COLOMBIA GOES FULL TILT TO RETURN TO GRACE

Uribe Administration, Seeking U.S. Trade Pact, Lobbies Hard to
Overcome Scandal Allegations

WASHINGTON -- To win approval of a new trade pact, Colombia is
putting together a richly financed lobbying campaign piloted by
ex-Clinton White House officials, complete with advertisements, a
rapid-response media team and regular visits by Colombian bigwigs to
Congress. The necessity and breadth of such a campaign demonstrates
just how far Colombia has fallen politically in Washington. For
years, the Andean nation was considered a model ally that battled
guerillas and narcotraffickers and embraced free-market policies,
unlike Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, who mocked President Bush and boasted
of creating "21st-century socialism." But since Democrats took
control of Congress this year, the focus has shifted to a deepening
scandal in Colombia, where government officials have been accused of
working with right-wing paramilitary leaders who have murdered
hundreds of union members and other political foes.

The sharpest slap was delivered by former Vice President Al Gore, who
pulled out of an environmental meeting in April rather than share a
stage with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe because of what a Gore
spokeswoman calls the "troubling allegations" in Colombia.

"Colombia has to get a new message, that it's going to end the
culture of impunity where labor leaders are killed and no one
punished," says Rep. Sam Farr, a California Democrat who was once a
Peace Corps volunteer in Colombia and now sits on the House
appropriations committee.

This week, Colombia hopes to make progress. President Uribe is
jetting back to Washington to lobby for the votes of conservative
Democrats and members of the Hispanic and black caucuses Thursday.
The following day he plans to give an award to former President
Clinton at a New York dinner -- a signal to Democrats that Colombia
isn't politically radioactive. Mr. Clinton "is honored to be
receiving an award from the Colombian people," a Clinton spokesman said.

Colombia's immediate problems stem from turmoil back home. More than
a dozen lawmakers have been arrested for colluding with the
paramilitaries -- the scandal is called "paragate" -- and close
allies of President Uribe, including his foreign minister, have been
forced to resign. In Washington, many lawmakers are wary of approving
aid or trade deals until the investigation progresses further.

Colombia also has longer-term issues to resolve. For all the progress
the country has made during the past decade in reducing violence,
labor-union members are greatly at risk. Human Right Watch, a
nonprofit watchdog group, says 58 union members were murdered in
Colombia last year. Colombian Ambassador Carolina Barco says the
number is down sharply from 2002 but acknowledges that Colombia's
trade-union murder rate is "the highest in the world." For U.S. labor
leaders and their Democratic party allies, that makes Colombia a
target. The Bush administration has negotiated free-trade pacts with
Panama, Peru, South Korea and Colombia. The first two are likely to
get token opposition on Capitol Hill. South Korea is a tougher sell
because of opposition by automobile unions. "But Colombia is a class
apart," says Thea Lee, the AFL-CIO's trade specialist.

Colombia is hindered by the U.S.'s changing foreign-policy priorities
as the war on drugs has given way to the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan. The U.S. has spent about $5 billion since 2000 on a
program called Plan Colombia to build up Colombian military forces
and destroy coca production. While the program was approved at the
end of the Clinton administration, Democratic support has been waning
because of disappointment that the spending hasn't significantly
reduced the amount of cocaine reaching the U.S.

A Scorecard of Kills

For years, Colombia's veteran ambassador, Luis Alberto Moreno, could
call on contacts in both political parties to shore up support for
Colombia and figure out what arguments were winners in Washington. He
may have been the only ambassador in Washington to try to sell a
trade accord by handing out palm cards with data on homicides,
kidnappings and "terrorists killed and demobilized."

While the current ambassador, Ms. Barco, says she regularly confers
with Mr. Moreno, now president of the Inter-American Development
Bank, the Colombians have turned to Democratic lobbyists with strong
ties to President Clinton to put together strategy.

The team includes the public-relations firm of Burson-Marsteller,
headed by former Clinton pollster Mark Penn, who is also a top
adviser to Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. The firm has
set up a campaign-style operation to respond immediately to any
critical news about Colombia. Glover Park Group, which includes
former Clinton White House spokesman Joe Lockhart and lobbyist Susan
Brophy, works on Capitol Hill with the lobbying firm of Johnson,
Madigan, Peck, Boland & Stewart Inc., including Republican Peter
Madigan and another Clinton-administration lobbyist, William Danvers.
A business coalition, headed by Caterpillar Inc, Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
and Citigroup Inc., is making lobbying calls and is planning an
advertising campaign to push the trade deal.

Colombia spends about $100,000 a month for outside lobbyists. One big
focus is to figure out ways to influence Rep. Charles Rangel (D.,
N.Y.), who heads the Ways and Means Committee, which handles trade
legislation. The Colombians lobby the Congressional Black Caucus,
which includes Mr. Rangel, and make sure black Colombian lawmakers
and Colombian union leaders join delegations that meet with U.S. lawmakers.

"I'd be using every hook and angle," says Rep. Joseph Crowley, a New
York Democrat who backs Colombia's efforts.

Sometimes the lobbying backfires. At a Congressional dinner last
month, President Uribe lashed out at a Humans Rights Watch official,
Jose Miguel Vivanco, who challenged Mr. Uribe's rosy picture of
improving security for union members. "You're biased to the
guerrillas and everyone in Colombia thinks that," Mr. Uribe lectured,
according to a number of people at the session. Mr. Vivanco said the
exchange showed how Mr. Uribe practices "intimidation." Ms. Barco,
the ambassador, dismisses the incident as a "heated" discussion.

Colombia is trying to convince Democrats to work together on what one
Colombian adviser calls a "grand bargain." That would include
approval of the trade pact and a reworking of the $700 million in
annual aid for Colombia so that more money is used to protect union
members, prosecute political killers, build up the Colombian
judiciary and fund development projects, with tighter U.S. oversight.
Colombia strategists have asked Ways and Means Democrats to come up
with a list of priorities they want to see Colombia address.

"We'll go the extra mile, or two miles or 10 miles," Colombian Vice
President Francisco Santos said during a Washington lobbying swing.
The Chavez Dance Democrats haven't even committed to a vote on the
pact, which had been expected by early fall. Rep. Sander Levin, a
Michigan Democrat who heads the trade subcommittee, says he wants to
see "results" first, including improvements in labor laws and
increased prosecutions. His staff hasn't produced a specific list.

Colombian lobbyists, as well as the Bush White House, figure they
must build momentum by seeing the Peru and Panama pacts move first
and delaying a Colombia vote until as late as next year. Ultimately,
they argue, lawmakers will vote for Colombia if for no other reason
than to avoid handing a propaganda victory to Mr. Chavez, who could
crow about how the U.S. treats allies. It is a risky strategy, says
former Republican Rep. Jim Kolbe, a veteran of trade battles. Mr.
Chavez "is a card they can play," says Mr. Kolbe. "But it doesn't
appear to be enough."