Trade, Drugs, Murders All Topics For US-Columbia Talks

Full transcript at http://www.theuptake.org President Obama and President Álvaro Uribe Vélez of Colombia talk to the press after meeting in the Oval Office.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, I am very pleased to have President Uribe here today with his delegation from Colombia. The relationship between the United States and Colombia has been extremely strong. We've had great cooperation on a whole range of issues, and President Uribe's administration I think has, under very difficult circumstances, performed admirably on a whole range of fronts -- on security, on reducing the influence of the drug cartels, in improving the economic situation for his people, and stabilizing the country. He has performed with diligence and courage. And so we are grateful for his friendship and I'm glad that he was able to come and visit us here today.

In our discussions, we talked about a range of issues. We discussed, most prominently, the interests of both countries in moving forward on a free trade agreement. This is something that has been discussed for quite some time. I have instructed Ambassador Kirk, our United States Trade Representative, to begin working closely with President Uribe's team on how we can proceed on a free trade agreement. There are obvious difficulties involved in the process and there remains work to do, but I'm confident that ultimately we can strike a deal that is good for the people of Colombia and good for the people of the United States.

I commended President Uribe on the progress that has been made in human rights in Colombia and dealing with the killings of labor leaders there, and obviously we've seen a downward trajectory in the deaths of labor unions and we've seen improvements when it comes to prosecution of those who are carrying out these blatant human rights offenses. President Uribe acknowledges that there remains more work to be done, and we look forward to cooperating with him to continue to improve both the rights of organized labor in Colombia and to protect both labor and civil ...

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• Uribe
• columbia
• drugs
• trade
• murder
• labor
• obama

[MJ4ever911]

@goodgirl496 Educate como dice CapitanJusticia, Colombia no puede salir por si solito de sus problemas, Estados Unidos nos ha dado mucha ayuda y la necesitamos para poder salir de muchos problemas, es una ventaja ademas ser el pais preferido de Estados Unidos en Latino America

[apresesco]

@CapitanJusticia None.

[CapitanJusticia]

@masterzeus1985 Uribe's English is still better than Obama's Spanish!

[CapitanJusticia]

@goodgirl496 Every country asks other countries for help in one way or another. Did the US go to war alone in Iraq and Afghanistan? And to deal with an international problem like the drug war, you need an international solution! Piense un poco antes de escrbir burradas, tonta!

[CapitanJusticia]

@apresesco Which FARC front do you belong to?

[TheRichestCadaver]

Millions of dollars dumped in Colombia. CIA secret plans to blame neighboring countries of helping guerrillas, hundreds of common graves on southwest of Colombia ordered by Uribe. Everything paid, without knowing, by US tax payers.

[apresesco]

@goodgirl496 Asking for help? The mobster Uribe paid billions of dollars to buy military crap from the terrorist and interventionist government of the USA, and things got worse. Go "help" Iraq and get out of here.

[apresesco]

Get outta here, USA.

[zynio26]

VIVA URIBE VIVA COLOMBIA !

[goodgirl496]

I hate how Colombia can't step out by its self, instead of asking other countries for help. Like shit our Government cant do anything by its self it always has to ask for help, thats why we need a president thats capable to run the country without asking the United States for help.