Pubdate: Mon, 04 Jun 2007
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Page A6
Copyright: 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.wsj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
Author: Bob Davis
Note: Greg Hitt contributed to this article.
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COLOMBIA GOES FULL TILT TO RETURN TO GRACE

Uribe Administration, Seeking U.S. Trade Pact, Lobbies Hard to 
Overcome Scandal Allegations

WASHINGTON -- To win approval of a new trade pact, Colombia is 
putting together a richly financed lobbying campaign piloted by 
ex-Clinton White House officials, complete with advertisements, a 
rapid-response media team and regular visits by Colombian bigwigs to 
Congress. The necessity and breadth of such a campaign demonstrates 
just how far Colombia has fallen politically in Washington. For 
years, the Andean nation was considered a model ally that battled 
guerillas and narcotraffickers and embraced free-market policies, 
unlike Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, who mocked President Bush and boasted 
of creating "21st-century socialism." But since Democrats took 
control of Congress this year, the focus has shifted to a deepening 
scandal in Colombia, where government officials have been accused of 
working with right-wing paramilitary leaders who have murdered 
hundreds of union members and other political foes.

The sharpest slap was delivered by former Vice President Al Gore, who 
pulled out of an environmental meeting in April rather than share a 
stage with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe because of what a Gore 
spokeswoman calls the "troubling allegations" in Colombia.

"Colombia has to get a new message, that it's going to end the 
culture of impunity where labor leaders are killed and no one 
punished," says Rep. Sam Farr, a California Democrat who was once a 
Peace Corps volunteer in Colombia and now sits on the House 
appropriations committee.

This week, Colombia hopes to make progress. President Uribe is 
jetting back to Washington to lobby for the votes of conservative 
Democrats and members of the Hispanic and black caucuses Thursday. 
The following day he plans to give an award to former President 
Clinton at a New York dinner -- a signal to Democrats that Colombia 
isn't politically radioactive. Mr. Clinton "is honored to be 
receiving an award from the Colombian people," a Clinton spokesman said.

Colombia's immediate problems stem from turmoil back home. More than 
a dozen lawmakers have been arrested for colluding with the 
paramilitaries -- the scandal is called "paragate" -- and close 
allies of President Uribe, including his foreign minister, have been 
forced to resign. In Washington, many lawmakers are wary of approving 
aid or trade deals until the investigation progresses further.

Colombia also has longer-term issues to resolve. For all the progress 
the country has made during the past decade in reducing violence, 
labor-union members are greatly at risk. Human Right Watch, a 
nonprofit watchdog group, says 58 union members were murdered in 
Colombia last year. Colombian Ambassador Carolina Barco says the 
number is down sharply from 2002 but acknowledges that Colombia's 
trade-union murder rate is "the highest in the world." For U.S. labor 
leaders and their Democratic party allies, that makes Colombia a 
target. The Bush administration has negotiated free-trade pacts with 
Panama, Peru, South Korea and Colombia. The first two are likely to 
get token opposition on Capitol Hill. South Korea is a tougher sell 
because of opposition by automobile unions. "But Colombia is a class 
apart," says Thea Lee, the AFL-CIO's trade specialist.

Colombia is hindered by the U.S.'s changing foreign-policy priorities 
as the war on drugs has given way to the wars in Iraq and 
Afghanistan. The U.S. has spent about $5 billion since 2000 on a 
program called Plan Colombia to build up Colombian military forces 
and destroy coca production. While the program was approved at the 
end of the Clinton administration, Democratic support has been waning 
because of disappointment that the spending hasn't significantly 
reduced the amount of cocaine reaching the U.S.

A Scorecard of Kills

For years, Colombia's veteran ambassador, Luis Alberto Moreno, could 
call on contacts in both political parties to shore up support for 
Colombia and figure out what arguments were winners in Washington. He 
may have been the only ambassador in Washington to try to sell a 
trade accord by handing out palm cards with data on homicides, 
kidnappings and "terrorists killed and demobilized."

While the current ambassador, Ms. Barco, says she regularly confers 
with Mr. Moreno, now president of the Inter-American Development 
Bank, the Colombians have turned to Democratic lobbyists with strong 
ties to President Clinton to put together strategy.

The team includes the public-relations firm of Burson-Marsteller, 
headed by former Clinton pollster Mark Penn, who is also a top 
adviser to Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. The firm has 
set up a campaign-style operation to respond immediately to any 
critical news about Colombia. Glover Park Group, which includes 
former Clinton White House spokesman Joe Lockhart and lobbyist Susan 
Brophy, works on Capitol Hill with the lobbying firm of Johnson, 
Madigan, Peck, Boland & Stewart Inc., including Republican Peter 
Madigan and another Clinton-administration lobbyist, William Danvers. 
A business coalition, headed by Caterpillar Inc, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. 
and Citigroup Inc., is making lobbying calls and is planning an 
advertising campaign to push the trade deal.

Colombia spends about $100,000 a month for outside lobbyists. One big 
focus is to figure out ways to influence Rep. Charles Rangel (D., 
N.Y.), who heads the Ways and Means Committee, which handles trade 
legislation. The Colombians lobby the Congressional Black Caucus, 
which includes Mr. Rangel, and make sure black Colombian lawmakers 
and Colombian union leaders join delegations that meet with U.S. lawmakers.

"I'd be using every hook and angle," says Rep. Joseph Crowley, a New 
York Democrat who backs Colombia's efforts.

Sometimes the lobbying backfires. At a Congressional dinner last 
month, President Uribe lashed out at a Humans Rights Watch official, 
Jose Miguel Vivanco, who challenged Mr. Uribe's rosy picture of 
improving security for union members. "You're biased to the 
guerrillas and everyone in Colombia thinks that," Mr. Uribe lectured, 
according to a number of people at the session. Mr. Vivanco said the 
exchange showed how Mr. Uribe practices "intimidation." Ms. Barco, 
the ambassador, dismisses the incident as a "heated" discussion.

Colombia is trying to convince Democrats to work together on what one 
Colombian adviser calls a "grand bargain." That would include 
approval of the trade pact and a reworking of the $700 million in 
annual aid for Colombia so that more money is used to protect union 
members, prosecute political killers, build up the Colombian 
judiciary and fund development projects, with tighter U.S. oversight. 
Colombia strategists have asked Ways and Means Democrats to come up 
with a list of priorities they want to see Colombia address.

"We'll go the extra mile, or two miles or 10 miles," Colombian Vice 
President Francisco Santos said during a Washington lobbying swing. 
The Chavez Dance Democrats haven't even committed to a vote on the 
pact, which had been expected by early fall. Rep. Sander Levin, a 
Michigan Democrat who heads the trade subcommittee, says he wants to 
see "results" first, including improvements in labor laws and 
increased prosecutions. His staff hasn't produced a specific list.

Colombian lobbyists, as well as the Bush White House, figure they 
must build momentum by seeing the Peru and Panama pacts move first 
and delaying a Colombia vote until as late as next year. Ultimately, 
they argue, lawmakers will vote for Colombia if for no other reason 
than to avoid handing a propaganda victory to Mr. Chavez, who could 
crow about how the U.S. treats allies. It is a risky strategy, says 
former Republican Rep. Jim Kolbe, a veteran of trade battles. Mr. 
Chavez "is a card they can play," says Mr. Kolbe. "But it doesn't 
appear to be enough."
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake