Obama, Uribe talk by phone (Obama going to Trinidad for summit in April)

the hemispheric summit in Trinidad should be an interesting event.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090128/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_colombia_obama;_ylt=AhV4Cvg77M6svwdUu1YynWa3IxIF


Obama, Colombian president talk by phone

BOGOTA, Colombia – President Barack Obama and Colombia's Alvaro Uribe spoke by telephone for 10 minutes Tuesday, discussing relations between Washington and the largest recipient of U.S. aid in the region, Uribe's spokesman said.

The conversation was "constructive and cordial" and dealt with common issues shared by the allies, said presidential spokesman Cesar Mauricio Velasquez. He declined to provide details of the conversation.

On Monday, Obama spoke by phone with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Earlier Tuesday, Colombian Foreign Minister Jaime Bermudez spoke with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton about topics including the war on drugs, the U.S. aid program called Plan Colombia and trade.

Both Clinton and Obama, as Democratic senators, opposed ratification of a free trade agreement with Colombia, expressing concerns over continuing slayings of labor leaders in the Andean nation, the world's most dangerous for union organizing.

"We had a chance to go over the multiple issues we have in common as nations, obviously including the war on drugs and the Plan Colombia, but also trade issues like energy and the Summit of the Americas," Bermudez said.

Obama has said he would attend the April meeting of Western Hemisphere leaders in Trinidad and Tobago.

Colombia has received about $6 billion in mostly military aid from Washington since 2000 and is girding for an expected reduction in assistance due mainly to the global economic crisis.