Venezuela scolds Bush over Colombia deal

[Joanne98]

President Bush sold his decision to send the Colombia Free Trade Agreement to Congress largely as a national security issue: The United States needs to shore up an important ally against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who leads “a hostile and anti-American regime” that has tried to intimidate Colombia.

And Republicans on Capitol Hill are increasingly portraying a vote on the pact as a vote against Chavez and his socialist and thug ways.

Turns out Venezuela is not so psyched about being the GOP’s whipping boy for a trade pact with another country.

It “is irresponsible to inject Venezuela into a debate over a free trade agreement with Colombia that should be decided on its merits, not a phantom threat from an invented enemy,” reads a pamphlet from the Venezuelan Embassy.

“Relying on such tactics represents a dangerous politicization of an issue as important as the war on terror and puts Venezuela at the center of a debate in which it has no place.”

That pamphlet also carries the instructive subtitle: “Venezuela has nothing to do with Colombia’s free trade agreement, but the Bush administration wants to scare people into thinking it does.”
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0408/9473.html

And a special heads up for everybody who's fighting this trade agreement...

Colombia Lobbying Goes Public

Meanwhile, a host of domestic organizations are ratcheting up pressure on Congress to move — or stall — the Colombia trade deal. These groups say the focus for Congress should be on commerce or killings.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce will outline a broad lobbying strategy it will roll out over the next three months to pressure Congress to vote on the measure, which will immediately remove many duty fees for U.S. goods and phase out almost all others in the course of the next two decades.

The campaign could include radio advertisements. The Chamber also will activate its TradeRoots arm, a team that mobilizes local Chamber members to raise awareness of the benefits of trade in their communities and contact their congressmen and senators in their home states.

The Chamber comes out swing today. Get ready to swing back!