Readout on OAS General Assembly (June 8-10) in Santiago, Chile

10:00 A.M. EDT

Real Audio of Briefing

MR. DENIG:  Good morning ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the Foreign Press Center. As you know, Secretary Powell is back in Washington today after participating in the OAS General Assembly in Santiago, Chile. We are very pleased today to be able to welcome to our podium to provide us with readout on the General Assembly, Curtis Struble, the Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs. He'll have a brief opening statement to make and then we'll be glad to take your questions.

He's under a rather tight schedule, so I will ask you when you ask your questions to identify yourself and your news organization, as usual, and keep your questions as brief as possible so that we can get around as much as possible. Thank you.

Curt.

MR. STRUBLE: Thank you very much. So I can focus more on your specific questions, and because the Secretary had an opportunity in Santiago, himself, to give a briefing on his meetings there, I will be very short in my opening statement.

First, on the accomplishments of the General Assembly: It reflected a consensus in this hemisphere that the problems of governance, that the need for transparent governments that invest in people are a critical element for economic development in this hemisphere. And in that sense, the OAS General Assembly set the stage very nicely for an interim Summit of the Americas that we expect will happen at the end of this year, perhaps the beginning of next year, that will further explore this theme.

The General Assembly also provided, I think, a good platform for the Secretary to talk about the Bush administration's major initiative that seeks to deal with this interplay between effective government, investing in people and economic development -- and I mean in that, the Millennium Challenge Account. As you know, the administration introduced in February legislation to the Congress that would bring the Millennium Challenge Account into effect.

The MCA is the largest U.S. assistance initiative since the Marshall Plan. And the point at which it is fully funded, provided the Congress grants the administration's funding requests on this, it would provide $5 billion a year in additional grant funding and in that respect, increase our core development assistance by 50 percent over present levels.

We believe it will have a major impact on countries of this hemisphere and if, again, the Congress approves the administration's request for how this should be structured, there would be up to 15 countries in the Americas that could be eligible to participate in the Millennium Challenge Account program by the point that it's fully funded.

The Secretary also held very useful bilaterals with the foreign minister and the president of Chile and the foreign ministers of Brazil, of Colombia and Peru, and as you know, he had a stopover in Argentina, which allowed him to meet with President Kirchner.

Foreign Minister Bielsa joined the Secretary in the U.S. plane on the trip from Santiago to Argentina, which also provided a nice opportunity for him and the Secretary to get to know one another.

So with that, let me invite your specific questions.

MR. DENIG: All right. We'll take this gentleman.

QUESTION: Yes, hi. Pablo Bachelet, the Latin America correspondent with Reuters – a question regarding Cuba -- the Secretary brought up and sort of challenged Cuba -- the OAS -- to do something about Cuba. What's the next step? What is the U.S. going to do now? You tried to pass a resolution before and failed. Are you going to -- is a new resolution going to be in the works? What, exactly, can be done? That's my first question. Second, if you could elaborate a little bit more on the bilateral agenda with Argentina that was brought up: what, exactly the two discussed, what are some of the specifics?

MR. STRUBLE: Yes. A pleasure. First on the question of Cuba, we were actually rather pleased that there was a chairman's statement from the Permanent Council on Cuba about ten days ago. This is the first time that the OAS in about two decades had tried to wrestle the issue of Cuba, and it seemed to us that given the gravity of the crackdown that began in March in Cuba -- the largest scale and the harshest crackdown on political expression in Cuba since the 1960s -- that it was absolutely essential that this hemisphere's countries add their voice to the condemnations that we have heard from so much of the rest of the world. You'll, of course, be aware that the EU, just a week ago, announced some decisions of its own on Cuba. And what we've said is that we believe that there needs to be an informal dialogue within the OAS on how it can contribute to helping the unjustly imprisoned dissidents and how it can help an eventual political transition in Cuba.

Now, I emphasize the word "informal" here. There are a number of OAS subregional bodies. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, for example, that have through all of this period, wrestled with issues of Cuba, and we expect them to continue to be active on this. But we think beyond that, that it's useful for members of the OAS to talk about how we can collectively or individually help Cubans. And I would note that Foreign Minister Graham of Canada made a similar call during the OAS General Assembly.

Your second question was the bilateral agenda with Argentina. We were primarily in a listening mode. It was a great opportunity for us to hear from the new foreign minister and the new president what their objectives are. And I think the Secretary was very pleased, both with the quality of his interlocutors, the relationship that was established and was, you know, comprehending of the message they passed on, which is that basically, Argentina has been seen, the foreign minister and the president both emphasized, by its partners in the region and elsewhere as being no longer a predictable country, and that this has caused a deterioration in its image: that it needs to be more predictable, in terms of rule of law, in terms of its economic policies, and in terms of its foreign policies; and that the Kirchner administration's early focus is going to be on, you know, communicating its policies and ensuring it's predictable in that way.

There was discussion about their desire for U.S. assistance as they continue to engage with the IMF on a follow-on program. You'll recall that the program Argentina has now is a transitional program that expires in August. And there was also a discussion of a visit by President Kirchner here. There is not a date for that yet, but President Bush in his phone call -- congratulatory phone call -- to President Kirchner, extended an invitation to visit Washington, and both sides are interested that that should happen in the fairly near future.

QUESTION: Just a clarification. Regarding the 15 countries in the Western Hemisphere eligible for the MCA, is that 15 in the first year or 15 within certain perimeters?

MR. STRUBLE: No. Again, the administration's proposal is that there be a per capita income cutoff that would rise over a period of three years as funding for this increases. We have asked for about $1.2 billion in funding the first year. And in that time, there would be a per capita cutoff of basically $1400. And five countries in the Western Hemisphere would, on the basis of per capita income, qualify.

Now, let's be mindful that there are also requirements in terms of investment in people, economic liberty, political liberty that the countries might not need. But we believe that a number of these five countries would be very competitive. In the second year, there would be seven; and then eight more in the third year as that we reach the basically $3,000 per year per capita income benchmark.

QUESTION: Yeah, this is Ana Baron from Clarin, Argentina. On Argentina, on the discussions -- Powell said at the end of the meeting with Kirchner, that one of the subject was the Supreme Court. I would like to know what about and what is the worry of the United States about that subject. And the second is the debt. As I understand, or at least the Argentina version of the meeting, there was a discussion specifically about the debt.

MR. STRUBLE: Let me begin with the second one first. There was not so much a discussion about the debt as that President Kirchner laid out the tasks that are before Argentina, and that includes a renegotiation or a negotiation with its debt holders to deal with this problem -- that that would be a priority of his administration. But we were, again, in a receiving mode on that matter.

On the issue of the Supreme Court, the Secretary noted that we have had some inquiries from justices in the United States about this, and both the foreign minister and the president related that constitutional procedures in Argentina will be strictly followed in looking at the possible impeachment of a number of justices in the Supreme Court.

And let me emphasize that for us, that's the only issue. That's right. I mean, I think that all of respect that we have different procedures, but it's important that countries follow their procedures. And both the president and the foreign minister emphasize the intention of Argentina to do that.

QUESTION: Sonia Schott of Globovision, Venezuela. U.S. proposals were not reflected at the Declaration of Santiago and nor the American candidate won the elections. What is your read on that?

MR. STRUBLE: I'm sorry. I missed the first part of your question.

QUESTION: The U.S. proposals, the proposals were not reflected at the Declaration of Santiago. They were not in the document -- on Cuba, issues like Cuba, terrorists and so on. And my second question is, don't you think that the OAS has lost its leaderships in Latin America? Thank you.

MR. STRUBLE: Okay. In the first instance, U.S. proposals were reflected in the OAS General Assembly Declaration. It was a declaration that was focusing on the issue of governance. We had not sought to include language in there on Cuba. As I mentioned before, the Secretary laid out in his speech to the plenary that he believes this is an important issue, that the democratic values enshrined in the Democratic Charter are a right of the Cuban people as well as the other peoples of the Americas, and that the OAS must work on that. But we are enormously pleased with the final declaration of the OAS Assembly in Santiago, and it would not be accurate to say that U.S. proposals are not reflected in it.

And on the question of OAS leadership, you know, my colleague, Ambassador Noriega often describes the OAS as multilateralism that works. And I agree with that, as well. I mean here's a body that has a strong tradition of taking decisions by consensus. And yet even with the limitation that consensual politics can impose on a multilateral organization, it has really wrestled with the toughest issues of this hemisphere, such as Haiti and the need for there to be free, fair, democratic elections there, and in Venezuela.

Now, we all recognize that democratic dynamics are primarily the responsibility of the peoples in the country involved, but the OAS role in facilitation in both of those areas has been absolutely essential and key, and it's been productive. We're not at the end state we want yet, but I think that the OAS has been critical in that, and so we would very much defend their effectiveness and relevance.

QUESTION: Jorge Rosales from La Nacion in Argentina. I want to know if Mr. Powell and President Kirchner have talked about the possibility of Argentina send troops of peacekeeping to Iraq? And if he did, what was the response of Argentina?

MR. STRUBLE: The Secretary noted in his press conference yesterday that there had been a brief discussion of this, that Foreign Minister Bielsa and President Kirchner said that they're looking at the possible modalities for providing gendarmes to Iraq. We have the very highest opinion of Argentina's gendarmes and we have often emphasized that Argentina's participation in international peacekeeping is a kind of signature element of its contribution to the international community, and we very much welcome that. So there was not an in-depth discussion of that, but President Kirchner did say that Argentina is taking a look at this issue.

QUESTION: Maria Elena Matheus, El Universal, Venezuela. Secretary Powell considered in Argentina that the establishment of the FTA by 2005 was an ambitious directive. Is this a concession to the pressure from the Venezuelan Government siding with the Cuban Government regarding this process?

MR. STRUBLE: No, not at all. I mean Venezuela has expressed skepticism about the FTA, and I think we're very clear that our objective is to go forward with the hemisphere as a whole, but if there are countries that aren't comfortable with this or it doesn't fit in with their economic development policy and they want to exclude themselves from it, then they're free to do so.

In fact, the Secretary's remarks were a reaffirmation that the United States considers the January 2005 goal the target that we should all be meeting. And you are probably aware that USTR Ambassador Zoellick, our Senior Trade Representative, is hosting a meeting in a few days with a number of ministers from this hemisphere to talk about how we can use the FTA ministerial in November of this year to accelerate work toward that target.

QUESTION: Jose Lopez, Notimex. I have a question on Cuba. The Cuban Interests Section in Washington is charging that the U.S. is trying to provoke a crisis in the island by violating the terms of the bilateral migration agreement. They're saying that out of the 20,000 travel documents supposed to be granted every fiscal year, you've only given, like, 700. Can you give us some figures and can you respond to this charge that you're trying to provide this crisis?

And secondly, what is the status of general -- former -- General -- attaché to the Venezuelan Embassy, General Enrique Medina Gomez? There are some reports that he's thinks, like, they probably revoke his visa or something under a -- the anti-terrorism statute.

MR. STRUBLE: On the first issue, the United States remains fully committed to implementation of the migration accords with Cuba. We held discussions with the Cubans, as a matter of fact, on Friday of last week.

There have been difficulties since September 11th in performing the background clearances that we are obliged to perform before we issue visas to people who are from countries that are state sponsors of terrorism. The FBI has been under tremendous strain as it's, you know, conducting wide-ranging investigations and redeployed its resources. And it's also undertaken a lot of new commitments in terms of doing name checks before visas are issued. So that had caused a slowdown in our issuance rate.

I certainly know that we've issued far more than 700 travel documents so far this year, and I regret that I don't have the exact figure for you but I would ask, Brent, that we try to get that figure for you as a follow-up.

But what we told the Cubans at our talks last week is that we are taking some extraordinary measures to increase the speed of processing. And the commitment for 20,000 travel documents a year, I should note, falls into several categories. This encompasses immigrant visa issuance as well as the special program that we have with Cuba. And moreover, there are some years that we go over it. We've gone as high as, I think, 28,000 a year, and there are some years that we've been a little bit under it, but we think we're going to get very close to 20,000 this year, and we are absolutely committed to the accords.

No, I'm sorry. And your second question was?

QUESTION: What about the status of General --

MR. STRUBLE: You know, I'm at a disadvantage because U.S. immigration law prevents me from discussing specific visa cases, so I'm afraid I can't add anything to what's out there in the case of General Medina's visa.

QUESTION: Sergio Gomez, from Tiempo of Colombia. The Washington Post wrote a story yesterday about how the U.S. is planning to scale back its military presence overseas, especially shifting big military bases to small military bases that will respond to more -- to this century's type of threats of terrorism, et cetera. And it talked about how that would be, more or less, deployed on what they call an "Arc of Instability" that runs from the Andean ridge to Southeast Asia. I was wondering if there was any plan to deploy one type of small military base in this hemisphere --I mean if that's been talked about?

MR. STRUBLE: No. It's a very easy answer.

MR. DENIG: Let's take the lady in the back there, please.

QUESTION: Thank you. Maria Luisa Rossel, Radio Programas de Peru. Thank you. Regarding, also, terrorism in the hemisphere, what are your concerns regarding the increasing of the Shining Path activities in Peru, particularly in the Ayacucho area? As you know, there were kidnapped 71 persons and they were -- they are now free. Thank you.

MR. STRUBLE: I have to say that we're still gathering information on what happened with the Camisea workers who were kidnapped. We are concerned about growth in Shining Path activities in Peru. We fully share the concern of the Government of Peru on that. And we've been in discussions with them about what we can do in terms of our programs to help develop capacity on the part of the Peruvians.

The Shining Path guerillas are increasingly, along the model of Colombia, also becoming involved in narcotics trafficking, in "taxing" the production of coca leaf as a way of sustaining their activities, and in providing protection for coca fields. And that's naturally a matter of concern, so I think that you should anticipate that we'll continue to work closely with the Government of Peru to help them to develop their ability to eradicate coca; to mount alternative development projects in areas where there is now resistance to those; and to increase their intelligence capabilities.

QUESTION: Jesus Esquivel from Proceso magazine of Mexico. I have question and a follow-up regarding your answer. What is the reaction of the United States of the recent decision of the Mexican Supreme Court to extradite to Spain a Argentinean who is charged of crimes of genocide? What is the reaction of the United States on that?

MR. STRUBLE: Well, are you asking us in the context of our position on the International Criminal Court, or --

QUESTION: It depends on your --

MR. STRUBLE: Let me make clear that we have always been very respectful of the right of other countries to join the International Criminal Court, and we're not mounting a campaign against the International Criminal Court. There are a number of international tribunals that have only been effective because of the very extensive assistance that's been provided by the United States; Rwanda, for example, where we provided a lot of information and assistance with prosecutors. In a number of other instances we have assisted with the apprehension of them, so the United States is fully supportive of these efforts. We've just taken a principled position that the United States, which has effective juridical institutions, and which has the determination to bring to justice its citizens who violate the law, that we choose not to subject our citizens to the jurisdiction of the ICC. And we feel that that's consistent with the treaty and we have a right to do that.

QUESTION: Yeah, but the decision, it was on the terms the Mexican Supreme Court. You have any reaction to that?

MR. STRUBLE: No. I'm not familiar with the details about it so I think I'd have to stay with just telling you what our position is on these international tribunals.

QUESTION: This is not about an individual, but in the U.S. legislation, is there a provision where a visa could be revoked based on links to terrorist organizations? And if it is the case with any Venezuelan -- if that person had links to the opposition, does that mean that the opposition is a terrorist organization?

MR. STRUBLE: The answer to your first question is the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act, yes, of course, does contain provisions that mandate the denial of visas to people who are linked to terrorist organizations. Now, it has a lot of other provisions as well, including provisions for denying visas to people who engage, through planning or otherwise, in violent actions to overthrow an elected government.

And in response to your second question, no, the Venezuelan opposition is not a terrorist opposition. It is, for the most part, a democratic opposition that is trying to use the provisions of Venezuelan law and the Venezuelan constitution to pursue its ends.

QUESTION: Yes, Ana again. I was wondering, besides the subjects you already told us that were discussed: like the debt, the IMF dealings and the supreme court and the participation in Iraq, were there other subjects like, for example, the situation in the armed forces in Argentina -- there have been a lot of changes, or the role of Argentina in the hemispheric affairs like, for example, Colombia, Venezuela? What other subjects?

MR. STRUBLE: In the meeting with President Kirchner, he talked a little bit about the actions that he has taken since assuming office, and he mentioned the changes in the armed forces. I can't say that there was a discussion of these per se.

And on hemispheric affairs, in the conversations with Foreign Minister Bielsa I had a chance on the plane with him on the ride over from Santiago to have a conversation about some hemispheric affairs and exchange views. And in the meeting with the president, the focus was more on what his plans are to make Argentina, as he put it, "a predictable country" that is, in that sense, a more reliable partner for all of its friends in this hemisphere.

QUESTION: Yes, again. In terms of security and fight against terrorism, how do you consider the cooperation of the Venezuelan Government to the United States?

MR. STRUBLE: Well, I'd note, in the first instance, that every government in this hemisphere has undertaken obligations under UN Resolution 1373 to fight terrorism, and then we also have the OAS instrument, Convention Against Terrorism. So all of us have obligations to move against money laundering and to cooperate with one another to deal with this.

We've had a number of conversations with the Government of Venezuela about the issue of terrorism, but from a regional basis. Our concern is not exclusive to Venezuela. It applies to all of Colombia's neighbors about effective cooperation with the Government of Colombia against the three organizations that we've designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations -- the FARC, the ELN and the AUC, paramilitaries -- as well as Mideast terrorism. And we have received some cooperation from the Government of Venezuela on the issue of Mideast terrorism. We'd like to deepen that, to make it more extensive, and we've signaled that to the Government of Venezuela as an area of interest in our bilateral dialogue with them.

And the Secretary had an opportunity to hear from Foreign Minister Barco about Colombia's deeper engagement with Venezuela on the question of the cross-border activities of Colombian Foreign Terrorist Organizations, and we certainly hope that there will be an enriched level of cooperation between Colombia and Venezuela on that matter.

QUESTION: Sandra Vergara with RCN-TV from Colombia. There is a perception in Colombia about how involved the U.S. Government has been in the Colombian Government decision to retire high army officials apparently involved with the paramilitaries. Has U.S. Government talked about it with the Colombian Government? Is the U.S. Government going to push more decision like this in Colombia?

MR. STRUBLE: Yeah, it's a matter of U.S. policy and United States law to seek a complete divorce of ties between the Colombian military and the paramilitaries. And, as you're probably aware, under U.S. law, we provide a report to the U.S. Congress twice a year that provides our assessments on actions that the Colombian Government is taking to separate individuals in its armed institution from any ties with the paramilitaries, so, yes, it's a very active part of our dialogue, and we consistently encourage the Government of Colombia to promptly take actions against any military officers who have ties with the paramilitaries. I'll take the follow up, and then we'll end it.

QUESTION: Sergio Gomez from Tiempo. In the case of the general that we're talking about, last -- forcing the resignation last week, was there any information provided from the United States against that general that prompted the Colombians to take that step?

MR. STRUBLE: Yeah, I think what I would do is to refer you to the Government of Colombia, as to the reasons why it's dismissed any official from its armed forces. It's really not up to me to say that it was done for reason X or Y. So in that question, I'd just have to redirect you.

MR. DENIG: All right. Thanks very much.