distinguished foreign minister when they meet on the complicated constitutional issue of honduras and government to play a constructive role in blocking the effort of your full-court neighbor to hijack the american system?

>> i should be referring to international affairs. if i cannot bear the burden of the same power so, how can i bear on my shoulders the something of bigger? you know how difficult this is for the president of the country want to refer to international affairs? we are to be very respectful. we are for cooperation. we want conditions for social responsibility. we want freedom and independent institutions. we want a country to meet the

standards of a modern democracy and we have to be very respectful. we are for cooperation. we say if you want peace in colombia please help us in fighting these people. not allowing these people to hide out overseas we've request cooperation, but we do this with all the respect referring to honduras the minister of foreign relations has intervened a lot during this week. yesterday we had opportunity to exchange ideas about this case with president obama and augie replete we need full respect for space decisions in a free country. we need to know respect the

decisions made by people participation in accordance with the constitution and with the law of the country. we need to respect political rights and at the same time we need to be totally -- respecting the right of every country to determine its own path. we agree with a principal of respecting democracy in every country and in the principal of nonintervention. the principal of nonintervention cannot -- i cannot say today i disagree with intervention and at the same time tomorrow in a different circumstance talk on

my interest to say today we need intervention, today we don't need intervention. the intervention should be paramount decision. many times with intervention you create political problems in cited in the country. intervention creates problems and because of problems you were of a space institutions. therefore there is a connection between the principal of nonintervention with the principal of respecting their light of a free country to determine its own destiny by democratic sen and constitutional means. >> thank you. mr. president, in the midst of

an economic crisis as we are living here, president obama has focused a substantial portion of his efforts towards the domestic agenda and has the trade and international agenda on this has taken a back seat. that will change sometime soon. you just met with president obama, and of course the fda is very much a pending issue on the lot bilateral agenda. what role do you see ahead working with the administration and the congress for columbia's fta and prospects for moving ahead in congress? >> yesterday the conversation with president obama was pretty constructive. i found him very interested in moving ahead with columbia on

the whole point of relationship and the specific point on the free trade agreement. the free trade agreement with columbia is a question of politics, a signal of the friendship, it's convenient for both countries. the only way for columbia to provide some kind alternative some both the economy is through investment. therefore we don't see the possibility to increase exports to the united states in the near future. indeed we have seen a reduction in our exports to the united states. please keep in mind some cities -- have fought a lot to overcome terrorists.

my cities sustain a big battle on the cartels of narcotrafficking. my city has spent a lot but it specializes in the sport the perils and the main market is the united states and because of the decline in this market, my city has seen an increase in the unemployment rate up to 18%. therefore i have said we don't see possibilities to increase exports dramatically with the united states in the short term. but we need the free trade agreement for a sign for investors from all over the world to be much more confident in colombia. it is quite difficult for my government to invite investors

to put their money in colombia when they are thinking i want to put my money in colombia but by the united states has object free trade with columbia? in a country where there are 46 million people the way for us to prosper is by having access to the market will. to all the customers. to all the suppliers to integrate an international economy and the free trade agreement with of the united states. it is why difficult to negotiate with countries. our own minister of trade has a great the goal. he compared how close we were when the administration begone and how close we can be by the end of the second term, by

august next year. but we find it quite difficult. some countries ask now colombia, you want to negotiate with me but explain with me by the united states has not approved the free trade agreement with columbia, therefore it is unnecessary signal for the world economy. for instance, the question gives me the opportunity to refer to this. first, what is the cost the? by was a university student at the public university in the 70's and i remember -- one of the two main what targets in our subcontinent a massive gerlach brought to the country the idea

of the combination of our struggle at the same time they penetrated the label movement. journalists, politicians, and they created the paramilitary infraction, the paramilitary dissent, the paramilitary has begun to kill trade unionists seeing them as being collaborators. and the guerrillas began to keep accusing them of being traitors. this is the situation, the complexity that my government found. nuisance for before the beginning of the negotiation with the united states, its prior to our election we

proposed to colombians economic values. the [inaudible] compostable hundred points. if we win the election we will do our best to provide colombians with security and bawl you to protect teachers', trade unions, no mayors, city councils. columbia has from thousand 100 municipalities. the man years and the governors are elected by the people and they have many political leaders where my government begone more than 400 mayors could not attempt their cities because of the threat they received from terrorist organizations. more than 251 were killed when

year by year. we have reviewed this number. last year we had 38. this year so far, 17. we are not satisfied. why the general right of homicide is in colombia is 33 per every 100,000 people. in this specific case the rate is in between two or three for every 100,000 members of these groups. but we want cero cases. i want to repeat, we have 200 trade unionists and protection provided by their government and this protection has been very effective, no one with this protection has been killed. under the umbrella of the international labor of

organization we have agreed in a three apartheid agreement, employers, workers and government to give more resources to the justice administration to overcome impunity. please pay attention to these numbers. before the -- before the administration, colombia had trillions against killers of trade unionists. today, we have 195. today we have 175 people in jail

because they have been convicted or they have been indicted for killings of trade unionists. therefore, we have advanced protection and in our unity. we have one paramilitaries. and today with the cases have two sources. the other response to isolated cases would. we say that we have made progress, but we want zero cases. we have said that we need to do much more. in the case of the labor rules we have advanced a lot. last year we had a very important loss. one law, the power to say if any strike is legal we turn to this

power. from this to the justice administration. we have restricted, we have introduced a ban for cooperatives, that they can no longer be labor intermediaries. if they want to work, they have to pay the shareholders or that source of benefits and they cannot act and sleeper intermediaries. i signed a call law. but today columbia has a longer time calling the whole united states statute limitations, a longer time for the expiration on the possibility to propose any legal action against those criminals blamed for having held trade unionists, human rights defenders of.

for 17 years columbia was on the blacklist of international labor organizations. only during the last three years my country has been taken away of that list. and for the first year three weeks ago the international labor organization has said columbia is a country in progress, therefore we have said we have many problems to be solved but we have advanced a lot. my government in the middle of this economy crisis has the idea of many colombians to benefits that our loss had created for workers. it is three expensive however we defend the workers. we want -- we want

state-by-state to formalize the economy to provide markets with high-quality jobs. we want laws like these and now we have approved a new law we in opposing the government obligation to put money to guarantee and, at the moment of the retirement for those in the economy who have no expectations to get a pension therefore we are trying to do our best in colombia and we need your help. i have said to my fellow citizens any free trade agreement with any space country such as the case of the united states, the case of europe is a news was to protect the rights of the workers. a new source to protect the rights of the people. therefore we accept we need much

more results to get but we need your help one way is giving columbia the opportunity to have a signal of confidence it is the approval of the free trade agreement. >> i think the final question will have to be from ms. babich. >> i am a washington lawyer and a member of a much more elite group which is i am a former willson scholar. i have a question about internally displaced people in colombia. as you know and this audience knows columbia has the second-largest number of internally displaced persons in the world. you have a man who probably qualifies for safe food who has taken on the job, but it's a big job and i wish you would talk of the but more about your plans for expanding the scope of what he's doing and what you are doing with this very large population.

>> yes. we have to protect internally displaced people and the other is to of bataan the people coming from the terrorist groups. to internally displaced people we have increased the [inaudible] for many people this is a very negative incentive. last year in the number of internally displaced people, we 156,000 people who were in accordance with the declaration. they were displaced in between 1957 and 1987.

therefore we, our policy regarding internally displaced people has invited people displaced even in the middle of the last century to come to the registration office and request for further benefit. it's generosity but at the same time a big problem for the country. with internally displaced people we have advanced a lot and education will, health care, in subsidies will for them to be free from paying anything for the reason of treason, for them to guarantee their children in attendance. we left behind in social housing. if i were asked by the you know what is the main problem, you're main concern involving internally displaced people i

want to confess we lack of on housing. distinguished ladies and gentlemen, we have problems but my government is the first to acknowledge that we need to figure out how to overcome these problems. the international red cross has a lot to attend internally displaced people by having a new decision. there are three forms of displacement at this moment. the three sources are places in the middle of the jungle. we have said what to the international red cross please,

talk to our military, and we have said to our military please contact the international red cross to inform the international red cross in advance about our military operations against marco terrorists. for the international red cross to help in create a links of confidence with the communities living in these areas especially with indigenous communities and for them not to displace as a consequence of our voluntary operations -- military operations. we have succeeded in creating minds of confidence between the military and the community. one example i remember five years ago i visited this area.

with the chiefs in these communities said to me, mr. president, we cannot trust the people in uniform. there were guerrillas. this morning we see people in uniform they were paramilitary and this morning before your visit we've received a new delegation of people they said they are soldiers. we cannot ask. that day we created in this friendly discussion with the indigenous community that feel of the liaison of confidence. we appointed a in the army of the line of confidence in and it

has built a lot of confidence in this area. now we want this positive experience with the alias of the country to create confidence and try to diminish the number of displaced people. >> i know there are a number of hands of and we are sorry we cannot take more questions because of the president's schedule. i will ask you remain in your seats while the president departs. let's express our appreciation to president uribe. >> thank you very much. [applause] thank you mr. president. [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

eliason c-span fonted? >> publicly funded. >> donations may be? i have no idea. >> government. >> c-span gets funding through taxes. >> a public funding thing. >> maybe, i don't know. >> how is a c-span funded? 30 years ago america's cable companies created c-span as a public service. a private initiative. no government mandate, no government money. today in the british house of commons prime minister gordon brown answered questions about government spending and job loss. the prime minister also called recent actions by iran on acceptable. now this morning spry minister's

question time. >> order. questions to the prime minister. >> number one. >> with your permission mr. speaker the house will wish to join me in welcoming today her majesty the queens approval for a new form of recognition for the families of those members of the armed forces killed on operations as a result of terrorism. her majesty will be making an announcement today directly to the families of armed forces personnel and which she will make clear her personal attachment to this recognition. i'm confident this will be a special tribute for the great debt we owe to those that died on operations and the enduring loss shortened by the families. mr. speaker this morning i met a first i shall have further meetings today. >> mr. speaker the armed forces are the greatest and best in the world and the people show in the armed forces celebrations held

much they love and respect them. could i ask the prime mr. about swine flu? and number of people have tested positive and the local campaign newspaper is keen to reassure people progress is being made. what is he going to be doing next to tackle this problem? >> mr. speaker, let me say i share with him the respect he has stated for our armed forces and the armed forces on saturday where thousands of people in all parts of the country want to give recognition and deserve recognition to the work of the armed forces to every day. he raises the question of swine flu and he might know we've had an emergency meeting of the cobra group today to look at the incidence of the disease. i have to report to the house the total number of confirmed cases for the u.k. now stands at 6,538 and this compares