    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 35 (Monday, September 4, 2000)]
    [Pages 1970-1972]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Videotape Address to the People of Colombia

    August 29, 2000

        Muy buenas noches. Tomorrow morning I will travel to your country to
    bring a message of friendship and solidarity from the people of the
    United States to the people of Colombia and a message of support for
    President Pastrana and for Plan Colombia.
        I will be joined on my trip by the Speaker of our House of
    Representatives, Dennis Hastert, and other distinguished Members of our
    Congress. We come from different political parties, but we have a common
    commitment to support our friend Colombia. As you struggle with courage
    to make peace, to build your economy, to fight drugs, and to deepen
    democracy, the United States will be on your side.
        Some of the earliest stirrings of liberty in Latin America came in
    Colombia, as the proud people of Cartagena, of Cali, of Bogota rose up
    one after the other to fight for independence. Now, nearly two centuries
    later, Colombia's democracy is under attack. Profits from the drug trade
    fund civil conflict. Powerful forces make their own law, and you face
    danger every day, whether you're sending your children to school, taking
    your family on vacation, or returning to your village to visit your
    mother or your father.
        The literary genius you call Gabo, your Nobel laureate, painted a
    portrait of this struggle in his book ``News of a Kidnapping.'' He
    presented me with a copy, and his book has touched my heart. Now I know
    why he

    [[Page 1971]]

    said writing it was the saddest, most difficult task of his life. And
    yet, all across Colombia there are daily profiles in courage. Mayors,
    judges, journalists, prosecutors, politicians, policemen, soldiers, and
    citizens like you all have stood up to defend your democracy.
        Colombia's journalists risk their lives daily to report the news so
    that powerful people feel the pressure of public opinion. Their courage
    is matched by the bravery of peace activists and human rights defenders,
    by reform-minded military leaders whose forces are bound by law, but who
    must do battle with thugs who subvert the law. There is also uncommon
    courage among the Colombian National Police. They face mortal danger
    every moment, as they battle against drug traffickers.
        Tomorrow in Cartagena I will meet with members of the police and the
    military and also with widows of their fallen comrades. The people of
    Colombia are well-known for their resilience, their ability to adapt.
    But my friends, enough is enough. We now see millions rising up,
    declaring no mas, and marching for peace, for justice, for the quiet
    miracle of a normal life.
        That desire for peace and justice led to the election of President
    Pastrana. In the United States, we see in President Pastrana a man who
    has risked his life to take on the drug traffickers; who was kidnapped
    by the Medellin, but who kept speaking out. As President, he has
    continued to risk his life to help heal his country. He has built
    support across party lines for a new approach in Colombia. The United
    States supports President Pastrana, supports Plan Colombia, and supports
    the people of Colombia.
        Let me be clear about the role of the United States. First, it is
    not for us to propose a plan. We are supporting the Colombian plan. You
    are leading; we are providing assistance as a friend and a neighbor.
        Second, this is a plan about making life better for people. Our
    assistance includes a tenfold increase in our support for economic
    development, good governance, judicial reform, and human rights.
    Economic development is essential. The farmers who grow coca and poppy
    must have a way to make an honest living if they are to rejoin the
    national economy. Our assistance will help offer farmers credit and
    identify new products and new markets.
        We will also help to build schoolrooms, water systems, and roads for
    people who have lost their homes and their communities. Our assistance
    will do more to protect human rights. As President Pastrana said at the
    White House, there is no such thing as democracy without respect for
    human rights. Today's world has no place and no patience for any group
    that attacks defenseless citizens or resorts to kidnapping and
    extortion. Those who seek legitimacy in Colombian society must meet the
    standards of those who confer legitimacy, the good and decent people of
    Colombia.
        Our package provides human rights training for the Colombian
    military and police and denies U.S. assistance to any units of the
    Colombian security forces involved in human rights abuses or linked to
    abuses by paramilitary forces. It will fund human rights programs, help
    protect human rights workers, help reform the judicial system, and
    improve prosecution and punishment.
        Of course, Plan Colombia will also bolster our common efforts to
    fight drugs and the traffickers who terrorize both our countries. But
    please do not misunderstand our purpose. We have no military objective.
    We do not believe your conflict has a military solution. We support the
    peace process. Our approach is both pro-peace and antidrug.
        The concern over illegal drugs is deeply felt around the world. In
    my own country, every year more than 50,000 people lose their lives, and
    many more ruin their lives, because of drug abuse. Still, the
    devastation of illegal drugs in Colombia is worse. Drug trafficking and
    civil conflict have led together to more than 2,500 kidnappings last
    year; 35,000 Colombians have been killed, and a million more made
    homeless in the past decade alone.
        Drug trafficking is a plague both our nations suffer and neither
    nation can solve on its own. Our assistance will help train and equip
    Colombia's counterdrug battalions to protect the National Police as they
    eradicate illicit drug crops and destroy drug labs. We will help the
    Colombian military improve their ability to intercept traffickers before
    they leave Colombia. We will target illegal

    [[Page 1972]]

    airstrips, money laundering, and criminal organizations.
        This approach can succeed. Over the last 5 years, the Governments of
    Peru and Bolivia, working with U.S. support, have reduced coca
    cultivation by more than half in their own countries, and cultivation
    fell by almost one-fifth in the region as a whole.
        Of course, supply is only one side of the problem. The other is
    demand. I want the people of Colombia to know that the United States is
    working hard to reduce demand here, and cocaine use in our country has
    dropped dramatically over the last 15 years. We must continue our
    efforts to cut demand, and we will help Colombia fight the problems
    aggravated by our demand.
        We can and we must do this together. As we begin the new century,
    Colombia must face not 100 years of solitude, but 100 years of
    partnership for peace and prosperity.
        Last year I met some of the most talented and adorable children in
    the world from the village of Valledupar. Ten of them, some as young as
    6 years old, came thousands of miles with their accordions and their
    drums, their bright-colored scarves and their beautiful voices, to
    perform for us here at the White House. They sang ``El Mejoral.'' They
    sang ``La Gota Fria.'' Everyone who heard them was touched. Those
    precious children come from humble families. They live surrounded by
    violence. They don't want to grow up to be narcotraffickers, to be
    guerrillas, to be paramilitaries. They want to be kings of Vallenato.
    And we should help them live their dreams.
        Thousands of courageous Colombians have given their lives to give us
    all this chance. Now is the moment to make their sacrifice matter. It
    will take vision; it will take courage; it will take desire. You have
    all three. In the midst of great difficulty, be strong of heart. En
    surcos de dolores, el bien germina ya.
        Viva Colombia. Que Dios los bendiga.

     Note: The address was videotaped at 9:50 a.m. on August 24 in the Map
    Room at the White House for broadcast in Colombia on August 29, and it
    was released by the Office of the Press Secretary on August 29. In his
    remarks, the President referred to President Andres Pastrana of
    Colombia.