English translation of President Uribe's comments

This is a Miami Herald translation of the transcript of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe's interview with Andres Oppenheimer. The transcript was provided by the Colombian presidency.

Q: Many believe that the free trade agreement with the United States is dead, that the Democrats have put a final seal on it. Since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that she was going to postpone taking up the approval of the accord, have you received any signals from the speaker, or anyone?s

A: No, what I know is what is public.

First, there has been a great effort by the U.S. government. Periodically, cabinet secretaries for President Bush have come here leading bipartisan delegations from the U.S. Congress. We have taken much care that the relations with the United States help to maintain the bipartisan approaches toward Colombia.

Second, it seems to me that what has happened has moved the issue -- must cause some reflection -- and I trust, from the public statements, that there's interest on the part of the Democrats to approve this treaty, and I would trust that in so far as they reach agreements with the government of President Bush, at some point they will reach agreement, the green light will be given for approving the treaty.

What does Colombia have to do? Colombia has to insist. We have to continue doing our work. Yesterday, for example, I had a meeting that I hold every two months with the labor unions ... and we were examining again the issue of human rights, the issue of defeating impunity in the murders of workers, etc. And every day we are doing our job with one slogan. The slogan is: We recognize where we fall short, but we also ask for recognition of what Colombia has achieved.

At one point we had years of 35,000 murders. This year -- it will still be much -- but we trust that it will be under 16,000. The rate was 68 murder per 100,000 inhabitants, last year, it was 37. We hope this year it will not be more than 30. At one point we had years of 3,000 kidnappings. Last year, 270. Already cities like Bogotá, where you are interviewing me, has gained much security. On other words, the country is advancing.