[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 65 (Monday, May 14, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Page S4883]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page S4883]]
                        NOMINATION OF OTTO REICH

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, on April 29, the Los Angeles Times 
printed a thoughtful op-ed article by former Costa Rican President 
Oscar Arias that raises troubling questions about President Bush's 
nominee to serve as Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere 
Affairs, Otto Reich.
  President Arias discusses the important role played by the Assistant 
Secretary, and questions Otto Reich's suitability for this position, in 
light of his record as head of the State Department's Office of Public 
Diplomacy, his support of President Reagan's policies toward Central 
America, his involvement in lifting the ban on the sale of advanced 
weapons to Latin America, and his views on U.S. policy toward Cuba.
  I urge my colleagues to read the article. The significant concerns 
raised by this distinguished Nobel Peace Prize recipient must be 
carefully considered. I ask unanimous consent that the article by 
President Arias be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

              [From the Los Angeles Times, April 29, 2001]

                      A Nominee Who Stands for War

                            (By Oscar Arias)

       Given the importance of the role of the U.S. assistant 
     secretary of State for Western Hemisphere affairs, many of us 
     in Latin America are surprised and disappointed by George W. 
     Bush's nomination of Otto J. Reich for this post. Reich 
     headed the Office of Public Diplomacy, which was closed down 
     by Congress in the wake of the Iran-Contra scandal because it 
     had, to quote official investigations, ``engaged in 
     prohibited covert propaganda activities designed to influence 
     the media and the public.''
       More than almost any other U.S. diplomat, the person in 
     this post will have the power to shape the relationship 
     between the United States and Latin America for better or 
     worse. Virtually everything that the U.S. needs to do with 
     Latin America, from establishing a free-trade area to dealing 
     with drug policy and immigration, will require a bipartisan 
     approach. Appointing someone of Reich's ideological stripe 
     and experience would be a real setback in hemispheric 
     cooperation.
       I offer my experience as president of Costa Rica as 
     testament to the importance of compromise on hard-line 
     policies. With my region torn by civil wars in Nicaragua, El 
     Salvador and Guatemala, I proposed a peace plan whose essence 
     was democracy as a precondition for lasting peace. The plan 
     was signed by five Central American presidents in August 
     1987, but President Ronald Reagan refused to support it. He 
     would settle for nothing less than military victory over the 
     Sandinistas in Nicaragua. It was not until George Bush became 
     president in 1988 that the United States backed off its 
     dogged support for war and let the Central American leaders 
     give diplomacy a chance. It was Bush the elder and his 
     foreign-policy staff, including Secretary of State James A. 
     Baker and Bernie Aronson, then-assistant secretary of State 
     for inter-American affairs, who changed U.S. policy from one 
     of undermining our efforts to strongly supporting them, and 
     thus contributed greatly to a peaceful solution to the 
     Central American conflicts.
       I am afraid that Reich will cling more closely to the 
     Reagan model than that of the former Bush administration. 
     There is plenty of evidence to suggest that this will be so. 
     His involvement in the Office of Public Diplomacy until 1986 
     demonstrated his allegiance to the Reagan administration's 
     hawkish policies toward Central America. The purpose of his 
     office was none other than to get the American people to side 
     with war over peace, using propaganda methods determined to 
     be ``improper.''
       Reich's support of militarism did not end with the wars in 
     Central America. According to news reports, he has made his 
     living in recent years as a lobbyist and consultant 
     representing corporate interests in Washington, among which 
     is the arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin. Reich apparently 
     helped Lockheed overcome the executive ban on the sale of 
     advanced weaponry to Latin America. As a result, the company 
     is poised to sell a dozen of its F-16 fighter jets with 
     advanced missile technology to Chile.
       Ever since the ban was lifted in 1997, I have been active, 
     along with former President Jimmy Carter, in trying to 
     convince Latin American leaders to submit to a voluntary 
     moratorium on buying such weapons. If a Latin American 
     country goes shopping for sophisticated weaponry, it will 
     touch off the last thing this hemisphere needs--an arms race. 
     In the face of continued poverty, illiteracy, hunger and 
     disease in so much of our region, investing in unnecessary 
     military technology is an act of grave irresponsibility. That 
     Reich has been an accomplice to this deal makes me feel very 
     uneasy about what ends will be served by his potential 
     leadership in our hemisphere.
       One last example will illustrate the poor fit that Reich 
     would be for the interests of hemispheric cooperation: his 
     unwavering support for the long-running and unproductive 
     embargo against Cuba. I believe many American farmers and 
     businessmen are aware that U.S. economic warfare against Cuba 
     harms broader U.S. interests, while at the same time injuring 
     the people, but not the government, of Cuba.
       To those who think it unbecoming for a foreigner to comment 
     on the appointment of a U.S. official, I would say that 
     although the assistant secretary of State for Western 
     Hemisphere affairs will make little difference in the lives 
     of ordinary people in the United States, he could have a 
     profound effect on the lives of Latin Americans.
       There is so much work to be done in our part of the world 
     over the next four years, and enough inherent problems and 
     strains in the relationship between the United States and 
     Latin America, that we will be assuring ourselves of getting 
     nowhere if we give in to hard-line ideology over flexibility 
     and bipartisanship. On behalf of Latin Americans, I hope that 
     the administration of George W. Bush can find another 
     candidate for this job--one capable of building trust and 
     earning respect from all the leaders of this hemisphere.

       (Oscar Arias Was President of Costa Rica From 1986-1990 and 
     Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987.)

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