CARTAGENA, Colombia – John McCain said Tuesday he had pressed Colombia President Alvaro Uribe to improve his government’s record on human rights but praised his efforts to stabilize the country and reduce the flow of drugs into the United States.
“I’ve been a supporter of human rights for my entire life and career,” McCain said after a nearly two-hour meeting with Uribe at the president’s seaside mansion here. “We have discussed this issue with President Uribe and will continue to urge progress in that direction. I believe progress is being made and that more progress needs to be made.”
It was the first meeting for the GOP presidential hopeful on a three-day visit to Colombia and Mexico.
McCain is a strong supporter of a proposed free trade agreement between the U.S. and Colombia and he planned to promote it and other hemispheric trade deals during the visit. His Democratic opponent, Barack Obama, opposes the Colombian agreement, which has stalled in the House amid concerns about continuing intimidation and violence against labor leaders in the country. Thirty-one trade unionists have been murdered in Colombia so far this year, eight fewer than last year, according to the Medellin-based Escuela Nacional Sindical, a labor research institute.
