L.M. Otero / the associated press

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McCain lauds free trade in visit to Latin America McCain to visit Colombia next month

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CARTAGENA, Colombia — John McCain hailed the economic benefits of free trade to Colombians on Wednesday, raising the possibility of an eventual hemispheric-wide agreement even though a weak economy at home has soured many U.S. voters on trade agreements.

The GOP presidential nominee-in-waiting also toured Colombia's largest port by speedboat to review the country's U.S.-backed drug interdiction programs, a day after he praised President Alvaro Uribe for Colombia's anti-drug efforts but pressed him to improve the government's record on human rights.

McCain was in the country when Colombia freed Ingrid Betancourt and three U.S. military contractors from leftist guerrillas, but he didn't learn of the rescue until he was aboard a flight to Mexico. Uribe called McCain to inform him of the success.

"He told me some of the details of the rescue, the dramatic details," McCain told reporters. "It's a very high-risk operation. I congratulate President Uribe, the military and the nation of Colombia."

The Arizona senator got in several plugs for a proposed U.S.-Colombian Free Trade Agreement his Democratic opponent, Barack Obama, opposes, suggesting the tariffs imposed on American goods now exported to Colombia would disappear under the agreement — creating jobs in the United States instead.

McCain was also promoting NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he has said would benefit the U.S. economy over time. Such agreements have been deeply unpopular in several general election swing states like Ohio and Michigan.

And he said such trade agreements should be broadened to include other countries.

"I would like to see a hemispheric free-trade agreement," McCain said at a news conference here. "I would like to see our continued assistance to countries like Colombia."

Protectionist sentiment at home is worrisome "because history shows that isolationism and protectionism has very unpleasant consequences," McCain said.

But he added: "I am committed to getting every single American displaced from his or her job because of foreign competition … a new job and a better future."

Obama, who was speaking in Las Vegas to the United Steel Workers annual conference, said trade should work for all Americans and that it was a mistake for the U.S. to open its markets without asking other countries to open theirs.

McCain wrapped up a visit to Colombia and headed to Mexico on a two-day Latin American swing he insisted was not intended to be political.

McCain began the day visiting a Colombian naval hospital, where he handed out awards to service members wounded by improvised explosive devices.