In Colombia, McCain talks up trade deals

CARTAGENA, Colombia - John McCain hailed the economic benefits of free trade to Colombians yesterday, raising the possibility of an eventual hemisphere-wide agreement even though a weak economy at home has soured many U.S. voters on trade agreements.

The GOP presidential candidate also toured Colombia's largest port by speedboat to review the country's U.S.-backed drug-interdiction programs, a day after he praised President Alvaro Uribe for Colombia's antidrug efforts but pressed him to improve the government's record on human rights.

McCain was in the country when Colombia freed Ingrid Betancourt and three U.S. military contractors from leftist guerrillas, but did not learn of the rescue until he was aboard a flight to Mexico. Uribe called McCain to inform him of the success.

"He told me some of the details of the rescue, the dramatic details," McCain told reporters. "It's a very high-risk operation. I congratulate President Uribe, the military, and the nation of Colombia."

During his trip, the Arizona senator got in several plugs for a proposed U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement his Democratic opponent, Barack Obama, opposes, suggesting the tariffs imposed on American goods now exported to Colombia would disappear under the agreement - creating jobs in the United States instead.

McCain was also promoting NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he has said would benefit the U.S. economy over time. Such agreements have been deeply unpopular in several general-election swing states, including Ohio and Michigan.

He said such trade agreements should be broadened to include other countries. "I would like to see a hemispheric free-trade agreement," McCain said at a news conference. "I would like to see our continued assistance to countries like Columbia."

Protectionist sentiment at home is worrisome "because history shows that isolationism and protectionism has very unpleasant consequences," McCain said.

But he added: "I am committed to getting every single American displaced from his or her job because of foreign competition . . . a new job and a better future."

McCain wrapped up his visit to Colombia and headed to Mexico on a two-day Latin American swing he insisted was not intended to be political.

The Obama campaign criticized McCain's visit in an e-mail to reporters yesterday, saying the Republican's support for trade agreements "just underscores his insistence on continuing George Bush's failed economic policies that have left nearly 2.5 million more workers unemployed."

In a conference call in Washington organized by the Democratic National Committee, Linda Chavez-Thompson said McCain's support for the Colombia free-trade agreement was nothing more than Washington politics putting lobbyists and special interests first.

Chavez-Thompson, who is a former executive vice president of the AFL-CIO, pointed to McCain adviser Charlie Black, who recently retired from the prominent Washington lobbying firm he helped found. The firm has long represented companies with major business interests in Colombia, including Occidental Petroleum Corp.

John McCain denied

a Republican colleague's contention that he roughed up an associate of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega's on a diplomatic mission in 1987, saying the allegation was "simply not true."

Sen. Thad Cochran

(R., Miss.) told a Mississippi newspaper Monday that during a trip to Nicaragua, he saw McCain grab an Ortega associate by his shirt collar and lift him out of his chair.

McCain, known to have

a hot temper, responded yesterday that at the time, he cochaired a Central American working group in the Senate and made several trips to the region.

"I did not admire

the Sandinistas much," he said. "But there was never anything of that nature. It just didn't happen."

Asked why

the Mississippi senator had raised the issue now, Cochran spokeswoman Margaret McPhillips said: "He wanted to make the point that over the years, he has seen Sen. McCain mature. . . . He believes Sen. McCain has developed

into the best possible candidate for president."

McCain has battled

with Cochran in the Senate over pet projects inserted into spending bills. He sought

to smooth things over this year after Cochran said the idea of McCain as the GOP nominee sent a chill

down his spine.

- Associated Press