[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book I)]
[July 20, 1994]
[Pages 1292-1293]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



[[Page 1292]]


Remarks Prior to Discussions With President-Elect Ernesto Perez 
Balladares of Panama and an Exchange With Reporters
July 20, 1994

    President Clinton. First, I'd like to welcome the President-elect of 
Panama and congratulate Mr. Perez Balladares on his election and on the 
successful democratic transition in Panama. I also want to thank him for 
his interest in the Summit of the Americas and his interest in 
exercising a leadership role in helping us to work on money laundering, 
drug trafficking, and a lot of the international criminal problems that 
we face together. And finally I'd like to thank him for his willingness 
to help us to establish some safe havens for people who are leaving 
Haiti. All these things, I think, augur well for his strong leadership 
not only within Panama but throughout the hemisphere, and I'm looking 
forward to this meeting.

Haiti

    Q. Mr. President, Congressman Richardson is saying that General 
Cedras is not intransigent, that he's realistic, indeed, that he wants 
to talk; whereas William Gray is saying time for talking is over, 
there's nothing to talk about except ``When are you going to leave?'' 
Who do you agree with, if either of them? And should the U.S. be talking 
to Cedras?
    President Clinton. You have to ask Mr. Gray about that. But the 
issue is, if he wants to talk about when he's going to leave, then I'm 
sure that somebody would talk to him. But they have usurped power. They 
agreed to go in the Governors Island Agreement, Mr. Cedras and the 
others; they have not gone, and they must go. That's our position.
    Q. Is Panama now offering safe havens for Haitian refugees?
    President-elect Perez Balladares. Well, as you know, in a democracy 
there is only one President at a time. We're willing to cooperate 
because we think it's a hemispheric duty to bring about democracy in 
Haiti and also because we think it's humanitarian. Therefore yes, we 
would be inclined after September 1st, when I start my term, to work 
some agreement together to bring these two objectives into fruition.
    Q. What about the October deadline that Mr. Gray was talking about? 
Mr. Gray seemed to be indicating that there was a deadline. Is there a--
--
    President Clinton. We don't have a specific deadline. What he said 
was that he expected that democracy would be returned to Haiti before 
the end of the year but that our policy has no specific deadline.

[At this point, one group of reporters left the room, and another group 
entered.]

Panama

    President Clinton. Let me say to all of you, I want to welcome the 
President-elect of Panama here and congratulate Mr. Perez Balladares on 
his election victory and on the successful transition to democracy and 
to express my appreciation for his interest in exercising a leadership 
role at the Summit of the Americas, which will be held at the end of 
this year in Miami, and particularly his interest in the whole question 
of doing more in a cooperative way on the problems of money laundering 
and drug trafficking. I think that there are many things we can do 
together. I am very encouraged about the possibility of a genuine 
partnership, and I'm looking forward to our first meeting.

Haiti

    Q. Mr. President, the situation in Panama, people are concerned 
about the Haiti situation, which Panama later on may be getting involved 
in that. What is the position of the Government in terms of that?
    President Clinton. Well, we are, as you know, determined to see that 
the people who have illegally taken power in Haiti leave there. They 
agreed to leave last year. They broke their agreement, and we are 
pushing forward at the United Nations and in consultation with our 
allies and the friends of democracy throughout the Caribbean and Central 
America and South America to further that goal. And we'll do what we can 
to keep pushing it. We have strong sanctions in effect now, and we're 
going forward.

Note: The President spoke at 12:09 p.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to William H. Gray III, Special Ad-


[[Page 1293]]

viser on Haiti, and Raoul Cedras, leader of the Haitian military. A tape 
was not available for verification of the content of these remarks.