U.S. trade deal failure "incomprehensible": Colombia

CANCUN, Mexico (Reuters) - A U.S. rejection of a free trade deal with Colombia would be "incomprehensible" as the country is a close ally in a war against leftist rebels and drug traffickers, President Alvaro Uribe said on Wednesday.

U.S. President George W. Bush is pushing for Congress to pass the trade deal with Colombia, but Democrats in Congress are concerned about human rights abuses in the Andean country and have blocked its approval.

"Denying a country like Colombia a free trade deal would be incomprehensible, unexplainable," Uribe told reporters at a World Economic Forum event in Cancun, Mexico.

Colombia is locked in a long conflict with Marxist rebels, branded terrorists by Washington, as well as paramilitary gangs and drug traffickers all funded by the country's huge cocaine trade.

Uribe said higher investment would create more jobs in Colombia, making the poor less likely to turn to drugs.

"Investment gained in Colombia from the approval of a free trade agreement with the United States is a great alternative to drug trafficking and its consequence: violent terrorism," he said.

The White House is lobbying hard for the pact as a way of backing Uribe, a staunch supporter of Washington in a region dominated by left-wing leaders like Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Ecuador's Rafael Correa.

Bush said on Monday that Democrats had "stiffed" a crucial ally by voting in the House of Representatives to indefinitely delay the pact.

U.S. labor groups, a support base for Democrats, strongly oppose the trade deal on the grounds that Colombia has not done enough to stop the murder of union leaders and put their killers in jail.