[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1998, Book II)]
[October 28, 1998]
[Pages 1890-1898]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



The President's News Conference With President Andres Pastrana of 
Colombia
October 28, 1998

    President Clinton. Good afternoon. Let me say again how very pleased 
I am to have President Pastrana, his wife, his children, and so many 
members of his government here with us. This is truly a new beginning 
for Colombia and a new opportunity for our nations to renew our bonds. 
We made a very good start today.
    Our hemisphere is increasingly working together for democracy and 
opportunity, for justice and human rights, for the peaceful resolution 
of conflicts. For Colombia, the insurgency looms over all other 
challenges today. There is terror and assassination, kidnaping, 
including the kidnaping of United States citizens, and other affronts to 
human rights. The narcotics trade and the civil conflict have fed off 
each other as rebels and paramilitaries do business with violent drug 
traffickers.
    However, we know peace can come, even in the most difficult 
circumstances, if the will and the courage for peace is strong. 
President Pastrana has the will, the courage, and the support of his 
people to build peace. I welcome his efforts to open talks with 
insurgent groups. We stand ready to help. We hope the insurgents and 
paramilitaries will seize this opportunity the President has offered 
them by ending terrorism and hostage taking and involvement with drug 
traffickers.
    The President and I have just signed a new alliance against drugs to 
intensify our joint

[[Page 1891]]

efforts in education, in prevention and law enforcement, and 
extradition, eradication, economic development, and again, in efforts to 
end civil conflict. All are essential to this fight.
    Also, we have reached an agreement on using the proceeds from assets 
forfeited by drug traffickers to bolster Colombia's counternarcotics 
enforcement efforts. As I said this morning, the fight against drugs is 
our joint responsibility. It must unite us, not divide us.
    In that spirit, I am pleased to announce that we will provide more 
than $280 million in assistance to Colombia in the current fiscal year, 
not just for the frontline battle against drugs today but for 
development, to build a better future. The strong package of aid 
recently approved by Congress shows that there is bipartisan support 
here in America for Colombia's new leadership.
    I appreciate the challenge Colombia faces in getting its fiscal 
house in order. I also appreciate the commitment President Pastrana has 
made to meeting that challenge. If our experience is any guide, 
Colombia's effort will be rewarded.
    Today we learned, after decades of deficits, that this past year we 
had a surplus of exactly $70 billion. I'm very pleased that attempts to 
spend that surplus, rather than preserve it until we reform the Social 
Security system to meet the needs of the 21st century, were not 
successful in the last Congress. It is important that we maintain this 
position until we have saved Social Security. Hopefully, that will occur 
next year.
    While we both work to improve our economies at home, we must do more 
together. The President and I have agreed to seek new ways to expand 
trade and to improve our financial stability. We will start 
consultations on a bilateral investment treaty and a trade and 
investment commission for the Andean region.
    We will work together toward the creation of the Free Trade Area of 
the Americas. We agreed that developments must be carried out in ways 
that protect our natural environment and the public health. Toward that 
end, we have reached agreement for Colombia to become the 73d nation to 
join the GLOBE program for environmental education over the Internet.
    We also reaffirmed our joint commitment to strengthening democracy, 
human rights, the rule of law. Our Agency for International Development 
has concluded an agreement to help the Colombian Government strengthen 
its judicial system to improve its ability to prosecute human rights 
abuses. And our Defense Department has established a working group with 
Colombia's Defense Ministry to improve military justice.
    Finally, President Pastrana and I have asked Secretary of State 
Albright and Foreign Minister Fernandez to establish a joint 
consultative group to keep us in close contact and keep all this 
progress on track so that we can realize our common aspirations for 
greater democracy, prosperity, and peace in the new century.
    Again, Mr. President, we take your election and your early actions 
as a very hopeful and positive sign for the people of Colombia and the 
opening of a new and strong chapter in our joint history together. Thank 
you for coming. The floor is yours.
    President Pastrana. First of all, I'd like to express my thanks to 
President Clinton and to Mrs. Clinton for the splendid welcome that 
Nohra and I have been given. And I'd like to say to everyone that I've 
met in Washington, members of both political parties, both on this trip 
as well as on my earlier trip, that I am extremely impressed by your 
good wishes and by your will to work with us as we overcome past 
problems and enter a new era.
    On behalf of our people, I would like to express our thanks to the 
people of the United States, and personally, I'd like to state that 
although I've only been President for 3 months now, it would be very 
difficult I think for Nohra and I to be welcomed so warmly anywhere 
else. I came here with the hope of forging an alliance with President 
Clinton and the United States, and I will leave having established a 
true friendship with the President, and I hope with his Nation.
    We have made progress in all the areas placed before us: the 
environment, education, aviation, and economic cooperation. During this 
state visit, President Clinton and I have signed a new and historic 
alliance against drug trafficking in order to combat the growth, 
trafficking, and demand for drugs, which is a major achievement which 
reaffirms this new era in relations between Colombia and the United 
States.
    I referred to all these areas earlier as items we have before us but 
not between us. These are matters of common interest. We are united on 
this, and united, there is much that we can achieve.

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    Finally, before answering your questions, allow me to say that my 
country and my compatriots feel deep respect for President Clinton and 
for his role as world leader. And as a rarity in history, he is one who 
forges world peace. President Clinton is a friend of Colombia, and in 
this visit we have solidified our friendship.
    Thank you very much.
    President Clinton. Now, what we will do is take a few questions. We 
will alternate between American and Colombian journalists. And we'll 
begin with Mr. Hunt [Terence Hunt, Associated Press].

Wye River Agreement

    Q. Mr. President, less than a week after the Mideast agreement, 
Prime Minister Netanyahu has come under pressure from hardliners and 
says that he won't begin the pullback from the West Bank until he gets 
approval from his Cabinet, and he has delayed a Cabinet meeting 
indefinitely. Are you concerned about delays, the return of mistrust? 
And what can the United States do to prevent this agreement from 
unraveling?
    President Clinton. Well, first of all, let me say that I believe 
it's a good agreement. It required principled compromise by both parties 
and extraordinary efforts.
    Secondly, as you can see from the criticism both Prime Minister 
Netanyahu and Chairman Arafat have gotten, it took some courage for them 
to reach this agreement. I told everybody that I discussed this with 
before they came here that, if Prime Minister Netanyahu reached an 
agreement here, he would face a great deal of bitter criticism at home.
    I personally think he did a good job at the Wye negotiations, a 
remarkable job, being strong, aggressive in defense of Israel's 
interests. The way I read the present state of things is that at the 
present moment, he knows there's a lot of opposition in the government 
and in his political base to this agreement, and he wants to be 
absolutely assured that the early steps will be taken on the other side. 
I believe that if we complete the security arrangements that were agreed 
to at Wye, that the Israeli Government will approve this and honor their 
commitment, and we'll go forward.
    So I would urge all the onlookers here, including all of us in the 
press and in public life, not to over-react to every little bump and 
turn in the road. There was a lot of mistrust built up in this 
relationship. It wasn't going to evaporate even in 9 days. And a lot of 
the people who weren't there at Wye are going to be heard from in both 
camps now. I think the important thing is they all make commitments to 
do certain things on a certain timetable and no one should slip off of 
that. And it was pretty well synchronized so that there will be 
continual reaffirmations on both sides of the commitments made.
    If we can just stay on that, I think we'll be fine. But all of this 
should only clarify to all the rest of us that they were both quite 
brave in doing what they did and that peace is a difficult business in 
the Middle East.

Colombian Domestic Peace Process

    Q. President Clinton, how committed are you with bringing peace to 
Colombia? And will you personally take the lead in this effort?
    President Clinton. Well, I would like to do anything that I can, but 
I think the President has taken the lead in a way that is, I think, 
innovative and very heartening to the rest of us. Again, I hope that 
those who have been involved in the turmoil in Colombia will take his 
offer in good faith.
    From the point of view of the United States, I think we should be in 
a supporting role however we can be of help. One of the things that we 
would very much like is the United States citizens who have been 
kidnaped. If they are alive, we'd like them released. If they're not, 
we'd like them accounted for. That would help us a great deal.
    But I personally have been struck with admiration for the way that 
President Pastrana has handled this so far. I don't know what else 
anybody could do, and I think that the path he is pursuing is the one 
most likely to bring results. If there is anything we can do to support 
that, of course, I would be happy to do so.
    Helen [Helen Thomas, United Press International].

1998 Elections/Free Press in Colombia

    Q. Mr. President, what is your take on the internal elections? How 
do you think the Democrats will fare? And do you think the impeachment 
process will impact on the election itself?
    And for President Pastrana, do you have freedom of the press in your 
country? I understand that you have threatened to shut down a radio 
station.

[[Page 1893]]

    President Clinton. Do you want to go first?
    President Pastrana. Yes, please.
    President Clinton. Yes, you want to go first--or, yes, you want me 
to go first? [Laughter]
    President Pastrana. You go first. [Laughter]
    President Clinton. Let me say, I think that these elections, first 
of all, are important. This is an important time for our country, and 
therefore, this is a very important election. And I hope there will be a 
big turnout. As to how they will come out, it's very difficult to say. 
There are an unusually large number of apparently quite close elections, 
which could be quite good for the Democrats in a year when, by 150 years 
of history, we're not supposed to do very well, especially since our 
side is being very badly outspent.
    But I think that the important thing is that the choices are clear. 
We believe that none of the surplus should be touched until we save the 
Social Security program. The leadership of the Republican Party 
apparently disagrees with that. Mr. Kasich talked about it again 
yesterday. We believe that it's important to pass a Patients' Bill of 
Rights that lets medical decisions be made by doctors, not accountants, 
that guarantees people can see a specialist, that their medical records 
are private, that they go to the nearest emergency room. They disagree 
with that.
    We believe that it is very important that, now that we're going to 
have 100,000 new teachers, that we build or modernize 5,000 schools so 
they'll have classrooms to teach in. They disagree with that. We think 
we ought to raise the minimum wage; they disagree with that. We think 
there ought to be tobacco legislation to protect our children from the 
dangers of tobacco, that there ought to be campaign finance reform. Even 
though some Republicans have supported that, their leadership disagrees 
with that.
    So the choices in this election are very, very clear. And all of 
these issues, plus my continuing efforts to maintain financial 
stability, economic stability around the world, and keep the economy 
going, make this a very important time. And the only thing I can say is 
that every American should care about this and should go out and vote, 
and I hope that every American will.
    President Pastrana. Thank you very much for your question.
    First, I'd like to say that I am a colleague of yours. I'm a 
journalist. And for that very reason, I am one of the great defenders of 
freedom of the press. I think your question refers to a fine or a 
sanction that was imposed by the earlier administration. That's another 
one of the legacies left us by the Samper administration. Two days 
before the end of the administration, the President fined a radio 
network in Colombia precisely because they violated the Colombian legal 
statute.
    My administration now needs to wait for this radio network. 
According to--Colombian law establishes the process necessary to appeal 
this decision, and we as the Government have approximately one month to 
respond to whatever appeal the network makes.
    I think, in Colombia, we need to recover the freedom of the press 
that was lost over the last 4 years in great measure. And I would just 
give you some examples. Families that were owners of newspapers for over 
100 years in Colombia had to close them down. TV licenses that had 
complied with the law--as stated here in the United States; even our 
Nobel Prize winner, Garcia Marquez, has stated this--these things were 
taken away since these people were not friends of that administration.
    I think we're now in a new era where we will recover freedom of the 
press in Colombia. That is my commitment. I insist, as your colleague as 
a journalist, as a lover of democracy, we will recover freedom of the 
press, which I think to a great extent was lost over the last few years 
in my country.

Colombian Domestic Peace Process

    Q. President Clinton, does the U.S. believe in the guerrillas' will 
for peace?
    President Clinton. I can't say that because I've never had any 
direct contact with them. All I can say is, I've had quite a lot of 
experience now with this over the last 6 years. We have worked to end a 
war in Bosnia. We have worked to end three decades of conflict in 
Northern Ireland. We have labored in the vineyards, as you know, of the 
complex Middle East peace process. And we have worked in many other 
areas, I and my partners here in our administration. And I have read a 
great deal about the turmoil in Colombia and its roots. All the parties 
share the same country. It cannot be good for a nation over the long run 
to endure the kind of fighting that Colombia has endured and to have it 
all mixed in with the narcotraffickers. It can't be good for the 
children of the guerrillas. It can't be good for the areas

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where they operate. It can't be good for the quality of life.
    So now you have a President who is clearly independent of 
destructive forces, clearly committed to bringing people together, 
clearly committed to giving all the children of Colombia a better 
future. All I can do is hope and pray that the offer he has given--he 
has reached his hand out to these people, and I can only hope that they 
will shake his hand and take his offer.
    Mr. McQuillan [Larry McQuillan, Reuters].

1998 Elections

    Q. Mr. President, on the latest Republican campaign commercials, do 
you think it's fair for them to try to cast your personal life as a 
campaign issue? And do you think in broader terms, that it's fair that 
anyone should view next Tuesday's election as a referendum on you?
    President Clinton. Well, first of all, I think the Republicans are 
free--in our country, they're free, and they should be free to make the 
election about whatever they want to make the election about. I hope the 
American people have seen in me over these last few weeks a real 
commitment to doing what I told them I would do from the beginning, to 
try to atone to them for what happened and to try to redouble my efforts 
to be a good President. And I hope they have sensed the inner changes 
that are going on and the manifestations and the efforts I've made to 
help the education of our children in the budget, to achieve peace in 
the Middle East talks.
    But I believe that it's always best if the elections are about the 
American people and their families and their future. And that's why I 
believe that, with the choice so clear--we are for Social Security 
first; don't squander the surplus; we're for the Patients' Bill of 
Rights; doctors, not accountants, make decisions; we are for building 
those 5,000 schools so the teachers will have a place to teach and the 
kids will have a place to learn; we're for raising the minimum wage and 
for campaign finance reform and for legislation to protect our kids from 
tobacco. And they're against those things.
    That's one of the reasons they have the enormous financial advantage 
they enjoy which is paying for a lot of those ads. And so to me, there's 
a clear choice. How can I object to them exercising their free speech 
rights in saying what they think the election is about? They also say, I 
might add, apparently--I know what I've read; I've not seen these ads--
they also say that the elections are about tax cuts and their plan on 
Social Security, which indicates to me that once again they are not 
committed to leaving this surplus alone until we reform Social Security. 
That, to me, is a very serious issue that will affect all the American 
people.
    So I would hope that the American people will hear the differences 
between the two parties, see how far we've come in the last 6 years, and 
make their judgments. But in any case, I hope we'll have a big turnout. 
This is not an ordinary election because of the challenges facing our 
country, and we don't need an ordinary midterm turnout. We need people 
to show up. And I trust the American people. That's why we're still 
around here after over 200 years. I think they'll get it right.
    Q. So, sir, does that mean----
    President Clinton. I gave you my answer. The Republicans are free to 
say whatever they want to say. I told you what I believe the issues are 
that are most important facing the American people. I told you that I'm 
doing my best to be a good President and to evidence the commitment that 
I expressed to the American people over the last 2 months in what I do 
as President and how I do it.
    But they have to decide whether to vote and on what to vote. I 
believe if the election is carried out on the issues affecting our 
children and our future, whether it's our financial stability or saving 
Social Security or the Patients' Bill of Rights or education, that the 
members of my party will do quite well, notwithstanding the enormous 
burden of history and the enormous financial disadvantage under which 
they labor. And so we're just going to go out there and keep reaching 
out to the American people and see what happens.

Colombia's Economic and Political Situation

    Q. I'd like to know why you have been going down in the polls, and 
do you believe in those polls?
    President Pastrana. I don't think life is about doing well in the 
polls or not. In our country we received a situation that all Colombians 
are very aware of, especially with regard to financial matters, where we 
have the highest fiscal deficit in Colombia's history. We were given a 
country with the highest rate of unemployment the

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country has had in the last few years. And clearly, I think that to a 
great extent this is due to the policies we've had to adopt and the 
policies we will continue to have to adopt to overcome the crisis.
    What I've always repeated is that, as a leader, as a politician, a 
person has to be judged at the end of his or her term. Clearly, at least 
in my personal case, in spite of believing in polls, I think that 
logically we have to look at the mechanism; we have to see if we've 
talking about phone polls, personal polls, what kind of methodology has 
been used. But clearly, I think the important thing is that in 4 years 
we will know if these measures we've adopted were right or not.
    We are committed to a peace process which is difficult, but we are 
committed to it, and we will forge ahead. We know the country we've 
received is in a financial situation worse than any in Colombia's 
history. We know we have to take harsh measures, and we will take them. 
We will protect the poorest sectors. Clearly, there are instructions to 
be given to ministers for all the social areas, those that have to do 
with social investment, with poverty, with health and education, with 
building houses; and matters of social interest are matters within the 
budget on which we are not going to try to reduce our expenses but try 
to keep them up and strengthen them. And we will have to make a major 
effort from the viewpoint of the administration, as we are doing, to cut 
our expenses, to cut a number of things.
    And logically, within 4 years we will know if these measures we are 
taking today with the assistance I've asked President Clinton for from 
the United States, through their support at the World Bank and at the 
Inter-American Development Bank and at the International Monetary Fund, 
with the help that President Clinton's leadership can provide us in 
Europe, in Japan, so that we can overcome this crisis and obtain the 
resources necessary to again generate confidence in Colombia, and thus, 
as we see today, we will be able to overcome the kind of exchange 
pressure we're under.
    If we manage to generate that trust again--you heard that yesterday 
from the Secretary of the Treasury; today you've heard it from the 
President of the United States--with their help, we will generate trust 
in the markets. We will take away the pressure on the exchange rate. We 
will lower our interest rates, and we will reactivate our economy. And 
thus we will increase our employment. And at the end of my 4-year term, 
we will be able to say, although we had to take some tough measures, we 
know now that those were the right measures to lead Colombia forward.
    President Clinton. I would like to make just a comment about that, 
because I am a totally disinterested observer in this sense. But the 
President has been in office 3 months, and I have now been here 6 years. 
For whatever it's worth, I think he's making the right decision. If you 
come into office and you face a difficult challenge--and keep in mind, 
he now faces two difficult challenges; he has a big economic challenge 
and he has the challenge of peace--it's always better to be high in the 
polls than low. We all run for office; everyone would rather be loved 
than hated. Everyone would rather be liked than disliked. But when you 
have a difficult economic situation, it's better to bite the bullet 
early and take the tough positions early so that people can get better. 
If you keep putting it off, the polls will slowly erode anyway, and in 
the end the people's lives won't change.
    When we adopted our budget here in 1993, a lot of members of my 
party actually lost their seats because of it, and I've regretted it 
ever since for them. But when we celebrated the first balanced budget 
and surplus in 29 years, we invited all the ones who lost their seats to 
come back, and many did. And you'd be amazed how many told me that they 
did the right thing. They were proud of the fact that they got rid of 
the deficit of the country, and they gave us a new economy, a new lease 
on life.
    This is the nature of things in the world today. Not all problems 
are easy. We'd all like it in life if everything we had to do was easy. 
But not everything we have to do is easy. And I think the President is 
doing the right thing. As a disinterested observer, I'll be very 
surprised if Colombia is not richly rewarded by much stronger economic 
success, more jobs, higher incomes, more success as a result of the 
decisions he is making today.

1998 Elections

    Q. Mr. President, you said a moment ago that Republicans have a 
right to frame their ads in this election as they see fit. Two ways 
they've framed these latest ads--number one, they argue, in essence, 
that you are not trustworthy, and therefore, you need a Republican

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Congress to balance against your Presidency. And number two, they ask 
the question, what do you tell your kids about your relationship with 
Ms. Lewinsky. I wonder how you would answer those two questions, sir.
    President Clinton. Well, first of all, I have answered the second 
question as far as I should. The decisions beyond that on the publicity 
were made by others, not me. I have answered that question. On whether 
I've been trustworthy, I think you can look at the record. Go back and 
look at what I said I would do in 1992, when I ran for President.
    Yesterday I signed a bill, for example, which completed the agenda 
that I said I would try to achieve for poor people in America to give 
them a chance to get more jobs and to allow them to save more of their 
own money when they're moving off welfare. It was a very important bill. 
It also contained our increase in Head Start funds, another commitment I 
made. And Gene Sperling came in, and he handed me this statement we put 
out in September of '93. And everything I said I would do on that list 
has now been done.
    A noted Presidential scholar said a couple of years ago before we 
had the success of the last 2 years that I had kept a higher percentage 
of my promises than the last five Presidents, in spite of the fact that 
I had made more detailed commitments to the American people when I ran.
    And the consequences are good. We have an economic boom. We have 
declining social problems. We are a force for peace in the world. So I 
think that it's fair for a person to be judged on his whole record. I've 
never--I'm not trying to sugarcoat the fact that I made a mistake and 
that I didn't want anybody to know about it. I think I've talked about 
that. The American people have had quite a decent amount of exposure to 
that. I hope very much that they have seen that I'm doing my best to 
atone for it. I hope they can sense the rededication and the intensified 
efforts I'm making for the cause of peace around the world, for the 
cause of prosperity at home.
    But if you look at what I said I'd do when I presented myself to the 
American people in 1991 and 1992, at the long list of things we've done 
we said we'd do, and at the good results that the American people have 
enjoyed--and it's a fact that the American people, I think, agree with 
us and not them. I think that's the real issue here. Are we right or are 
they right? Should we save the surplus until we save Social Security? 
Should we pass a Patients' Bill of Rights, or not? Should we build 
classrooms for these teachers to teach in and classes so the kids can 
have smaller classes? Should we raise the minimum wage? Should we pass 
campaign finance reform? Should we protect our kids from the dangers of 
tobacco, or not? It's a clear choice. That will be the impact on 
people's lives in this election. That's what I believe.
    But everyone else--that's why you have a vibrant democracy--
everybody else gets to say whatever they want to say and debate it 
however they want to debate it. I can only tell you that I hope the 
American people will remember that, notwithstanding the best efforts of 
some to always take politics away from them and take decisions away from 
them and pretend that what happens to them and their lives is not 
important, it really is. And folks should show up and vote. And they 
should know that the decision not to vote is also a decision that will 
affect their lives.
    That's all I can say. And I hope that many will go, and I trust them 
to make whatever decision is best for them and for our country.

Colombian Demilitarized Area

    Q. Mr. President, a question on the demilitarization and the 
reservations in the United States with regard to those measures. 
President Clinton said that it would be good to face these subjects at 
the beginning. Did you talk about demilitarization in your meeting?
    And I'd like to ask President Clinton what he thinks after his 
discussion with you this morning, what he thinks of that measure.
    President Pastrana. I think that it's very important to be able to 
establish a dialog, a direct dialog with President Clinton, with the 
Secretary of State, with General McCaffrey, with the National Security 
Council Adviser, especially with this whole demilitarized area which, 
according to Colombian law, can be established so that the 
representatives of the guerrilla movement can come to that area so we 
can guarantee their life, so that the representatives of Government can 
go to that area and their lives will also be guaranteed. We can have 
international observers present in this demilitarized area, as well as 
journalists who will also be attending.
    We had the opportunity today to explain to the President and to his 
Cabinet that this area

[[Page 1897]]

will be established for 90 days. That was the commitment; that was the 
agreement. What we seek are 90 days after next November 7th. During that 
time we want the FARC to sit down at the negotiating table. They've 
already appointed three representatives. The Colombian administration 
will be naming a representative. We'll establish an agenda for those 
meetings.
    But I think it's been very important to be able to share these ideas 
with President Clinton so that the U.S. Government can discuss it with 
us to allay their concerns. As I was saying to him this morning, 
sometimes there may be misinformation or lack of information with regard 
to this subject. But clearly we have had the opportunity to be able to 
share and discuss with him exactly what that demilitarized area is 
about, not just with the President but also with--we've had our Minister 
of Defense, our High Commissioner for Peace, all the members of our 
delegation to be able to answer any concern, allay any fear, any 
question they may have with regard to this process. And I think it's 
been very well expressed.
    But I'd like to see if the President has any additional comment to 
make on it.
    President Clinton. I agree. [Laughter]
    Go ahead, Wolf [Wolf Blitzer, CNN].

1998 Elections

    Q. Mr. President, the other theme that these new Republican ads say 
is this--I hate to beat a dead horse, but I'll just give you an 
opportunity to respond to it--they say the question of this election is 
this: Reward Bill Clinton or vote Republican. Larry asked you earlier if 
you think these elections are going to be a referendum on your behavior. 
Do you think they will be?
    President Clinton. Well, I think they're running a great number of 
ads with a lot of issues. I'd like to go back--I'm not sure I answered 
your question exactly right. I was talking about--on the first question 
you asked, I think what people ought to say to their children is that 
when someone makes a mistake, they should admit it and try to rectify it 
and that this is an illustration of the fact that those rules should 
apply to everyone, but that when people do that, if they do it properly, 
they can be stronger in their personal lives and their family lives and 
in their work lives.
    And many of us in life can cite examples where if we went through a 
period of assessing, that we grew stronger from it, and we actually did 
better. With a humble spirit, with the grace of God, and with a lot of 
determination, I think that happens. And I think in that sense, the 
lesson is a good one, that it should apply to everyone, from the 
President on down.
    But I believe, to go back to your point, since there has been a lot 
of talk about misleading, they have a right to say whatever they want to 
say; but in fairness, they're basically saying to the American people, 
``We want you to give up saving Social Security first. We want you to 
give up a Patients' Bill of Rights. We want you to give up modernizing 
or building 5,000 schools. We want you to give up a minimum wage 
increase. We want you to give up protecting your children from the 
dangers of tobacco, and we want you to give up campaign finance reform. 
We want you to give up all of that. We don't want you to think about 
yourself. We want you to, in effect, ratify the decisions we made for 
the tobacco companies, the health insurance companies, the special 
interests that didn't want campaign finance reform, all the people that 
gave us the money to put this ad on the air. We want you to give up 
everything that could help you. And if we can distract you and divert 
your attention, that will enable us to hold on to our jobs, even though 
we had 8 months of partisanship in the last Congress and didn't do much 
until we had to get a budget out. And then we agreed to go along with 
the President and the Democrats and let them do what they wanted to do 
for education.''
    So I would say it wouldn't be a very persuasive argument to me if I 
were a citizen out there, because I would always be trying to think, as 
a citizen, what is best for my family, for my children, for my 
community, and for my country. And I think that is always--always--got 
to be uppermost in all of our minds. I think it would be a more 
compelling debate if they would put whatever it is they want to do and 
explain why they were opposed to what we wanted to do here, and have a 
debate so people could evaluate how it affects their lives.
    But again, it's not for me to tell them how to do it. All I can tell 
you is what we're for and what we think the issues are.

Colombian Domestic Peace Process/Immigration

[A question was asked in Spanish, and the interpreter was unable to hear 
the question. Near

[[Page 1898]]

the end of the question, the following translation was given.]

    Q. Just like you had Arafat in the United States, here in the White 
House, do you think at some point it would be possible to have one of 
our guerrilla leaders here?
    President Clinton. Sorry, the interpreter did not hear, so could he 
repeat his question? If he could repeat his question in English, then 
you could answer in Spanish and the interpreter could hear you. 
[Laughter]
    President Pastrana. Well, Colombia is not at war. Colombia has an 
internal conflict. I've been able to describe it to the President. For 
36 years we've had an internal conflict in the country. And what we hope 
for is precisely to be able to achieve a peace process that will allow 
us to put an end to the violence that Colombia has lived through in the 
last few years.
    As I was able to explain to the President and to the press, for the 
first time as well, we have an historic opportunity. The guerrillas have 
agreed to eradicate illicit crops. For the first time the FARC has made 
a commitment; in fact, they have set that forth in the document they've 
given to the government, which the public knows of. For the first time 
they're willing to work on eradicating illicit crops.
    So I think it's an historic opportunity for the country. If we're 
able to make peace in Colombia, this is the first major battle in which 
we will defeat the narcotraffickers. The major enemy in Colombia is drug 
trafficking, drug traffickers. Therefore, we understand, and we know 
that we will win that battle. And by winning that battle, we will begin 
to do away with the global problems the entire world is suffering from 
today.
    That's why I think it's a situation in which our country knows, 
we're already dealing with it. We've initiated our dialog with the ELN. 
And we hope after November 7th to begin the dialog with the FARC. And in 
this way we'll put an end to this process and, clearly, achieve the 
great wish of our people, which is to have a country at peace.
    President Clinton. On the question you asked me about the 
immigration, the Colombians who are here, I don't know enough about the 
facts to answer the question. We did make--I tried to make good 
decisions regarding the Nicaraguans, the Salvadorans, and the Haitians. 
We have tried to be sensitive to the real facts of the individual's 
lives who are here--what were the circumstances under which they came to 
our country and under which they stayed--consistent with our other 
immigration laws, which are pretty open and broad, I think. But I 
would--before I could give you an answer, I would have to know more than 
I do now.
    Thank you.
    President Pastrana. Thank you.
    President Clinton. Thank you very much.

Note: The President's 165th news conference began at 3:20 p.m. in the 
Rose Garden at the White House. In his remarks, he referred to President 
Pastrana's wife, Nohra; Foreign Minister Guillermo Fernandez of 
Colombia; Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu of Israel; Chairman Yasser 
Arafat of the Palestinian Authority. President Pastrana referred to the 
Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) and the Ejercito de 
Liberacion Nacional (ELN). President Pastrana spoke in Spanish, and his 
remarks were translated by an interpreter.