(Refile to fix typo in Congress in headline) (Updates throughout, adds Uribe comments, analysts) By Patrick Markey BOGOTA, April 30 (Reuters) - Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said on Monday he would ask U.S. Democrats to judge him on his record on the eve of a difficult visit to defend a U.S. trade accord and new aid to fight rebels and drug smuggling. Snubbed this month by former Vice President Al Gore and under fire from critics over charges his allies colluded with outlawed paramilitaries, Uribe this week holds his first talks with Democrats since they took over Congress this year. Uribe is backed by the White House but the Democratic-led Congress has started taking a tougher line, wary about the paramilitary scandal, labor union killings and even more skeptical about trade deals signed by the Bush administration a year before U.S. presidential elections. At stake in talks with Democrats will be the White House's proposed extension of around $600 million a year in U.S. military and counter-narcotics aid -- the largest outside the Middle East -- and the free-trade pact signed with the U.S. government in November. Uribe will meet with the Democratic Party leadership, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the AFL-CIO labor federation seeking to dispel questions about ties to militia warlords accused of atrocities during Colombia's conflict. "Let them come here and see. This is a government that has acted with total honesty," Uribe said in an interview at Narino presidential palace a day before traveling to Washington. "When U.S. congressmen come and see Colombia's reality, they realize what the government has done for democracy, against drug-trafficking and paramilitaries," he said. Uribe has led a U.S.-backed campaign to reduce violence by pushing back guerrillas and disarming 31,000 illegal paramilitaries who once fought the rebels over the spoils of the world's top cocaine trade. CONCERNS FROM RIGHTS GROUPS But rights groups say militia leaders jailed in a peace deal have kept criminal networks alive and charge Uribe has failed to tackle threats to labor leaders and collusion between his allies and the paramilitaries. Analysts said Democrats are likely to approve a military and anti-drug aid package but will demand more of that money is spent on social programs and seek more guarantees Uribe is tackling militia violence. But Uribe faces a more complex task in securing the party's support for the free trade deal signed with the Bush in November. It faces increasing criticism from Democrats seeking more labor protection, analysts say. Elected in 2002 and re-elected last year, Uribe is popular for retaking areas once controlled by rebels. Violence has dropped sharply and investment is flooding into Colombia. As part of their peace deal, paramilitary commanders have begun confessing to crimes. Eight pro-Uribe lawmakers and a local governor have been arrested this year on charges they colluded with the paramilitaries, who were set up in the 1980s by rich landowners looking for protection from rebels. Uribe says that shows Colombia's institutions are working. "This government needs few words about the subject because this is the government that has dismantled the paramilitary movement," he said. But Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat and chairman of the powerful subcommittee overseeing foreign funds, this month froze $55 million in military aid to Colombia because of the paramilitary scandal. A day later Gore dropped out of a Miami forum with Uribe, saying he was concerned about the charges. Killings of union leaders have dropped and thousands are under government protection, Uribe says, but critics dispute government figures and say still not enough has been done to seek justice for murders and curb threats.
