Back Mr. Uribe

SINCE HIS election four years ago, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has transformed the mood of his country. With the help of substantial U.S. military aid, he has beaten back leftist guerrillas, rightist paramilitaries and drug cartels. Colombia feels safer than it has felt in years; the economy grew almost 6 percent last year and is expected to grow nearly as fast this year. Now, three months before he seeks reelection, Mr. Uribe is in Washington to pursue something that he calls a "national priority": a U.S.-Colombia free-trade deal. The Bush administration should give him what he wants. When you've got an ally as effective as Mr. Uribe, the smart thing is to support him.

Free-trade talks between the United States and Colombia began in 2004 but bogged down late last year because the Colombians wanted to maintain the right to protect corn, rice and poultry farmers. Ordinarily the United States would be right to press for more concessions in these areas, both because developing countries benefit in the long run from cutting their own tariffs and because carving out protectionist exceptions in supposedly free-trade deals sets a bad precedent. But Colombia is a special case. The rural dislocation that would follow from ending all protection for Colombian farmers could undermine the government's efforts to pacify the countryside. If farmers can't grow rice, they are more likely to grow coca.

Colombia's progress remains fragile. Mr. Uribe has put sufficient military pressure on his country's various illegal armies to force some to sue for peace. But a demobilization agreement with the right-wing paramilitaries has so far induced only 14,000 out of 20,000 to lay down their arms. Similarly, the left-wing guerrillas haven't been defeated yet; one group agreed to open peace talks recently, but the other killed 29 government soldiers in an attack in December. Mr. Uribe has good reason to be leery of a trade deal that might turn poor farmers against his government.

Moreover, Mr. Uribe has been clear since before the trade talks started that he would need scope to cushion the shock to his farmers. The administration should not have launched these talks unless it was willing to accommodate him. Now the talks are happening, and Mr. Uribe has put his own political prestige on the line by coming to Washington to negotiate in person. At a time when much of Latin America is taking an anti-American turn, the United States should back him.