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The Colombia [8]n government -- which is dogged by controversy over its human rights record -- is seeking help from British PR firms to help promote a "modern" image amongst journalists and politicians. Colombia's deputy head of mission in the UK, Andelfo Garcia, told PR Week that "the stereotype of Colombia is not right. We are a growing country with a good story to tell. We need someone to help us reach out to the UK media, its politicians and its businesses." The UK-based Colombia Solidarity Campaign [9] and other groups have shone the spotlight on Colombia's poor human rights record. In the U.S., Colombia has hired Johnson, Madigan, Peck, Boland & Stewart [10] and Andrew Samet [11] from Sorini, Samet & Associates [12] to help lobby the U.S. Congress to pass the U.S. - Colombia Free Trade Agreement [13]. In early April, Colombia terminated its contract with the PR firm Burson-Marsteller [14], after taking exception to comments [15] by its CEO, senior Hillary Clinton [16] campaign adviser Mark Penn [17].
Links:
[1] http://dev.prwatch.org/users/7/bob-burton
[2] http://dev.prwatch.org/topics/public-relations/issue-management
[3] http://dev.prwatch.org/topics/human-rights
[4] http://dev.prwatch.org/topics/international
[5] http://dev.prwatch.org/topics/lobbying
[6] http://dev.prwatch.org/topics/public-relations
[7] http://www.addtoany.com/share_save?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fdev.prwatch.org%2Fspin%2F2008%2F05%2F7312%2Fcolombia-seeks-uk-pr-help&linkname=Colombia%20Seeks%20UK%20PR%20Help
[8] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Colombia
[9] http://www.colombiasolidarity.org.uk/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/
[10] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Johnson,_Madigan,_Peck,_Boland_&_Stewart
[11] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Andrew_Samet
[12] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Sorini,_Samet_&_Associates
[13] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S._-_Colombia_Free_Trade_Agreement
[14] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Burson-Marsteller
[15] http://www.prwatch.org/node/7176
[16] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Hillary_Clinton
[17] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Mark_Penn
[18] http://www.prweek.com/uk/sectors/media/article/807772/front-page-colombia-seeks-update-image/