[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 43 (Wednesday, April 17, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S2799]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 RECESS

  Mr. BIDEN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
recess for up to 3 minutes so our colleagues may have a chance to meet 
His Excellency, President Andres Pastrana, President of the Republic of 
Colombia, and His Excellency Juan Manuel Santos, Minister of Finance.
  President Pastrana's term ends in the next 2 months. We just had him 
before the Foreign Relations Committee. In all the years I have been on 
that committee, as I said to my colleagues today and I say to my 
colleagues here, we have never had a better friend of America as a head 
of state from any country more so than President Pastrana.
  One distinction that marks his service to his country and to the 
entire region is that when we lose elections here, we get a 
pension. When you run for election, stand for election, and take a 
stand in Colombia, you often literally get kidnapped or killed.

  I have become a personal friend of the President, and I visited with 
him and his family. I cannot tell you how much I admire and marvel at 
his personal courage and that of the other officials in Colombia who 
have fought to keep the oldest democracy in the hemisphere just that--a 
democracy.
  I ask that the Senate recess for up to 3 minutes for my colleagues to 
be able to meet the President and the Minister of Finance of Colombia. 
I ask unanimous consent that we recess for up to 3 minutes.
  There being no objection, the Senate, at 5:30 p.m. recessed and 
reassembled at 5:34 p.m. when called to order by the Presiding Officer 
(Ms. Cantwell).

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