    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book I)]
    [May 10, 1997]
    [Pages 588-594]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    The President's News Conference With Caribbean Leaders in Bridgetown
    May 10, 1997

        Prime Minister Arthur. Mr. Chairman, President of the United States
    of America, fellow Caribbean heads of state and government, Secretary
    General of CARICOM, distinguished delegates, members of the press.
    First, I should like to say that my wife and I are pleased that you
    could find it possible to come to share the residence with us. It is my
    pleasure to inform you that the just concluded Caribbean-United States
    summit has been a great success.
        The signing of the Bridgetown Declaration of Principles is tangible
    expression of the new partnership between the Caribbean States and the
    Government and the people of the United States of America. Equally
    important is a plan of action which gives concrete expression to the
    commitment of the Caribbean States and the United States of America to
    cooperate on trade, development, finance, the environment, as well as on
    justice and security.
        The summit has afforded our region the opportunity to present as one
    its perspectives on several concerns which we share with the United
    States of America. History and shared traditions already unite us. As
    technology and globalization bring us closer together, it is inevitable
    that meetings of this type will be necessary to share perspectives,
    coordinate actions, and to find solutions to common problems.
        On this historic occasion, we have been able to undertake a detailed
    review and analysis of critical aspects of the relationship between the
    Caribbean nations and the United States of America. We have also been
    able to lay the foundations for future cooperation and consultation.
        This summit is but the first step in a process of reaffirming and
    redefining a partnership between our two societies. We have come a long
    way in a short time from our first meeting at Sam Lord's castle through
    the meeting of the working groups and subcommittee in Tobago and St.
    Lucia, to a just concluded summit at Sherbourne and here at Ilaro Court.
        Through these discussions, Mr. President, your Special Envoy, Mr.
    Richard Clark, has been a valuable and critical advocate in advancing
    our discussions. The need for an accessible contact between us cannot be
    overstated. It is my hope that any arrangement of this type will not end
    with the summit activities but will continue to allow future
    consultations between the Governments of the Caribbean and United States
    to prosper.
        In the preparatory stages for the summit, the States of the
    Caribbean have been ably represented by the Foreign Minister Ralph Maraj
    of Trinidad and Tobago; Foreign Minister, Mr. Rohee of Guyana; Attorney
    General David Simmons of Barbados; and Ambassador Richard Bernal of
    Jamaica. I wish to place on record as well our appreciation for the
    magnificent contribution of the Secretary General of CARICOM and his
    staff and the advisers.
        Barbados is proud and honored to host this summit, the first of its
    kind between the Caribbean States and the Government of the United
    States of America. I am confident that history will recall this summit
    as having forged a new and a lasting bond between the people of our
    nations and those of the United States of America. It is in this spirit,
    therefore, that I now have the greatest pleasure in introducing the
    Prime Minister of Jamaica, the Right Honorable P.J. Patterson, Chairman
    of the Conference of Heads of Governments of the Caribbean Community to
    address you. I thank you.
        Prime Minister Patterson. Presidents of the United States of
    America, Haiti, Suriname, and Guyana, colleague heads of government,
    ladies and gentlemen. In the closest of families, difficulties are bound
    to arise from time to time in their relationships. For those
    relationships to endure, it is essential that they must have the
    capacity from time to time to meet within the bosom of the family and to
    sort out whatever difficulties may have arisen.
        Today is one such occasion. And as a result of the family meeting we
    have had among all the nations that are a part of the Caribbean,
    including the United States, we have agreed to chart a course that will
    enable us to move forward and together in the days ahead. We have
    discussed matters relating to democracy, development, and security,
    recognizing the considerable interlinkages which necessarily exist
    between all these important subjects.

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        Today we have signed the Bridgetown declaration and a plan of action
    which charts a course for progress and for unity and for integrated
    development within our region. We were very pleased at the firm and
    unequivocal commitment given by the President of the United States and
    his administration of the priority which is to be attached to the
    question of NAFTA parity. And we are pleased at the prospect of that
    legislation being presented to the consideration of the Congress of the
    United States and will do everything in our power to make
    representations that will ensure its favorable consideration and early
    passage.
        Not surprisingly, we spent some time on the issue of bananas. And I
    have the authority of the Prime Minister of St. Lucia, Dr. Vaughn Lewis,
    to quote something he said to us today: ``For many of our countries,
    bananas is to us what cars are to Detroit.''
        Here in Bridgetown, we have reaffirmed our resolve to fight crime,
    violence, corruption, trafficking in drugs and illegal weapons by a
    seamless alliance between the United States of America and the sovereign
    nations of the Caribbean. We cannot allow the drug cartels and
    international criminal organizations operating in or across our borders
    to threaten our democratic institutions, to pervert our system of
    justice, and destroy the health and well-being of our citizens, young or
    old.
        We have also raised the need, if we are to be engaged in
    partnership, for there to be a process of collective evaluation and
    decisionmaking, rather than unilateral assessments. And we have
    established some machinery that will enable us to facilitate this.
        We are committed to the notion of a trans-Caribbean community which
    would embrace all the countries washed by the Caribbean Sea. This we see
    as a major plank in the new partnership which today's summit is intended
    to forge between the sovereign nations of the Caribbean and the United
    States.
        We see here in Bridgetown the opening of a new chapter, the start of
    a meaningful dialog. It was good for us to be here, and together we
    intend to do it the Caribbean way.
        President Clinton. Good afternoon. Prime Minister Arthur, Prime
    Minister Patterson, fellow Caribbean leaders, let me begin by thanking
    our Barbadian hosts for their hospitality and all the leaders for their
    hard work in making this summit a success.
        I'm honored to be here with the Secretary of State and several
    members of my Cabinet, as well as a distinguished delegation interested
    in the Caribbeans from the Congress: Congresswoman Maxine Waters, the
    Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus; Congressman Carlos Romero-
    Barcelo, the delegate from Puerto Rico; and Governor Roy Schneider from
    the Virgin Islands.
        The partnership for prosperity and security in the Caribbean that we
    signed today is a broad and ambitious plan of action. It can make a real
    difference for our people's lives and livelihoods, promoting open and
    fair trade, protecting the environment, strengthening education,
    spreading telecommunications, extending loans to small businesses, and
    combating international crime and drug trafficking.
        Just as important as the commitments we've made is our determination
    to see them through with an ongoing, intensified process of Caribbean
    cooperation. The followup structures we've put in place, including an
    annual meeting among our foreign ministers and high-level working groups
    on justice and security and on development, finance, and the
    environment, will help us to turn our action plan into actions.
        I want to highlight two areas where our cooperation is especially
    important: helping our people to thrive in the global economy and
    fighting crime and drugs. The move toward open and competitive trade
    around the world and in our hemisphere is bringing new opportunities for
    people to prosper. But rapid change is disruptive as well, as people
    struggle to acquire new skills and nations strive to compete. The United
    States is working to ensure that the transition to free trade in our
    hemisphere is fair to our Caribbean partners.
        When I return to Washington, I will submit a Caribbean Basin trade
    enhancement act to Congress. When passed, this legislation will increase
    trade for all the Caribbean nations and help them to prepare to take
    part in a free-trade area of the Americas.
        We're also committed to help the Caribbean nations diversify their
    economies and become more competitive. I discussed with my fellow
    leaders their concern for the Caribbean banana industry. In pursuing and
    winning our case at the World Trade Organization, our target was a
    discriminatory European system, not the Caribbean nations. I made it
    clear that as we work toward a solution with our European partners,

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    we will continue to support duty-free access for Caribbean bananas in
    the European market, and we will seek ways to promote diversification of
    the Caribbean economies.
        When economies are strong, they can better resist the pressures of
    organized crime, the drugpushers, the gunrunners, the alien smugglers,
    the criminal gangs. But to truly conquer them, we must work together.
    That's why I'm pleased we've been able to conclude agreements for
    maritime law enforcement cooperation with more countries in the region,
    including most recently Jamaica and Barbados. Today the United States
    committed to help our Caribbean partners strengthen their fight against
    drug trafficking, providing aircraft and Coast Guard cutters to patrol
    the sky and the sea. We will participate in international negotiations
    to outlaw and prevent traffic in illegal arms, and we will help to
    establish a Caribbean institute to train investigators and prosecutors
    to combat money laundering so that criminals will no longer be able to
    scrub the fingerprints off their profits.
        Working together, we can build a future of prosperity and security
    for our people. But the scope is broad, and a commitment is deep as the
    waters that link our shores.
        Thank you very much.

    Cuba and Caribbean-U.S. Relations

        Q. Mr. President, I wonder, first of all, if you could comment on
    the tone of your discussions and your reception here today, given the
    admitted lack of U.S. attention to the region in the past. And
    specifically, given the political baggage that accompanies U.S. policy
    toward Cuba, were the Caribbean leaders able to offer you any
    constructive suggestions on how you could shift your handling of Havana
    more from the negative to the positive? And I'd also like to extend that
    question to any Caribbean leader who would like to take it.
         President Clinton. Well, first of all, we did not discuss Cuba. We
    talked about what those who are represented here could do together. And
    secondly, I believe that I have demonstrated my good faith and the good
    faith of this administration toward the Caribbean in many ways. We have
    already been together in Washington, right before our operation to
    restore democracy in Haiti. Most of us were gathered in Haiti when we
    celebrated that restoration. And I think it is well-known that at the
    time we fought for and succeeded in passing NAFTA in Congress, I made a
    strong plea that we make sure that the Caribbean nations not be
    discriminated against.
        I think we have now found a formula that will permit us to do that,
    that I believe has a good chance of passing in the Congress, and it is
    included in my budget. And so I feel quite good about the legislation
    I'm going to introduce, and I'm going to work hard to pass it and to
    establish a closer, more ongoing relations with all these nations.
        Do you want one of them to reply?
        Prime Minister Patterson. Our working sessions included a business
    session this morning, which we have just concluded, and a working lunch,
    to which we will now embark. There are a number of matters that could
    not be covered in the business session, and the opportunity of a working
    lunch among the heads will afford us an opportunity of discussing those
    subjects in the intimacy of that setting.
        The views of the Caribbean leaders are well known, insofar as Cuba
    is concerned. Cuba is a Caribbean territory. We would like to see steps
    taken that would integrate Cuba fully not only in the Caribbean family
    but into the hemispheric family of nations. And we would certainly want
    to use the opportunity to indicate to the President over lunch the steps
    which we think would be possible to secure that objective.
        Prime Minister Arthur. If I may, quickly. It should not escape your
    attention that this is the first-ever summit between the Government of
    the United States of America and the Caribbean that has ever been held
    on Caribbean soil. And that, in and of itself, should represent the
    sense of partnership that we are trying to build on matters of crucial
    importance to the two sets of societies. This spirit has not only been
    parlayed in the diplomatic sense of the word but has been constructive
    to the extent that it has sought to address matters of immediate
    consequence, as well as to lay a framework for the long-term development
    of the relationships between the two sets of societies.
        We have approached this summit with a sense of pragmatic optimism.
    We do not believe that all of the concerns between our two sets of
    societies will be dealt with in one swoop. But we feel that the putting
    in place of a partnership and a mechanism for the followup of actions
    will allow us to be able to redress some of

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    the imbalances in the relationship of the past and chart new directions
    for the future.

    Haiti

        Q. In the just-signed document, partner for prosperity, the chief of
    states and government at the summit pledged to give priority
    consideration to technologies such as the Internet. President Clinton,
    if asked by President Preval, will your administration tangibly support
    a plan to link all public schools in Haiti to the Internet by the year
    2004, on the 200-year anniversary of Haiti's independence?
        President Clinton. Well, this is the first I have heard about this
    specific proposal, so I hate to answer a question ``yes'' when I don't
    know whether I can do it or not. But let me say, you may know that we
    are attempting to link all of our classrooms and libraries to the
    Internet in the United States by the year 2000, and then we want to move
    aggressively to try to establish those kinds of interconnections with
    our allies elsewhere. And I believe that with Haiti struggling to both
    preserve democracy and overcome economic adversity, the nation and the
    children would benefit immensely if that could be done.
        So I would certainly be willing to try to help. If I know I can do
    it, I will tell you, yes, I can do it. But I haven't had time to be
    briefed on it. But I am very open to the suggestion, trying to help.

    U.S. Arms Embargo Against Latin America and Whitewater Investigation

        Q. Thank you very much, Prime Minister Arthur--Wolf Blitzer from
    CNN. I wonder if all of you would be interested in reacting to the open
    letter from Oscar Arias that was written to President Clinton while he
    was in Costa Rica, appealing to him not to lift the U.S. arms embargo to
    sell sophisticated warplanes to countries in Latin America, which is on
    the agenda right now.
        And President Clinton, I wonder if you've made up your mind whether
    or not you're going to sell F-16's and other sophisticated warplanes and
    hardware to these countries, at a time when he says--former President
    Arias--that they need their money for more productive purposes as
    opposed to weaponry. And with the indulgence of your host, I wonder if I
    could ask you a parochial question. Kenneth Starr, the Whitewater
    independent counsel, at this hour is scheduled to be delivering a speech
    in which he says the White House is an impediment to his investigation,
    and I wonder if you have any reaction to his comment. Thank you.
        President Clinton. I don't object to the Prime Ministers commenting
    on--is this on? Now can you hear? I'll just speak up. I don't object to
    the Prime Ministers commenting on the arms decision, but on that I can
    tell you that no decision has been made yet.
        The United States will not knowingly do anything that will spark a
    new arms race or divert funds from defense to--from nondefense to
    defense areas in Latin America. The real question is whether or not the
    armies in question, where the militaries have discussed this with our
    country, are going to upgrade their militaries anyway and whether it
    would be better in fending off future conflicts and controlling defense
    spending for the United States, their hemispheric partner, to be the
    main supplier or someone else to be the main supplier.
        We have no interest in doing this for purely economic reasons, and
    we have no interest in promoting an arms race in Latin America. So the
    judgment that I'm trying to make--and I haven't received a final
    recommendation on it from my administration top personnel--is whether or
    not, given the facts in the various countries, it would be better for
    them and better for us and better for peace over the long run in Latin
    America for these airplanes essentially to be supplied by the United
    States as opposed to someone else.
        Now, on the other issue, I think that Mr. Starr must be--I haven't
    seen the speech, but I think he must be referring to the eighth circuit
    case, the facts of which have now been made public, and I don't have
    anything to add to what my counsel said. I think that it's obvious that
    for several years now we've been quite cooperative, and we'll continue
    to be. The White House Counsel made his statement, and I think it's
    clear and self-evident what he said and why.
        Would you like to say anything about the arms issue, either one of
    you?
        Prime Minister Patterson. I would say very simply that I have
    participated in a gathering at the conference center a few weeks ago at
    which the proposal conveyed by former President Arias to President
    Clinton was fully discussed and endorsed. Jamaica as a government
    supports the appeal.

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    Immigration

        Q. President Clinton, what guarantees can you give us here in the
    Caribbean that your new immigration laws won't lead to mass repatriation
    of illegal Caribbean immigrants in the United States?
        And my second question is for Mr. Patterson. Can you tell us if
    you've got any assurance from the President that criminals in the
    United--Caribbean criminals in the United States won't be sent back home
    without any information being conveyed to you, without any mechanisms
    being put in place to deal with them when they arrive here?
        President Clinton. First of all, let me point out that I believe the
    United States has the most generous immigration policy of any large
    nation in the world. Last year, over 900,000 legal immigrants were
    admitted to the United States.
        In order to sustain a policy that generous, it also has to have some
    integrity. And looking at it, I suppose you could say we had two
    choices. We could just lower the legal immigration target dramatically
    to take account of all those who are entering illegally, or instead we
    could reward those who wait, play by the rules, and obey the law, and
    try to strengthen our capacity to stop illegal immigrants from coming
    into the country, which we propose to do by stiffening our controls
    primarily at the border, in the workplace, and when people get into the
    criminal justice system.
        Now, having said that, I can assure you, as I told the leaders of
    the Central American countries, no one nation or region will be
    targeted, and there will be no mass deportations. We are increasing our
    capacity to deal with people we find in the workplace, at the borders,
    in the criminal justice system.
        Finally--Prime Minister Patterson and Prime Minister Arthur might
    want to comment on this--I do not believe it is right for the United
    States to send people back to their native lands, who have been in our
    criminal justice system, without appropriate advance warning and notice.
    And I pledged to them that I would set up such a system. It is not right
    for us to do it otherwise.
        Would you like to say something?
        Prime Minister Patterson. By recognizing the right of each state to
    determine its policies on deportation, subject to international law, the
    plan of action to which we agreed set out a number of specific measures
    that should be put in place. The President has referred to one of them,
    the provision of adequate advance notice to designated authorities prior
    to the deportation of anyone. We also think that adequate information
    should be provided regarding the persons to be deported and, of course,
    it must be established that the person being deported is a national of
    the receiving state.
        Let me say very frankly why the problem is so acute. We have found
    in several cases people being deported who have lived in the United
    States not only for all their adult life, but have gone there from the
    days of early childhood with their entire families, and they have no
    family connection back in the Caribbean and no social contact to the
    communities to which they are being returned. And we, therefore, think
    if it is not to fuel the criminal problem, it is a matter that we have
    to address within the gambit of the cooperation to which we have pledged
    ourselves.
        Prime Minister Arthur. I wish to add, please, that on the matter of
    the possible effects of U.S. law on Caribbean immigrants was a matter
    that was frankly discussed at our summit today. We represented the
    concerns of our nationals, and we have impressed on the President the
    need for any legislation to be applied in a manner that is not
    discriminatory, nor is unfair, and nor that--undue--put at risk the
    security and prosperity of legal immigrants in the United States of
    America.
        And I just want to add on the second matter that as regards the
    matter of deportees, Barbados has managed to work out a comprehensive
    framework with United States of America on all matters pertaining to the
    fight against drugs. And I'm pleased to say that I'm advised by my
    Attorney General that included in that comprehensive framework is a
    protocol establishing the rules that will be applied in the return of
    Barbadians to Barbados. And we regard this as a substantial advance. And
    I'm also pleased that our plan of action sets out a multilateral
    approach to dealing with this potentially vexatious issue.

    Immigration and Trade

        Q. You promised--on every stop of this trip, including today, you
    have promised to try to soften the new immigration law and try to extend
    trade preferences. But you can't get any

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    of that done without congressional approval and, in the case of bananas,
    without cooperation with the European Union. What happens to these
    relationships here in Central America and in Mexico if you can't deliver
    on your rhetoric?
        President Clinton. Well, first of all, with regard to the
    immigration law, the only thing that I was attempting to change in the
    immigration law, the congressional leadership has agreed to change.
    They've agreed to restore benefits to legal immigrants, which I thought
    was important.
        We can, under the existing law, have the kind of protocols that
    Prime Minister Arthur discussed, where we pledge not to violate the
    human rights of any particular group of people, we pledge not to target
    any particular group, we pledge not to engage in mass deportations. That
    is not required under our law, nor was it contemplated.
        To say that a country should and must have the capacity to enforce
    its immigration law is not the same thing as saying that there's going
    to be some huge roundup here. We just want to be able to enforce the law
    when we come in contact with people who have plainly violated it. So I
    don't agree that we need congressional cooperation there, although I
    believe it's consistent with what Congress intended when they passed the
    law.
        Now, on this trade issue and on the question of getting fast-track
    authority from Congress, generally, I think that everyone understands,
    and I made it clear in our meetings, that all I could do was ask the
    Congress for its support, that there was opposition in both parties to
    expanded trade, but there was strong support in both parties to expanded
    trade. We've been through these arguments before in the last few years,
    but I would say the last time we had the debate back in '93, the
    American economy was not in nearly the shape it's in now and the
    Congress did the right thing for the future of America and the future of
    the Americas, and I believe it will be inclined to do so again.

    Haiti

        Q. My question is directed to President Clinton. To fight the high
    cost of living, the Government of Haiti has put in place a program of
    agrarian reform to provide Haitian farmers with technical means and
    rural credit to increase their capacity of production. I would like to
    know if the United States is ready to help in realizing this agrarian
    reform in Haiti, because it is important for agriculture and for the
    people to find something to eat. That's number one.
        But number two, I would like to mention that in Haiti, there is a
    sense of profound gratitude toward you, personally, President Clinton,
    and toward the U.S.A. for the role played in the restoration of
    constitutional order in Haiti after the military coup d'etat that
    overthrew the first democratically elected President of Haiti, Jean-
    Bertrand Aristide. And following that, there were a lot of promises that
    gave hope to the Haitian people. But since then, except for some very
    limited contributions, there is a sense that the American
    administration, under your leadership, has not done enough to help meet
    the expectations and the most crucial needs of the Haitian people. My
    question is, what are the next steps that the United States intends to
    take to show that democracy can bring prosperity as promised in Haiti?
        President Clinton. Well, first of all, that is a complicated
    question because it requires significant actions on behalf of the
    Haitian people as well as those around the world who wish to support
    Haiti.
        I am going to have a meeting with President Preval later this
    afternoon, after lunch, and we are going to discuss that, and I will
    have some other examples of specific things the United States intends to
    do. But I can tell you that I believe that we should be involved, over
    the long run, in trying to help to restore the economy and to restore
    the environment of Haiti--without which the economy cannot be
    sustained--and to maintain the integrity of the democracy. So we will be
    working hard on all those issues within the limits of our ability to do
    it. We will do as much as we can. It's very important to me.

    Whitewater Investigation

        Q. I know you answered Wolf's [Wolf Blitzer, Cable News Network]
    question, but you didn't go very far, and Ken Starr really came out
    quite strongly today. I wonder if you have begun to take this a little
    bit personally. And also today he said very strongly that he believes
    that White House lawyers are paid by the Federal Government, they
    represent the Federal Government, and as such, they are duty-bound to
    disclose relevant information to a Federal grand jury. As President, do
    you agree with that? And again,

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    as I asked before, do you feel that this has become a little personal?
        President Clinton. Well, not on my part. Perhaps on--you know, you
    said he's the one that came out strongly. I'm just over here doing my
    job in the Caribbean. [Laughter]
        I can only say what I have said before. Chuck Ruff, whom I believe
    has a reputation as a lawyer of impeccable integrity and who is an
    expert in these kinds of processes, came to me and said that the effect
    of the decision would be not confined to the President, the First Lady,
    the Chief of Staff at the White House, any group of people, that the
    position that the Special Counsel was arguing for would, in effect,
    abolish the lawyer-client privilege between a Federal Government lawyer
    and a Federal employee at any level under any circumstances.
        Now, the law firms in America might be ecstatic about that because
    it would certainly make a lot more private business for lawyers. But he
    came to me and said, ``I cannot tell you how emphatically I believe that
    this case must be appealed.'' He said, ``I'm your lawyer; I know you
    haven't done anything wrong, I know you've made all the evidence
    available to them. This is a major constitutional question, and Mr.
    President, you do not have the right to go along with saying that every
    Federal employee in America should lose the attorney-client privilege
    under these circumstances if the Federal employee has a lawyer in the
    Federal Government.'' Now, that's what he said to me. I cannot enlighten
    you any more. If you want to know any more about it, you've got to ask
    him.

    Note: The President's 145th news conference with Prime Minister Owen
    Arthur of Barbados and Prime Minister Percival James (P.J.) Patterson of
    Jamaica began at 1:33 p.m. at Prime Minister Arthur's residence,
    following the signing of the Bridgetown Declaration of Principles. In
    his remarks, President Clinton referred to Counsel to the President
    Charles F. Ruff and President Rene Preval of Haiti. Prime Minister
    Patterson referred to former President Oscar Arias of Costa Rica.