Colombian Ambassador in Washington Carolina Barco Tuesday played down the importance of the theme of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe’s re-election in his meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama.
“In the presidents’ conversation the election theme was very minor. Logically the conversation centered around our bilateral themes and the role Colombia is playing in the region,” she said.
Following a meeting with Colombian President Monday, the American
President commented on his potential re-election saying, “two terms are enough and after eight years, in the U.S.
people want change.”
Barco said that Obama was not making a judgement on the re-election theme and that his comments were open to interpretation.
“He clearly starts by saying that in the U.S. there were two [re-elections], but it doesn’t seem to me as if he were making a judgment, if not saying that changes correspond to constitutional changes made democratically,” she said.
“What he was saying was that it is an internal issue for Colombia, yesterday he didn’t get involved in judging our issue,” she added.
The Ambassador did not comment on when the much talked about Free Trade Agreement between the two countries would be approved but said that the technical teams from nations were working on it.
