"It is clearly time for the United States Congress to free its own hostage â€" the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Colombia. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi took the FTA prisoner earlier this year as a sop to her party’s left-wing, with its affinity for the hemisphere’s rabidly anti-American Castro-Chavez-FARC elements and its vehement antipathy to the successful, pro-American and right-of-center government in Colombia.
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Never mind that the economic benefits of the Colombian Free Trade Agreement redound disproportionately to the U.S. After all, under other accords, Colombia’s exports to this country enjoy duty-free status while American exports to Colombia are subject to significant tariffs that would be eliminated once the FTA enters into force. The freedoms enjoyed by independent trade unions and respect for civil liberties under President Uribe compare favorably to nearly all of Latin America â€" especially the growing number of nations in the region now under the tyrannical control of Hugo Chavez or his surrogates."