President Uribe received the US Presidential Medal of Freedom in Washington
this week. Only 13 foreign leaders have received this, the highest civilian
award in the US, in the last 60 years, and it has been presented to such
luminaries as Mother Teresa and Nelson Mandela. The fact that it symbolised the
lack of bipartisan agreement on Colombia took some of the lustre off the medal
for Uribe. The Democrats, who have opposed a free trade agreement with Colombia
for two years out of concern for human rights, could toughen their stance seeing
a Republican President, George W Bush, snubbing them. This would complicate
Uribe's ties with the incoming Obama administration.
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