Palin to meet with Colombia’s Uribe

Sarah Palin’s foreign policy experience may be practically nonexistent yet she hopes to change that this week.

The U.S. Vice Presidential hopeful will meet numerous world leaders as the latest session of the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) is underway. The lone Latin American leader that she will meet during her visit will be Colombian president Alvaro Uribe. Both are expected to meet this afternoon and discuss issues such as free trade and the “war on drugs.”

Free trade has been the main focus of Uribe during his visit to the U.S. this week. Over the weekend, he met with President George W. Bush who offered his support of free trade and admonished the Democratic-controlled for Congress for postponing a vote on it.

In an interview earlier today with Colombia’s Caracol Radio, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama mentioned a telephone discussion he had last week with Uribe:

Obama manifestó: "Sostuve una buena conversación con el presidente Uribe, creo que él ha estado trabajando duramente en su país para reducir la violencia y el tráfico de drogas en Colombia, pero como le dije, tenemos que asegurarnos de que los derechos de los trabajadores sean protegidos y aún falta mucho trabajo por hacer" .

Translation – Obama said “I had a good conversation with President Alvaro Uribe who I believe has been working very hard in his country to combat violence and drug trafficking. But like I told him, we need to assure that the rights of workers are protected and there is a lot that has to be done.”

In the interview, Obama also admitted that Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez had “exploited” the Bush administration’s ignoring of the Americas and that the embargo against Cuba would remain unless real reforms are done on the island.

Image- Canada.com

Sources (English)- Reuters, Bloomberg, Guardian UK

Sources (Spanish)- El Espectador, El Tiempo