United States presidential candidate for the Republican party John McCain criticized his Democratic opponent Barack Obama for not supporting a free trade agreement with Colombia during the last debate between the U.S. presidential hopefuls.
The Republican candidate also criticized Obama’s remarks about seeking rapprochement with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and the fact the Democratic senator had never visited Latin America.
“Senator Obama, who has never been south of our border, opposes a free trade agreement with Colombia. The same country that is helping us to stop the drugs coming into our country and is killing our children,” the Republican said.
McCain, who visited Colombia earlier this year, said Colombia “will help us create jobs in the U.S. because it will allow us to sell our products without having to pay for it, without having to pay the billions of dollars we already have paid.”
“The history in Colombia right now is that labor leaders have been targeted for assassination on a fairly consistent basis and there have not been prosecutions,” Obama responded.
The Democratic candidate said the FTA recognizes the protection of labor and environment, but “we have to stand for human rights and we have to make sure that violence isn’t being perpetrated against workers who are just trying to organize for their rights.”
