Gutierrez sees fugitive as problem to Panama FTA

Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez has told Panamanian officials that the election of a man indicted for murdering a U.S. soldier as leader of Panama’s national assembly is “a problem” that the country must address.

{mosads}The election of Pedro Miguel Gonzalez creates a hurdle to congressional consideration of a trade deal between the U.S. and Panama that did not exist several weeks ago, according to Gutierrez, who led a congressional delegation to Panama this week.

Gonzalez is wanted in the U.S. on charges of first-degree murder in the 1992 killing of U.S. Army Sgt. Zak Hernandez-Laporte, who died in an assault in Panama three years after the U.S. invasion of that country. In a 1997 trial in Panama, Gonzalez was acquitted of the charges in a decision criticized by the U.S.

“We’ve worked so hard. It would be a shame to have something to get in the way that has nothing to do with the trade agreement,” Gutierrez said in an interview with The Hill.

Gutierrez spoke by phone from Peru, where the delegation traveled after a Sept. 13 trip to Panama. The group is in Colombia today.

While in Panama, officials from that country asked Gutierrez what the U.S. wants them to do about Gonzalez, Gutierrez said. “That’s really up to them …to decide how best to solve the problem,” Gutierrez told The Hill.

He added that his message was that the U.S. is not going to tell Panama how to handle the matter, but that the U.S. was unhappy with it.

The Bush administration has launched a full-court press to push Congress to approve trade agreements this fall with Peru, Panama and Colombia. The deal with Panama is seen as relatively uncontroversial, but the Gonzalez election introduces some uncertainty to the process.

Rep. Ruben Hinojosa (Texas), one of three Democratic House members on the trip with Gutierrez, told Bloomberg News this week that the Gonzalez election could cause consideration of the FTA to be delayed. Hinojosa is one of only 15 Democrats who voted for the Central American Free Trade Agreement in 2005.

Others on the delegation include Sen. Bob Bennett (R-Utah) and Reps. Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.), Greg Meeks (D-N.Y.), Rodney Alexander (R-La.), David Dreier (R-Calif.), Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), Wally Herger (R-Calif.) and Jim McCrery (R-La.).

House Democratic leaders on trade have said they are willing to move the Peru deal, but the Colombia agreement is much more controversial because of Democratic criticism of violence against labor leaders in that country.

Gutierrez, however, said Congress should not let the opportunity of approving the Colombia deal slide, and hailed progress in that country.