The Colombian government fired the public relations firm run by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's chief strategist on Saturday after he tried to distance himself from a meeting he held with the country's ambassador to the United States.

Mark Penn has walked a tricky tightrope throughout the presidential campaign, serving both as chief executive of Burson-Marsteller and as a top Clinton aide. The two roles collided last week when Penn met with Colombian officials to discuss a pending trade agreement that Colombia desires and the New York Democrat opposes.

After the meeting was made public, Penn, already a controversial figure inside the Clinton campaign, came under attack from labor unions, with some officials calling for the candidate to fire him. Both Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) have said they are against the Colombia Free Trade Agreement.

Penn said in a statement Friday that his sitting down with the Colombians was an "error in judgment." Colombia's U.S. embassy responded Saturday that the Bogota government "considers this a lack of respect to Colombians, and finds this response unacceptable."