Costa Rica approved the signing of the agreement with the U.S. in a referendum last weekend.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez today expressed his satisfaction with the support given in Costa Rica to the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries, and expressed his confidence that the same would happen in Panama and Peru, but expressed his doubts about ratification in Colombia.
Gutiérrez is in Montevideo on his second and final day of an official visit, which has helped to strengthen trade relations with this country in the Southern Cone of South America.
After meeting on Monday with Uruguayan President Tabaré Vazquez, the US Trade Representative gave a lecture today to a group of local businessmen, in which he advocated for free trade in Latin America as an engine of regional development.
In that regard, he highlighted his Government's satisfaction with Costa Rica's recent ratification of the FTA in a referendum held last week.
Costa Rica and the rest of the Central American countries (Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua), as well as the Dominican Republic, signed a free trade agreement with the United States in 2004 that subsequently had to be ratified by the respective Congresses or Parliaments.
Regarding what happened in Costa Rica, Gutiérrez expressed his hope that this positive result will help to make the process similar in Peru, Panama, and Colombia.
He was confident that the vote would be favorable in both Peru and Panama, but expressed his doubts regarding Colombia.
"Here, I'm going to be very frank with you, the issue is very political," said Gutiérrez, who, nevertheless, recalled the improvement in the violence rates in that South American country.
"All the indicators have improved in Colombia in the last five years more than at any other time in the last fifty," he added.
Gutiérrez was referring to the position of the Democratic Party in the US, whose members are dissatisfied with Bogotá's progress in human rights and the fight against paramilitarism and violence against union leaders.
However, Gutiérrez pointed out that those same union leaders now receive protection and insisted that the security situation in Colombia is now unparalleled compared to what it was before.
And he stressed that if the US gives preference to Colombian products, then it remains to be seen "whether preference will be given to American products entering Colombia," Gutiérrez said.
"I believe it would be a tremendous mistake not to put the treaty with Colombia to a vote, and I say this here, I say it in the US Congress, in Colombia, and wherever I can," he stated emphatically.
The Free Trade Agreement with Colombia "is important and strategic" for that country and for the US, Gutiérrez concluded.
Signing free trade agreements with Latin American countries has become one of the key strategies for the US in this region to counter the power of some governments hostile to US economic policies in the area.
With Uruguay, due to this country's membership in Mercosur, there are no expectations of signing a free trade agreement, but last January Washington and Montevideo signed a framework agreement on cooperation and trade that has been promoted during this trip.
Gutiérrez is scheduled to travel to Brazil today, where he will continue this offensive of trade policies by the White House.
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