerns in his message to House Members. 
Uribe responded that 42,000 families have received 
educational subsidies; farmers have received financing to 
help them grow their crops; and work is being done to improve 
the local infrastructure, which includes building new roads 
and hospitals.   He also pointed out that there are 700,000 
indigenous people out of a total population of 44 million, 
and this group holds the deeds to one-third of the total 
territory of the country.  Uribe invited a Congressional 
delegation of Black Caucus members to Colombia to view 
first-hand the situation of the Afro-Colombian population 
there. 
LANGDALE