Even as the United States sits on a free trade agreement signed almost three years ago, Colombia continues to pay a steep price for its friendship with the United States.

The United States recently announced plans to shift some anti-narcotics efforts to Colombia from Ecuador due to the closure of the U.S. military base there. The United States has no military bases in Colombia, but a small number of U.S. troops are there (limited by mutual agreement to 800 or less), working cooperatively with their Colombian counterparts on joint efforts to fight narcotics trafficking.

Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez has vocally mischaracterized the matter to attack both the United States and Colombia – in an editorial today, the Miami Herald called it a "phony issue" - and other leaders in the region have added fuel to the fire. Today, Reuters reports that Venezuela, Colombia’s neighbor and second-largest export market after the United States, is working actively to cut off trade ties between the two countries. Given the Chavez government’s ever-increasing state control over the Venezuelan economy, it’s a threat to be taken seriously, even though Venezuela currently depends heavily on Colombian imports to augment its food supply, among other things.

For its support of the United States, Colombia will suffer material economic harm from the loss of exports to Venezuela, along with political isolation by many of its South American neighbors. Meanwhile, Colombia also suffers political embarrassment, as well as lost economic opportunities, from the ongoing snub by the United States in its failure to approve the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement.

Colombians view the trade agreement not just in terms of its economic impact, but as a symbol of friendship and partnership between the United States and Colombia. That the United States is not returning Colombia’s friendship and support in kind is a matter of great distress.

It’s time for the U.S. Administration and Congress to put aside domestic political concerns over trade policy for another day – this is no longer a simple matter of trade policy – and send a strong signal of support for Colombia by approving the trade agreement.