[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Page 7568]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               PRESIDENT DOS SANTOS'S VISIT TO WASHINGTON

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, on May 12, Angolan President Jose Eduardo 
dos Santos is planning to visit Washington for meetings with President 
Bush and other top administration officials. I mention this because 
welcoming President dos Santos to the United States is contrary to 
President Bush's January 12, 2004, proclamation barring corrupt foreign 
officials from entering the United States.
  President Bush's proclamation suspends entry into the United States 
of public officials, and their spouses, children, and dependents, if 
their ``solicitation or acceptance of any article of monetary value, or 
other benefit, in exchange for any act or omission in the performance 
of their public functions has or had serious adverse effects on the 
national interests of the United States.'' It also bars officials 
``whose misappropriation of public funds or interference with the 
judicial, electoral, or other public processes'' has harmed the 
national interest.
  If this standard does not apply to President dos Santos, it is hard 
to imagine to whom it could apply. He presides over one of the world's 
most corrupt governments. The IMF has concluded that between 1997 and 
2002, Angola could not account for the expenditure of $4.2 billion in 
public funds, attributing this loss--equivalent to 10 percent of 
Angola's GDP--in substantial part to high-level corruption.
  In a corruption trial in France in 2003, the former head of the oil 
company Elf Aquitaine testified that President dos Santos had received 
large bribes from the company. According to the Intelligence Unit of 
``The Economist'' magazine, President dos Santos tops the list of the 
richest men in Angola, one of Africa's poorest countries.
  President Bush's proclamation states that corruption is a threat to 
U.S. national interests when it has serious adverse effects on, among 
other things, ``U.S. foreign assistance goals . . .  or the stability 
of democratic institutions and nations.'' I could not agree more. 
Massive corruption has clearly had these effects in Angola. To protect 
their ability to misappropriate public funds, Angolan leaders have 
limited press freedom, intimidated the judiciary, and resisted 
democratic and economic reforms. Moreover, they have refused to spend 
the country's oil revenues to lift their people from poverty. Half of 
Angola's children are malnourished even as government officials amass 
fortunes.
  President Bush's proclamation states that persons to be barred entry 
for corruption, as well as those whose entry would not be contrary to 
the national interest, ``shall be identified by the Secretary of State 
or the Secretary's designee, in his or her sole discretion, pursuant to 
such standards and procedures as the Secretary may establish.'' If the 
Secretary has not yet acted to establish clear and consistent standards 
and procedures for making these determinations, he needs to act 
promptly. And whether he has or not, the policy behind President Bush's 
proclamation should be applied to the visit of President dos Santos and 
other Angolan officials.
  I strongly agree with President Bush that the corruption of public 
institutions threatens United States ``efforts to promote security and 
to strengthen democratic institutions and free market systems.'' As I 
have said before, corruption is like a cancer. It is the biggest 
obstacle to development--from Indonesia to Guatemala, from Nigeria to 
Pakistan. It undermines virtually everything we are trying to do 
through the Foreign Operations budget.
  Fortunately, some leaders are trying to stop it, such as President 
Bolanos of Nicaragua, and we should do everything possible to support 
him and people like him, by prosecuting corrupt officials for money 
laundering or other violations of U.S. law, and by denying them visas 
to the United States.
  Again, I commend President Bush for his proclamation and urge the 
Secretary of State to implement it vigorously.

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