Some 2,000 people marched through the Caribbean port city of Cartagena toward the conference center where the talks took place, holding signs that read "Colombia is not for sale" and "No free trade deal."
Police fired tear gas to prevent the crowd from reaching the negotiators, but protesters responded by throwing rocks. At least one person was injured, though no arrests were made, police said.

The protesters were mostly students and members of Colombia's largest umbrella union CUT, which called for a one-day strike Tuesday.

There were also minor skirmishes in the capital Bogota, though no injuries were reported.

Colombia, Ecuador and Peru decided to negotiate one-on-one trade agreements with the United States after talks for a hemisphere-wide trade bloc scheduled to take effect in 2005 sputtered as Brazil and other nations demanded the U.S. remove farm subsidies.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe insisted that a free trade deal would create more jobs and opportunities for Andean businesses.

"If we continue with political speeches and do not search for mechanisms that lead to economic growth, we'll keep filling the workers' pockets with misery," Uribe said ahead of the talks.

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