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BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - President Alvaro Uribe lashed out at U.S. lawmakers for treating Colombia like a "pariah" by refusing to pass a trade agreement amid a scandal linking his government to murderous right-wing paramilitaries.
"We cannot accept that free trade agreements with Panama and Peru are approved while Colombia is punished in this battle, treated like a pariah," an angry Uribe, Washington's staunchest ally in Latin America, said at a military ceremony Friday. "This is unacceptable."
Democratic leaders in Congress and the Bush administration agreed last week to more stringent labor conditions to push forward passage of two bilateral trade agreements with Peru and Panama.
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