Colombian President Álvaro Uribe will travel to Washington Tuesday to join the last-ditch lobbying efforts to get the U.S. Congress to pass a bilateral free trade agreement in its post-election lame-duck session, according to Caracol Radio.
Government representatives have been joined by more than 70 Colombian business executives in a planned three-week push that includes 125 meetings with members of Congress and congressional staffers, reported the Washington Times.
“What we are trying to do today is take the Hill by Pacific storm,” Eduardo Munoz, Colombia’s deputy minister for foreign trade, told the Washington Times.
Passage is a long-shot as Democrats, the most vociferous opponents of the agreement, control both houses of Congress. Presidential candidate Barack Obama and other Democrats have said Colombia needs to improve its human rights situation, especially the safety of labor union activists, before the agreement can be approved.