President Uribe receives a delegation from the U.S. Congress

CARTAGENA, Colombia - In a marathon two-day trip, Democratic members of the U.S. Congress reviewed their social cooperation programs with Colombia, had talks with representatives from diverse sectors of society, and met with President Álvaro Uribe to discuss bilateral trade. They saw the submarines used by narco-traffickers to bring cocaine into their country and went out on the boats which the Colombian authorities use to confront the drug barons.

"It is an important visit. [The members of Congress] expressed great commitment to Colombia and I was very pleased they visited the city of Montería, in the department of Córdoba, where such effort has been made to recover security," assured the Colombian head of state, who received the delegation wearing a typical hat of the region and with his wife Lina Morena by his side.

The representative for New York, Eliot Engle, led the group of legislators.

"I cannot think of another country that has worked so closely with the United States in the fight against things that we all know are dangerous to all countries, not only our own countries, and we have worked for a positive result: to improve the lives of all the people in the region, as much the North as South America," assured Engel at the end of the visit.

Hours before, during a meeting of more than three hours with President Uribe in the private property of the head of state in the city of Montería, Engel referred to a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the United States and Colombia, signed by both governments in 2006 but still waiting to be ratified in the United States' legislature.

"I think that we are moving in the right direction and I hope that in the not-too-distant future, we will have positive news", said the Democratic Congressman, after reminding that: "Colombia has good friends in both parties of the United States' parties" and therefore it is very likely that discussions will move forward in the Congress.

"In the not-too-distant future, we hope to sit down with President [Barack] Obama and have a very open discussion about the FTA between Colombia and the United States," added Engel.

The members of Congress also referred to the recent signing of the agreement of military cooperation between Colombia and the United States.

"There are some that criticize. I do not only believe that this agreement is necessary but I also think that it is very important to clarify what is the truth and what is a lie. And the truth is that this agreement will help us to coordinate better in the fight against narco-traffickers," he emphasized.

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