Breaking News of massive Hillary / Bill Trouble via Colombia
"We need your help to expedite the signing of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the EU is very important to give a clear signal of what the relations between the two countries should be," President Alvaro Uribe said yesterday to the former president of the EU Bill Clinton, during Expogestion 2005.
"I will raise your point when you return to the United States," Clinton replied. "I am in favor of the free trade agreement and it is my hope that we will find the right formula to reach the agreement."
The story also reports that Clinton received a two-minute standing ovation after "applauding Colombia's perserverence for the progress made in the Free Trade Agreement negotiations with the United States."
This is a reprint of a Translation of this article available from the Columbian Government from June 23, 2005 and broken by Ben Smith via Politico.
Bill was in Colombia June 22, 2005, speaking in Bogota, Colombia...
UPDATE II: Context of the Above Photo from the same day
With the company of the President of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe, in demonstration of his confidence in Colombia and to support the social democratic model, the former president of the United States, Mr. William Jefferson Clinton, greeted to the street vendors and citizens in Bogota, during the walk they took in from the “Tequendama Hotel” to the “Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada Convention Center”, located just in to downtown Bogota.
End Update... unless I can dig up video :)
Original Spanish Exchange
Clinton elogió la labor del gobierno colombiano en su lucha contra la pobreza y contra el narcotráfico y aplaudió su perseverancia por los avances logrados en las negociaciones de un Tratado de Libre Comercio con los Estados Unidos (TLC).
Esos elogios motivaron los aplausos del público que por más de dos minutos hacían sonar fuetemente las palmas de sus manos, cada vez con mayor intensidad.
“Necesitamos su ayuda para agilizar la firma del Tratado de Libre Comercio (TLC) con E.U. Es de gran importancia para dar una señal clara de lo que deben ser las relaciones entre los dos países”, le dijo ayer el presidente Álvaro Uribe, al ex presidente de los E.U. Bill Clinton, durante Expogestion 2005.
“Voy a plantear su punto cuando regrese a E.U.”, le respondió Clinton. “Estoy a favor del TLC y tengo la esperanza de que vamos a encontrar la fórmula para que se logre el acuerdo”, añadió.
More on Bill in Colombia Backstory
Former President Bill Clinton has earned hundreds of thousands of dollars speaking on behalf of a Colombia-based group pushing the trade pact, and representatives of that organization tell The Huffington Post that the former president shared their sentiment.
In June 2005, Clinton was paid $800,000 by the Colombia-based Gold Service International to give four speeches throughout Latin America. The organization is, ostensibly, a development group tasked with bringing investment to the country and educating world leaders about the Colombia's business opportunities.
SOURCE
A Smoking Gun?
End of the Campaign?
Can the shit get any deeper?
Jed Report Time??? boy oh boy if there is video!
UPDATE: Teamster President Jim Hoffa explains why this trade deal is bad
Though all of the trade deals since NAFTA have harmed American workers, the proposed deal with Colombia is especially repugnant to U.S. labor unions. Colombia is the most dangerous country in the world for union members. More than 2,500 union members have been murdered by Colombian death squads since the 1980s. There have been more than 400 murders since President Uribe took office five years ago. Yet the Colombian government has done nothing to effectively stop death squads from murdering workers for trying to form unions.
WORST CAMPAIGN REACTION EVER... "yawn"???
"Senator Clinton is the candidate for president and she is a clear and firm opponent of the Colombian free trade agreement. Like other married couples who disagree on issues from time to time, she disagrees with her husband on this issue. President Clinton has been public about his support for Columbia's request for U.S. trade preferences since 2000," Carson said. "Yawn."