Source:
Washington PostIn Colombia, a Washington Sales Pitch
Bush Administration Leads U.S. Lawmakers on Visit Aimed at Free Trade Pact
By Juan Forero
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, October 19, 2007; Page A15
Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), who described himself as undecided on the Colombia
trade accord, talks with Gen. Freddy Padilla, commander of the country's armed
forces, after arriving in Nueva Bellavista.
Photo Credit: Twp
MEDELLIN, Colombia -- The U.S. congressmen were speedily transported in vans with tinted windows, their convoy escorted by policemen on motorcycles who ensured that no car ventured close. When the lawmakers stepped out, guards carrying M-16s watched wearily, whispering into microphones on their sleeves.
What the congressional delegation was told in Medellin, however, is that this city is no longer among the most dangerous in the world. In fact, its recovery has been "nothing short of a revolution," one American official said.
For the six lawmakers, led by the U.S. commerce secretary, the story of Medellin was presented last weekend as part of a larger success story in Colombia. It's one that the Bush administration is vigorously selling in Washington as it tries to prod Democrats, and not a few Republicans, into supporting a free trade pact with President ¿lvaro Uribe's government, the United States' closest ally in Latin America.
(snip)
It's extremely worrisome -- the record of a government in Colombia that spends a lot of money and effort on self-promotion but not enough on real progress," said Jos¿ Miguel Vivanco, Americas director for Human Rights Watch, the New York-based group. "I hope these congressmen don't let themselves be fooled by this dog-and-pony show."
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/18/AR2007101802228.html