[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

[[Page 1733]]

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.