March 11 (Reuters) - The following are key facts about Colombia and its relations with the United States as U.S. President George W. Bush visits the Colombian capital Bogota.

* Bush is the first U.S. president to visit Bogota since Ronald Reagan's trip in 1982. Bush was last in Colombia in 2004 when he visited President Alvaro Uribe in the Caribbean city of Cartagena shortly after his re-election.

* Uribe, a U.S.-educated attorney re-elected last year, is Washington's closest ally in South America, where left-wing leaders in Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia are antagonistic to U.S. trade and counter-narcotics policies.

* Colombia is one of the largest recipients of U.S. aid to help fight a four-decade-old guerrilla war and the illegal drug trade that finances the conflict. Since 2000, Colombia has received more than $4 billion in mostly military funds and violence has dropped sharply, especially in urban areas.

* The Bush administration wants the Congress to approve $3.9 billion more aid for Colombia to keep up its fight against Latin America's longest-running insurgency.

* U.S. Democrats are questioning the aid package and a free trade deal that has already been signed because of a scandal linking some of Uribe's allies with right-wing paramilitaries who once fought the rebels. Eight pro-Uribe lawmakers and his former security police chief have been arrested on charges of collusion. Some Democrats also want to see more human rights improvements.

* Colombia remains the world's No. 1 cocaine producer with output at around 600 tonnes a year, much of which ends up on the streets of U.S. and European cities.

* The country's largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC, is still fighting helped by funds from trafficking drugs. On average, three Colombians are hurt by landmines every day and thousands of people are still driven from their homes by fighting each year.

* Three U.S. contract workers are among hundreds of hostages Colombian guerrillas have held for years in secret jungle camps for political leverage and ransom. Thomas Howes, Marc Gonsalves and Keith Stansell were captured in 2003 when their light aircraft crashed in the southern jungles while on a drug eradication mission.

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