[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992, Book I)]
[February 27, 1992]
[Pages 322-323]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Text of Remarks at the Opening Session of the Drug Summit in San Antonio

February 27, 1992
    It is a great honor and pleasure to call to order an historic 
meeting, in a historic city, in a historic State, my home State of 
Texas. We are all here to make this San Antonio drug summit as 
successful as the first summit called by President Barco 2 years ago in 
beautiful, heroic Cartagena. It is fitting to begin this meeting with a 
warm tribute to the great, visionary man who first brought us together 
on this issue, Virgilio Barco.
    In Cartagena, as President Paz Zamora, who is also here today, will 
recall, we faced a daunting, unprecedented, some thought hopeless 
challenge: How to unite against the scourge of drugs, violence, and 
corruption that was undermining our democratic societies, our 
institutions, our economies, and our environment.
    That meeting gave birth to a new alliance to strengthen our 
democracies by attacking the drug trafficking and consumption with 
greater resolve than ever before. Cartagena was when we stopped the 
finger-pointing and committed ourselves to cooperation, when we 
recognized that drugs are an international plague caused by both 
consumer and supplier.
    Two years later the situation has markedly improved. We are facing 
the challenge. We are united. We are resolute. We are prevailing. We are 
now seven, not four. We welcome to this group Mexico, Venezuela, and 
Ecuador, all of whom have shown firm leadership and courage in this 
struggle. Others in the Americas and Europe are with us, seeing the 
threat more clearly. Progress is being made. We have courageously faced 
those who would subvert our societies, break our laws, and kill 
thousands of innocents. Top traffickers are dead or jailed. Record 
levels of cocaine and other drugs have been seized. Cultivation has 
leveled off. Interdiction is up worldwide. We 
have cracked down on drug users. Consumption is declining as our people 
increas-

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ingly reject drugs, especially our youth. Our judicial institutions are 
stronger, better able to meet the challenge. Our efforts against money 
laundering, chemical diversion, and illegal arms exports are improving.
    But we are here today because the job is not yet done. We have not 
yet won this fight. It is time to assess our accomplishments and our 
plans, to learn from the past and look to the future. Let me mention 
what seems to me to be some priority areas.
    First and foremost, we must reduce demand. All else will fail if we 
do not do that. I know that task falls heaviest on the United States, 
and we have made a good beginning. Since I came to office, there has 
been a 35-percent decrease in current cocaine users, and 27 percent 
fewer young people are using drugs.
    Second, we must continue the economic reform, economic assistance, 
debt, trade, and investment measures which are so important to our 
antinarcotics programs. The United States wants alternative development 
to succeed. I am sure Peruvian and Bolivian peasants will stop growing 
illegal coca if there is an alternative besides starvation. The stick of 
law enforcement must have a carrot, an offer of viable economic 
alternatives for poor peasants.
    Third, we must continue and enhance our effectiveness in 
eradication, interdiction, and law enforcement that have been so 
critical to our success thus far. Just as demand reduction will lower 
supply, so also supply reduction will lessen demand. We have laid this 
out in the ``Strategy for Action'' that is part of our declaration. We 
must make it happen.
    Fourth, we must look carefully and imaginatively at what might be 
called nonviolent law enforcement measures. We must strengthen and 
harmonize our laws on money laundering, arms, exports, chemical 
controls, asset seizure, and in other areas. It is here that the long 
arm of the law can fracture the power of the traffickers. The 
antiracketeering laws in the United States have proven to be one of the 
strongest measures we have developed in recent years.
    Fifth, our judicial systems need our attention. Many of us have 
underway legal reforms so that we can handle criminal cases faster, more 
securely, and more effectively. These are important and should proceed. 
We must also cooperate by sharing information about traffickers and 
their crimes so they can be brought to justice.
    Sixth, our cooperation has developed in the past 2 years, and I 
welcome that. We need to keep in close touch so that we can coordinate 
strategy and understand each others' perspectives and needs. That makes 
the high-level follow-on meeting very important. It will be the first 
review of how our ``Strategies for Action'' are progressing. We also 
must enlist the cooperation of the Europeans and Asians. To do that we 
should send a delegation to those countries to talk to their leaders.
    Seventh, heroin production is a worrisome problem which Mexico and 
Colombia are moving against with some success. This is a sign the 
traffickers believe the cocaine trade is declining. We cannot ignore 
this new threat, or we risk a surprise in the future.
    Eighth, we must do a better job educating our press and our publics 
about our progress. In the United States, for example, we are seeing a 
downturn in demand that was purchased at great cost in money and effort. 
Another example is the story of the drop in cultivation in the Chapare 
in Bolivia.
    Ninth, as we take up the struggle within our own countries with 
renewed vigor, we must bear in mind that our efforts transcend borders. 
We must respect sovereignty, or our cooperation will not be sustained. 
But as sovereign states, we can agree to cooperate against the 
traffickers who trample on the sovereignty. If we do not work together, 
the traffickers will destroy us separately.
    Finally, one more note of great importance. Everything we do must 
conform to our democratic principles. None of us wants a drug-free 
dictatorship. We must protect the human and civil rights of our 
citizens. We are all committed to defending democracy and its principles 
as we defeat the scourge of drugs.

                    Note: This text was issued by the Office of the 
                        Press Secretary. Virgilio Barco was former 
                        President of Colombia.