With rumors swirling that President Bush will submit the Colombia Free Trade deal to Congress Tuesday, Presdient Alvaro Uribe sat for interview with the Wall Street Journal. When told that Barack Obama opposed the deal citing violence against unions, Uribe replied:

I deplore that Sen. Obama, apparently because he wants to be president of the United States, ignores all that Colombia has achieved. We would ask him to find out about our progress and efforts to better understand the situation before he makes the type of comments he has made. … We have made a big effort, and the number [of murders] has fallen to 26 last year from 205 in 2001. So far this year, there have been 11 murders. … We hope there will be a bipartisan approach towards Colombia. This should not be affected by electoral U.S. politics.