[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book II)]
[August 30, 2000]
[Pages 1729-1736]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
The President's News Conference With President Andres Pastrana of Colombia in Cartagena
August 30, 2000
President Pastrana. Good afternoon. On behalf of all Colombians, it
is my great privilege to welcome to Cartagena President Clinton, who has
been Colombia's steadfast friend and honors us enormously with his visit
today. I would also like to welcome the distinguished members of his
delegation, starting with the Republican Party, the Speaker of the House
of Representatives, a very good friend of Colombia, Dennis Hastert; and
from the Democratic Party, another great friend of ours, Senator Joseph
Biden.
You, Speaker Hastert, are not foreign to Colombia given that you
have defended our democracy for many years now and have guided the
assistance package through the House. Colombia is truly fortunate to
have you as a friend, sir.
Senator Biden, we're also very pleased to have you once again here
in Cartagena. Your understanding of the very complex issues related with
Plan Colombia, from human rights to alternative development, have been
crucial.
Senators Bob Graham and Mike DeWine are also with us today, two
individuals who have led the way in the U.S.-Colombian relations,
providing leadership in both trade and counternarcotics. They are with
their colleague Senator Lincoln Chafee, who is visiting Colombia for the
first time. Gentlemen, we are very honored with your presence.
However, there is a notable absence, that hurts our hearts, of
another friend of Colombia, Paul Coverdell. His passing last month was a
deeply-felt loss, and I cannot imagine how we
[[Page 1730]]
would have gotten this far without him. We miss him, but what he did so
bravely will allow us to--[inaudible].
I would also like to welcome our good friends from the House of
Representatives Congressmen Douglas Bereuter, William Delahunt, Sam
Farr, Porter Goss, Ruben Hinojosa, and Jim Moran. Each, in your own way,
have worked for popular changes for our country.
I'd also like to welcome the members of the President's Cabinet:
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Attorney General Janet Reno,
leaders of the highest order who have visited us here before. You have
taken the cause of burdensharing in the war on illegal drugs across the
globe.
The same is true for General McCaffrey, who has worked tirelessly
through very many complicated details of our bilateral strategy. And
we're also proud to have with us Sandy Berger, National Security
Adviser, and John Podesta, the White House Chief of Staff.
Two years ago I traveled to Washington with the high hopes of
forming a new partnership with the United States. Today, it is clear, we
have accomplished this gesture beyond our expectations. Today, there
exists between our two countries a much closer commitment than at any
other time in our history.
The United States Government and Congress have offered significant
assistance to Plan Colombia, which is my government's strategy for
national recovery. This package has been developed by Colombians, has
been planned by Colombians, has been presented to the rest of the world
by Colombians, and will be implemented by Colombia.
The very important resources support many of the central elements of
the plan, including support of political negotiation, alternative
developments for subsistent farmers, the battle against drugs, the
strengthening of justice, humanitarian assistance, and the protection of
human rights. The U.S. assistance is a recognition that the menace of
illegal drugs is truly international and, therefore, requires a
concerted global response.
We Colombians must address the many challenges our nation faces at
this moment in history. We know that the solutions must be our own.
Equally important is the understanding that Colombia's armed conflict
must be solved by political means. We have asked the United States and
the international community to provide us with new tools and additional
resources to build the Colombia of the 21st century. We are grateful for
the assistance you have provided.
Many times over the past decades, Colombians have felt alone in
bearing the burden of the international drug war. Undoubtedly, this is
an international presence, and your presence here today, Mr. President,
as a representative of the American people, is a commitment that leads
us to know that we're no longer isolated in this struggle.
I'm also pleased we have had the opportunity today to discuss our
bilateral economic agenda. Peace in Colombia is tied to prosperity, to
economic growth, and new opportunities for all our people, and this
includes expanding bilateral trade.
I believe the time has come to move towards an agreement that allows
better access for Colombian products into the U.S. markets. I am
convinced that, at the end of the day, trade and investment will do more
for Colombia and will be more decisive instruments in the battle against
drugs given that they will have a sustainable impact for future
generations and will contribute to a more prosperous Colombia.
Today is indeed an historic occasion. It marks a decisive moment in
a time when two nations join forces to attain common objectives. I have
no doubt, ladies and gentlemen, that we have the right policies and that
we will be implementing them in the right way and with the right
partners.
Finally, I'd like to say that Colombia is most fortunate to have
friends as President Clinton, who has earned admiration around the world
for his commitment to peace in Northern Ireland, in the Middle East,
Africa, and today here in Colombia. His legacy as one of his
generation's most dedicated peacemakers is assured.
And now it is my privilege to invite the President of the United
States to take over the microphone and the podium.
President Clinton. First, I want to thank President Pastrana,
members of his government, and legislative leaders who have welcomed us
so warmly here today. I'd also like to thank the members of the
Colombian media who are responsible for the opportunity I had last night
to address the people of Colombia about the commitment of the United
States for the success of your democracy.
I'm pleased to be here with all the people the President mentioned:
Speaker of the House
[[Page 1731]]
Dennis Hastert, Senator Joe Biden, other Members of Congress and the Cabinet and
the White House, and I want to thank you, Mr. President, for your
reference to Senator Coverdell, who was a friend of Colombia and a
friend of our common efforts.
Together we come here to say that the United States--executive and
Congress, Republican and Democrat, House and Senate--stand with Colombia
in its fight for democracy.
In our meetings, I had a chance to thank President Pastrana for his
truly courageous leadership, for a peaceful, prosperous, democratic
country free of narcotrafficking. He has pursued this vision fearlessly,
as has so many others. The 11 widows of those who gave their lives for
the rule of law and human rights and a better future that we met earlier
today are the most eloquent testimony of it.
The United States has a strong interest in Colombia, in your
economic recovery of the country, in the conservation of your democracy,
in the protection of human rights for the people of Colombia, and in
your pursuit of peace, security, stability, not only for Colombia but
for the whole region and, undoubtedly, in reducing the international
drug trade.
Meeting those objectives, for us, is what Plan Colombia is all
about. It takes aim at all the interwoven challenges facing Colombia
both in the economy and in the civil conflict, fighting drugs, defending
human rights, and deepening democracy. And as President Pastrana said,
it is Plan Colombia: a plan made by the leaders of Colombia for the
people and future of Colombia.
Our support of that plan includes a tenfold increase for social and
economic development to help farmers grow legal crops, to train security
forces to protect human rights, to help more Colombians find justice by
extending access to the courts. This afternoon I will visit a new casa
de justicia here in Cartagena that does just that. We've also made clear
our confidence in President Pastrana's economic approach, and we're
working closely with the international financial institutions to
encourage their support of the Colombian economy.
Our assistance also makes a substantial investment in Colombia's
counterdrug efforts. Drug trafficking breeds violence, breeds
corruption, and drives away the jobs that could help to heal this
country's divisions. It also supplies most of the cocaine and much of
the heroin to the United States. Our assistance will enhance the ability
of Colombian security forces to eradicate illegal crops, destroy drug
labs, stop drug shipments before they leave Colombia.
Let me make one point very clear: This assistance is for fighting
drugs, not waging war. The civil conflict and the drug trade go hand in
hand to cause great misery for the people of Colombia: 2,500 kidnappings
in the last year alone; over the last 10 years 35,000 Colombian citizens
have lost their lives; 1 million have been made homeless. Our program is
antidrugs and propeace.
Forty years of fighting has brought neither side closer to military
victory. The President himself has said that over and over. Counterdrug
battalions will not change that, and that is not their purpose. Their
purpose is to reduce the drug trade that aggravates every problem
Colombia faces and exports chaos to the world, including the United
States.
I reject the idea that we must choose between supporting peace or
fighting drugs. We can do both; indeed, to succeed, we must do both. I
reaffirmed to the President our support for the peace process. The
people of Colombia have suffered long enough, especially in the area of
human rights. No good cause has ever been advanced by killing or
kidnapping civilians or by colluding with those who do. Insurgents and
paramilitaries alike must end all human rights abuses, as must the
security forces themselves.
The President is doing his part to hold the military accountable,
and today we discussed his efforts to accelerate efforts to investigate,
prosecute, and punish all offenders, whoever they may be.
What happens in Colombia will affect its citizens and this entire
region for a very long time to come. There is a lot riding on this
President and this Plan Colombia. We are proud to stand with our friend
and our neighbor as it fights for peace, freedom, and democracy, for
prosperity, human rights, and justice, and for a drug-free future. All
these things should be the right of all Colombians.
Thank you.
[At this point, Speaker of the House of Representatives J. Dennis
Hastert and Senator Joseph R. Biden,
Jr., members of the U.S. delegation,
made brief remarks.]
President Pastrana. Let us begin with the round of questions.
[[Page 1732]]
Colombia-U.S. Trade
Q. President Clinton, the Colombian Government has been working in
order to obtain tariff benefits with the United States. Mr. President,
with what do you commit yourself in order to open the way so that
Colombia will benefit from benefits which are granted to other
countries? And specifically, will the treaty that benefits the Colombian
textile makers, will it be extended?
President Clinton. Well, the short answer is, I hope so. But if I
could, let me explain this issue not only to the Colombian press but to
the American press, because it hasn't received a lot of attention.
We passed a very important bill this year to increase our trade with
Africa, because we thought we had not done enough. And we have many
African-Americans in the United States, as you do have citizens of
African descent in Colombia and all over the eastern part of South
America. In that bill, we also had legislation to give more duty-free
access to goods from the Caribbean Basin, in the Caribbean. We did it
because when we passed the NAFTA trade agreement back in 1993,
benefiting our trade with Mexico enormously, it had the unintended
consequence of putting a big burden on the Caribbean nations, mostly the
little island nations, and it took us all this time to correct it.
Now, we know that this legislation could have severe unintended
consequences on Colombia in ways that would undermine the impact of Plan
Colombia. So Senator Graham, who is here on this
delegation, and Senator DeWine and perhaps
others who are here have sponsored a bill which would for one year, on
the textile front, in effect, treat the Colombian textiles in the same
way as those from the Caribbean island nations and the Central American
nations. And that would prevent a mass migration of jobs out of
Colombia, and it would give the next President and the new Congress a
full year to debate what the next step in the economic integration of
our region should be.
So I will say, I will tell you the exact same thing I told the
President and the Government inside. We are a couple of months away from
an election. The Congress will not be in session much longer. But I
think this should be done. The Speaker thinks it should be done. And we
don't want the Congress to be in a position of having--or the
administration either--of having to come up with over $1 billion in aid
that is partly designed to restore the Colombian economy and to move
people out of coca production into legitimate earnings and then turn
around and take the economic benefits away that were there before we
started.
So it's a problem. There is a narrow legislative fix, which Senator
Graham and others, Senator DeWine and others, have proposed, which--for the benefit of the
American press--would not increase textile imports into our country over
and above what they will be anyway over the next year but would keep
massive migration of jobs from Colombia to other places in the Caribbean
region from occurring. That's basically what Senator Graham's trying to
do.
So I just--because it's so close to the end of the session, I wish I
could promise you that this will happen. I cannot promise you it will
happen. All I can tell you is I will try, and I hope we can do it.
Plan Colombia
Q. President Clinton, 10 years ago President Bush visited here with
the same purpose as yours. And in the intervening years, the flow of
drugs to the United States illegally has only increased. What makes you
believe this new U.S. aid package, although it be part of a broader
Colombian plan, can reverse that trend without drawing U.S. troops into
a shooting war here?
President Clinton. Well, first of all, I think that there's a lot of
evidence that the flow of drugs out of Colombia, per se, has increased,
as Senator Biden said, because efforts in Bolivia and Peru and several
other places have been relatively successful. But the overall problem in
the United States is abating. Unfortunately, it's getting worse in some
other parts of the world.
And I give a lot of credit to General McCaffrey, to the Attorney General, to the
Secretary of State, and others. We
have worked very hard on this. And I give a lot of credit to the
Congress, including the majority party in Congress. There's been an
enormous effort over the last 5 years to intensify our efforts to reduce
demand in the United States and to more effectively deal with supply. So
that's the first thing I would say. We have some evidence that we can
succeed.
The second thing I would say is a condition of this aid is that we
are not going to get into a shooting war. This is not Vietnam; neither
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is it Yankee imperialism. Those are the two false charges that have been
hurled against Plan Colombia. You have a perfect right to question
whether you think it will work or whether you think we've properly
distributed the resources. But I can assure you--a lot of the opposition
to this plan is coming from people who are afraid it will work. So that
won't happen.
The third thing you asked me--I believe this will work because I
think that this President and this government are willing to take the
risks necessary to make it work. I think that they're working on
developing military forces and police forces that both respect human
rights and know they'll be held accountable for abuses and are honest
and competent enough to be effective in this battle if the rest of us
will give them the resources, support, and training to do it on a level
that, at least in our experience--you heard Senator Biden, he's been in the Senate a long time--we have never
seen this before at this level in Colombia.
And the fact that the President understands, that he's willing to do
something--and I hope the people of Colombia will understand it and be
patient with him. He's trying to do two things that no one's ever tried
to do at once. But without it, I don't think either problem can be
solved. He's trying to fight the narcotrafficking and find a way to have
a diplomatic solution to the civil unrest that has dogged Colombia for
40 years. It is a massive undertaking.
Anyway, to summarize, I believe this will work, number one, because
we have some evidence that we can make a difference, in the last 5
years; number two, because we have an enormously courageous and I think
thoughtful President and plan and team here committed to it; and number
three, there won't be American involvement in a shooting war because
they don't want it and because we don't want it, because what we have to
do is to empower them and then, if there are problems on their borders,
to empower their neighbors to solve this with our support.
President Pastrana. I think that the situation today is totally
different from the situation 10 years ago, first of all, because we have
an integral program to fight against drug trafficking--this is something
we did not have before--and this issue was approached only from the
police standpoint. But today, for the first time, we are investing in
the people.
Plan Colombia, as we have discussed with President Clinton, is not a
plan for war. It's a plan for peace. It's a social plan. Seventy-five
percent of Plan Colombia will go to social investment, to capacity-
building, alternative development. And this is why, for the first time,
what we now see is a comprehensive policy so as not to work only from
one side but to see how, in an integral way, you can better put an end
to the drug issue.
This is why, in addition to Plan Colombia, we're now implementing
Impresa Colombia, which means that all the social resources of the
Colombian states of $4 or 5 billion that were contributing to Plan
Colombia, we're going to allocate it to earmark these resources. They'll
be going to the poorest regions, and we'll be investing in
infrastructure, alternative development, agricultural policies, social
investment, particularly in those areas which are now being affected by
violence and civil unrest.
Only a year ago, in Colombia simply because--with the assistance of
Speaker Hastert and other Democrat and Republican Senators, the U.S. had
given us $230 million for military equipment. And last year we had the
largest U.S. investment in Colombia. Last year it was $230 million
invested in helicopters, and these went to the police. And today, a
large amount will be invested only in the social area. So this means
that $250 million will be invested in the people, in our social
development, and the promotion and strengthening of human rights and
alternative development.
And this is why I would like to highlight that for the first time
the United States is investing not only--because it's not only military
assistance--and I want to be very clear. The U.S. assistance is an
assistance to fight against drug trafficking, and for this reason I say
today that we Colombians must feel very pleased to see that this large
amount--over $250 million--will be invested in the marginal areas, in
the poorest areas in Colombia.
President Clinton. Could I just follow up and just make one other
point on this, again, just because I think it's important that what we
do be clearly understood? We have received some criticism in the United
States from people who say, well, a majority of the money we're giving
is for military or law enforcement purposes. Even though the money we
give, about $300 million, for boosting government capacity and
alternative economic development is a tenfold
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increase over what we were giving before, it is true that a majority of
our assistance is for increasing the capacity of the Colombia people to
fight the drug war. But it is important to recognize that that is true
largely because we have a unique ability to give those tools to the
Colombian forces.
And I want to reiterate what President Pastrana said, because this
is what he said to me when he asked us to do this. He said, ``I promise
you three-quarters of the total investment of the plan will be for
nonmilitary, non-law-enforcement things: to build government capacity,
to develop the economic and social capacities of the country.''
And so the American aid package needs to be seen in the larger
context. And I want to thank--the United Nations has given money to
this; Spain has given money; Norway has given money; Japan has given
money; the international financial institutions--and the Government of
Colombia is going to contribute a majority of the $7.5 billion. And
anyone within the sound of my voice--we still need another billion or
billion and a half, and we would be glad to have some more help.
[Laughter] Thank you very much.
Q. President Clinton, is there a specific situation in which the
U.S. Government might consider perhaps giving Colombia military support
to fight the guerrillas?
President Clinton. Our involvement is laid out in the terms of Plan
Colombia. The President has developed this plan with his team, and it
does not contemplate that. And so, the answer is no. That's not
authorized by what we did.
What we want to do is to increase the capacity of the Colombian
Government to fight the narcotraffickers and, in so doing, to reduce
anyone else's income from illegal drug trade and increase the leverage
that the President has to find a peaceful resolution of the civil
conflict. And that is his policy, not my policy. I'm supporting his
policy.
President Pastrana. Once again, in order to make it very clear,
while Andres Pastrana is the President of Colombia, we will not have a
foreign military intervention in Colombia.
Plan Colombia and Human Rights
Q. Mr. President, several Democratic lawmakers and human rights
organizations have criticized you for waiving six conditions, the
majority on human rights, in order to release the $1.3 billion for this
plan. How do you reconcile the waiver with your policy of protecting
human rights around the world? And President Pastrana, how long will it
take you to meet those conditions, and are they realistic?
President Clinton. First of all, let me say why I did the waiver and
begin by saying I support strongly human rights, and I support the human
rights provisions of Plan Colombia or, if you will, the human rights
requirements for disbursing the aid under Plan Colombia. But there is a
reason Congress gave me waiver authority here. Not because they didn't
care about human rights, but because they knew that President Pastrana
was committed to human rights. He was committed to human rights before
he was President of Colombia. He was committed to human rights before he
thought of Plan Colombia and before he ever asked us to help. And I
would remind you that he has been the victim of perhaps the most severe
human rights abuse of all.
So the Congress gave me the waiver authority because they knew there
was no way, between the time that they appropriated the money and we
needed to spend it, that he could meet every criteria in the
legislation, but that if I thought he was committed to doing so and
acting in good faith, I could give a waiver so we wouldn't wait another
year.
I don't think anyone seriously believes that either the guerrillas
or the narcotraffickers will be more careful with human rights than this
President. And so creating another year of vacuum in which innocent
people can be crushed I think would be a terrible mistake.
On the other hand, you heard what Joe Biden said. If there is to be
continued support from the Congress and the next President, then
Colombia must meet the requirements of the law. And the President said
to me repeatedly that--and he just said publicly that he was. I think I
should let him address that.
President Pastrana. As I have told President Clinton and many of my
colleagues--journalists, the issue of human rights is not imposed on us
by the U.S. Government or by President Clinton. It is the first
commitment of the Colombian Government of President Pastrana to fight
against the violation of human rights.
As of the moment when we proposed Plan Colombia, as I've had the
opportunity of telling several of you, we knew that the eyes of the
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world would be focusing on our country and particularly regarding the
issue of human rights.
But we're also asking the rest of the world to understand the
complexity of the problems that we have in our country. And many times
it's difficult for people to understand that we have the illegal defense
groups or the guerrilla drugtrafficking common criminals. But likewise,
I think that we have made a lot of headway. We have greater alertness on
the part of the members of our military forces, and we are demanding the
insurgents and the illegal defense groups to better understand that they
have to cooperate in terms of not violating human rights. And hopefully,
the first agreements to be made in the negotiation peace talks will be
related with international humanitarian law and human rights, so as to
exclude the civil population and minor combatants from this conflict.
Hopefully, we'll be able to arrive at this agreement.
And in addition, we've done a lot also on our part. We have passed
the new criminal code; and issues which are very sensitive--such as
forced disappearance, genocide, torture--will be dealt with by civil
courts; and we have reformed the criminal and military code--we devoted
a lot of years to this reform, but today it's a fact--and finally, the
Government itself, via the Minister of Defense, has asked for special
powers by Congress so as to reform our military forces--and these powers
will expire in the future weeks. And this will allow us to get rid of
people who are with the military and that might be linked to any human
rights violation issues. And it's going to be very important, because in
the past our laws did not allow us to do this.
And we gave this as a signal to the rest of the world. The Vice
President of Colombia is the person in charge of this issue of human
rights. Never before in Colombia has the Vice President and the Vice
President's office been in charge of this very important topic in order
to promote all our policies regarding human rights.
And I think that many of the proposals made by Congress in order to
give Colombia certification for the purposes of Plan Colombia will be
achieved in the future weeks. And hopefully, with these reforms that I
have mentioned, we'll make headway. But this is a commitment of our
Government, and we will support, of course, human rights.
Plan Colombia and Neighboring Countries
President Clinton. Because I expect this is my last trip here before
the end of my term, there's one point I did not make in my opening
statement that I should have. On behalf of the President and the people
of Colombia, I would like to make a personal plea to the neighbors of
Colombia and the leaders of those neighboring states--with whom I have
worked closely for years, most of them--to be strongly supportive of
President Pastrana and Plan Colombia.
There have been many reports that others are reluctant in Latin
America to support this for fear that the Plan Colombia, as it succeeds,
will cause the problem to spill over the borders into other states. Now,
let's be candid: If it's successful, some of that will happen. But we
have funds in Plan Colombia, in the American portion of it, that can be
used, a substantial amount of money, to help other countries deal with
these problems at the borders right when they start.
And I would ask the neighbors of Colombia to consider the
alternative. If you really say Colombia can't attack this in an
aggressive way because there will be some negative consequences on our
border, the logical conclusion is that all the cancer of
narcotrafficking and lawless violence in this entire vast continent
should rest on the shoulders and burden the children of this one nation.
And that's just not right.
And so, I understand the reluctance of the leaders of other
countries to embrace this. It's a frightening prospect to take on this.
But this man, more than once, has risked his life to do it. So I just
want to assure the other countries the United States will not abandon
you. We actually have specific provisions in this bill to provide
assistance to neighboring countries that suffer adversely because of the
disruptions. But this is something that the democratic leaders of this
continent should do together, arm in arm, hand in hand. We will be as
supportive as we can, but in the end, they'll have to do it together in
order to succeed.
And again, Mr. President, I thank you, and I want to thank the
leaders of our Congress from the bottom of my heart for doing what I
think is a good thing for America to do. Thank you, sir.
[[Page 1736]]
Note: The President's 193d news conference began at 3:05 p.m. in la Casa
de Huespedes. In his remarks, the President referred to NAFTA, the North
American Free Trade Agreement. President Pastrana referred to Vice
President Lemas Gustavo Bell of Colombia. President Pastrana spoke in
Spanish, and his remarks were translated by an interpreter. The
transcript released by the Office of the Press Secretary also included
the remarks of Senator Biden and Speaker Hastert. A portion of the
President's remarks could not be verified because the tape was
incomplete.