By Prensa Latina
Bogota : The Free Trade Treaty (FTT) between the United States and Colombia would boost coca planting and sale of cocaine to United States consumers, the Polo Democrático Alternativo (PDA) party warned.
In a letter to the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, released in Bogota, PDA chairman Carlos Gaviria Diaz, referred to the negative consequences of the agreement.
The ruin of Colombian agriculture by the treaty would stimulate planting coca for drug trafficking to US cities, the text added.
According to the letter, events have demostrated that the Colombian government has not given a satisfactory answer to violence in that country, especially against union leaders and human rights activists.
The letter by the main opposition party in Colombia is also addressed to Senate majority leader, Harry Reid and Democrat presidential hopefuls Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton.
The top-ranking representative of PD affirmed that the Democratic Party could contribute to improve relations between both countries by opposing the signing of the FTT.
United States trade representative, Susan Schwab is leading the US delegation that will hold talks on the FTT and expects to meet with President Alvaro Uribe and other Colombian leaders.
President George W. Bush will present Congress with the FTT with Colombia which is being opposed by Democrat congressmen.
Approval for the project in the House requires 218 of 435 possible votes, so the Colombian government has been lobbying intensely for several weeks.