U.S. President George W. Bush on Tuesday pledged his continued support for Colombia President Alvaro Uribe, who has provoked the outrage of neighboring Ecuador and Venezuela by sending Colombian troops into Ecuador to conduct a raid against rebels. “America fully supports Colombia's democracy,” Bush said. “We firmly oppose any acts of aggression that could destabilize the region.” Bush comments came as Ecuador and Venezuela sent troops to their borders with Colombia. A day earlier, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa recalled his ambassador from Bogot? and expelled Colombia's ambassador. But President Bush said he would stand by Uribe - a conservative U.S. ally whose country has received some $5 billion in U.S. aid to counter the drug trade and battle leftist guerrillas since 2000. “America will continue to stand with Colombia as it confronts violence and terror and fights drug traffickers,” Bush said. Tensions were sparked by a weekend raid by Colombian troops against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - a Marxist rebel group - inside Ecuador. Correa's government protested the raid as a violation of their sovereignty, and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said his country would not hesitate to respond militarily to any similar violation of Venezuela's borders. Speaking at a hastily-called press briefing, Bush urged Congress to show U.S. support for Uribe by approving a long-stalled free-trade deal between the two countries. The deal was signed in 2006 but has languished in Congress, where Democratic leaders have refused to pass it, citing human rights labor unions. “If we fail to approve this agreement, we will let down our close ally, we will damage our credibility in the region, and we will embolden the demagogues in our hemisphere,” he said, apparently referring to Chavez - a strident U.S. critic. “(Uribe) told me that the people across the region are watching to see what the United States will do. So Republicans and Democrats in Congress need to come together and approve this agreement,” he said.
