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  1. Negotiations

US-Andean countries


In May 2004, the US began negotiations with Colombia, Ecuador and Peru to reach some form of FTA with the three Andean countries -- and later, if US plans worked out, Bolivia as well.

According to

Ecuador minister says US political interference unacceptable
18-May-2006     MarketWatch
Finance Minister Diego Borja said that the US decision to break off free trade talks with Ecuador after the government canceled Occidental Petroleum Corp's (OXY) contracts was unacceptable political interference.
White House axes free trade talks with Ecuador
17-May-2006     CNN
The Bush administration announced Tuesday it has broken off negotiations on a free trade agreement with Ecuador after that government's decision to annul an operating contract with Occidental Petroleum Corp.
Ecuador sends military to seized oil facilities
17-May-2006     Globe and Mail
Ecuadorean President Alfredo Palacio sent troops to guard oil facilities seized from Occidental Petroleum Corp. as they are transferred to state control, officials said Tuesday.
US-Ecuador free trade agreement frozen
15-May-2006     MercoPress
Ecuador's chief trade negotiator, Manuel Chiriboga, admitted that a huge "uncertainty" surrounds the future of the free trade negotiations with United States suspended since the end of March.
Iglesias: Minister repeats demand that Bogotá, Lima drop deals with Washington
26-Apr-2006    
Light Industry and Trade Minister María Cristina Iglesias reiterated the government's position that Colombia and Peru would have to abandon the bilateral trade deals they recently signed with the United States if Venezuela were to stay in the Andean Community of Nations.
Industry minister: Venezuela will never ink FTA with the US
25-Apr-2006    
"We will never initial a Free Trade Agreement (with the United States,) as they put men in the background and focus on the North," Venezuelan Light Industries and Commerce minister María Cristina Iglesias said Tuesday.
FTA daggers leave Andeans gasping
25-Apr-2006    
Venezuelan Minister for Integration and Foreign Trade Gustavo Márquez said on Monday that the countries which signed Free Trade Agreements with the US are responsible for the failure of the Andean Community of Nations (CAN).
US: Ecuador oil-tax law violates treaty
22-Apr-2006     AP
A US Embassy spokeswoman said Friday that a newly approved oil-tax law designed to cut into windfall profits of foreign oil producers, like US-based Occidental Petroleum Corp, violates a bilateral investment treaty.
US warns Ecuador free-trade pact at risk
21-Apr-2006     Reuters
The United States warned Ecuador on Thursday that a proposed free-trade agreement was at risk unless Quito acted on a growing list of investment and other concerns.
Ecuador seeks to salvage free trade deal
20-Apr-2006     AP
Ecuador's ambassador to Washington return to Quito for consultations on how to overcome an impasse with US free trade negotiators over an oil-tax bill designed to cut into foreign windfall crude profits.