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| Senior
Defense Official, briefing, November 25, 1998 Wednesday, November 25, 1998 Subject: Secretary of Defense Trip to Colombia Presenter: Senior Defense Official -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday,
November 25, 1998 I think the senior defense official will have a brief overview of the trip and then he'll be glad to answer some of your questions. Briefer: Thanks, Mike. Let me make a couple of brief comments on what we're trying to achieve at DMA-III. I'll then briefly take you through some of the major highlights of the Secretary's schedule and then I'll take your questions. On November 29th, Secretary Cohen will travel to Cartagena, Colombia to participate in the third Defense Ministerial of the Americas. As you may recall, in 1995, Secretary Perry hosted the first DMA, and in 1996 we participated in the second DMA at Bariloche in Argentina. The DMA has matured into a regionally driven event which fosters dialogue among regional defense and security leaders at a ministerial level. Moreover, it is an important confidence building mechanism that contributes to peace and prosperity in the hemisphere. We hope that Secretary Cohen's participation in DMA-III will demonstrate the importance that the U.S. places upon building collegial post- Cold War security relationships with its 33 democratic neighbors in the hemisphere. The Ministerial provides a valuable opportunity for the Department of Defense to expand relationships with the smaller nations while reinforcing our commitments to the larger ones. The specific U.S. objectives for DMA-III are to demonstrate our commitment to regional cooperation on defense and security matters, and to the continuation of the DMA process; to strengthen and consolidate the leadership of defense and security policy in the hands of democratically elected officials; to deepen the dialogue among the civilian and military leaders on defense and security issues common to the hemisphere; and lastly, to promote transparency, confidence, and security building mechanisms and increase defense cooperation in areas such as peacekeeping, humanitarian disaster relief, and combatting terrorism, and advocate appropriate defense support for law enforcement and counternarcotics and other national security topics. Let me quickly run down the agenda and then I'll take your questions. We will be leaving Sunday afternoon. We'll get into Colombia Sunday evening. The Secretary has no appointments Sunday night. On Monday morning, November 30th, the Secretary currently is scheduled to have breakfast with President Pastrana. For the moment, that is tentatively scheduled as a one-on-one breakfast. He then has a meeting with the Central American Defense Ministers where we expect there will be a good exchange about the humanitarian relief operations involving Hurricane Mitch. The Secretary will then spend the rest of the day participating in what I would call the more ceremonial aspects of the inauguration of the DMA. He will make a brief, about seven minute, opening comment at a plenary session in the afternoon. On Tuesday he has a very full schedule. In the morning he will attend the seminar on transnational threats. He will give a talk on military support to civilian authorities. He will then also have a bilateral meeting with the Colombian Defense Minister during the day. He will have a later meeting with the Ministers from Peru, Ecuador, and the other guarantor nations to discuss the peace process there. The Secretary will then attend some of the working sessions throughout the day. Then in the morning of December 2nd he will have bilateral meetings with the Ministers from Argentina and Chile and he will also meet with the Brazilian representative. That's a rough outline of the trip. Let me take your questions. Q:Again in this regional Defense Ministerial, Mexico is not participating in the level of (inaudible). Why do you feel, this is the third time that Mexico never sent a Secretary of Defense? Have you been talking with the other Ministers about it? Are you concerned why Mexico is... A:I am not concerned. It is a decision of the government of Mexico to make whether to participate and what level to participate. So I think questions about their participation should be directed to them. Q:What will be the main topics in the breakfast conversation between Secretary Cohen and President Pastrana on Monday? And what are the main concerns at this point from the United States perspective of the process that is currently going on in Colombia with the guerrilla groups? A:I'm always reluctant to guess what's going to happen on a one-on-one breakfast between principals, but I would expect there to be a discussion of counternarcotics cooperation and I would expect that President Pastrana will probably give the Secretary his views on the ongoing peace process in Colombia. Q:Any concerns about the peace process that is about to start in Colombia? A:The U.S. government supports the peace process and the efforts that President Pastrana is making to draw to a close a civil conflict which has lasted over 30 years down there. So we wish him well. Q:Is there any plan for the U.S. to increase aid for the military in Colombia beyond counternarcotics? A:We have no plan to do so. We are working in Colombia with the Colombian military in areas of common interest. We clearly have a common interest in counternarcotics and we will continue to cooperate in that area. Q:Are you interested now in, because of the change of government in Colombia in expanding counternarcotics... A:We'll look at that. We have Administration initiatives and then of course we also have congressional initiatives. We just saw a large counterdrug supplemental which was passed by the Congress. Some of that clearly is going to be earmarked for Colombia. So between congressional interests and the executive interests, I anticipate some increased level of support to the counternarcotics efforts in Colombia. Much of that, of course, will be focused on the Colombian National Police, not the Colombian military. Q:Regarding the Colombian military, am I correct that the increase in aid to the Colombian military has a human rights trigger? They have to demonstrate an improved human rights record? A:One of the things we are doing of course is making sure that the recipients of our assistance have been, that we are comfortable with the human rights track record of those folks. That's something we've been doing for the last couple of years. We also are working very closely, had a good meeting with the new Colombian Defense Minister a few weeks ago and we are going to move forward on a program to support human rights training and judicial reform within the Colombian military. Q:Will they receive the money that's earmarked for them now or is there some hurdle they have to get over? A:I think that there's clearly a process that must be followed. Q:What do they have to demonstrate? What do they have to do? A:The recipient units of any assistance, we have to be comfortable that they have a clean human rights background, track record. In cases where there are human rights problems, there has to be a credible judicial process underway to bring those folks to justice. Q:It must be done unit by unit and not the Army as a whole? A:It's done unit by unit. Q:I'm sorry to ask such basic questions. I want to make sure I understand. The final question I have is... A:It confuses us by the way. (Laughter) Q:Does it really? A:Yeah. Q:As far as whether the money is available or... A:No. Just how you tailor the policy. Clearly we want to focus on the military units that are being provided assistance, and we will vet those units. Q:And it hasn't been done? A:It has been done. It's being done. So when you look at assistance in the pipeline, you talked about steps that have to be taken, that's one of them. Q:My last question, there's been a series of massacres in Colombia attributed to right wing paramilitary groups. How do you associate one with the other? How do you get into the question of whether the military is responsible for things like that? A:First of all, of course the United States government deplores those kinds of massacres, which our best information is that many of these are being done by paramilitaries. To the extent that there's any involvement of the Colombian military with some of those paramilitaries, that is obviously an area of keen interest to us. If we find credible evidence that there are such associations, then obviously those units will be out of bounds for any equipment or training from us. Q:How do you investigate these things? A:It's not easy. We are reliant upon, and when I say we, the U.S. embassy, the country team, we are relying upon the NGOs. We also get very good cooperation from the Colombian military itself. In the Ministry of Defense, there's a human rights ombudsman who helps work with us on vetting units and helps track internal investigations of allegations of human rights violations. But as you know, Colombia's a very large country. There are military units and police units dispersed throughout it. Many of these activities that we're discussing take place in very rural, jungle areas, and it is not easy to try to figure out later what exactly happened. Q:Can you tell us how many units have been cleared in the Colombian military to receive U.S. military assistance? And which are they? A:A number have been cleared, and I will have to get back to you with that level of detail. But clearly we have gone through this process with a number of Colombian units. The area of interest focuses on the Colombian Army. In general the Colombian Navy and the Colombian Air Force tend to be free, or relatively free of human rights allegations, as is the Colombian National Police. So when you're scoping the problem, you're looking at working with the Colombian Army and understanding which of those units again, you feel comfortable working with and which you think have some progress to make. Q:When you say a number, are we talking about two, five, ten, twenty? A:No, what we're trying to do, we are clearly focusing our effort on southern Colombia where most of the drug trafficking activity takes place. My best recollection, and again we'll get back to you, I think there's about eight military brigades down there in the military zones. My best recollection right now is that two are cleared, a couple we're still looking at, and a couple have been placed out of bounds for the moment. Q:Is there any case in which particular units have been cleared by way of preference on individuals from those units to another? A:That is one method of clearance for Department of Defense training. Department of Defense funded training. Q:In the meeting with the Minister of Chile, do you think the Secretary will talk about the case of Pinochet? A:I'm not certain. It's certainly the position of the United States government that this is a matter for the government of Chile, the United Kingdom, and Spain to work out. Q:Do you have a ball park figure for how much military aid is going to Colombia about now? Each year? A:Let me get back to you on it. Again, you have a fairly steady budgeted, funded program. We add to that some drawdowns that have taken place over the last couple of years, and then you have to add to that congressional supplementals. So the number changes. We will pull something together and make that available for you. But it changes by year because of the drawdown add-ons and also the congressional supplemental which was just passed, was about $600 million. Not all of that will go to Colombia, in fact most probably won't, but some clearly is earmarked for Colombia. Q:And the basic amount of funding besides the supplemental and all the other drawdown is what? A:I can get back to you on that. But I would put it in the magnitude, if my memory serves, you're probably talking about a DoD program of maybe $30 or $40 million a year -- most of it consumed by airlift and the operation of some of our radars there. Actual training for Colombian military units, I'd be surprised if it ends up costing more than a million or two a year, but I will get back to you on that. Q:Is the United States military providing Colombia intelligence to allow the Colombian military and government to conduct the demilitarization and the peace talks that are currently about to start in five municipalities in that country? I guess the question is, is the U.S. providing intelligence such as the transportation of AWACS planes in the region to allow the Colombians to know what's happening in those areas? A:We right now, and have for a number of years, been providing counterdrug intelligence to Colombian military and police units engaged in counternarcotics activity. We have been asked by some representatives of the Colombian government for intelligence on the peace process side, and that is currently being studied. Q:Besides it is a matter for that country and Spain and Great Britain, the ambassador of Chile to Washington has been worried that if Pinochet will be extradited to Spain, the military (unintelligible). Are you worried that something like that could happen in Chile if Pinochet is extradited in Spain? To see the military in Chile react against the democratic government. A:Of course we would hope they don't do that, but again, this is an issue for the three governments to work out. Q:The Colombian and U.S. governments have held talks about the possibility of creating a military unit to aid the police in counter trafficking activities. Has that unit been created, and will the U.S. fund that unit? A:I think the Colombian Army is still in the process of forming that unit. And I would expect that with a satisfactory human rights scrub that we would be able to work with them. Exactly what funding them means and equipping them means is something that will have to be seen. Q:Beyond Colombia, do you think the Ministerial will take up either A, a broader expansion of mil-to-mil ties, particularly between the United States and some of the larger countries; and two, what about any discussion of significant arms transfers? A:As to A, we already have established bilateral working groups with Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico. So for the larger countries, those processes have been underway for a couple of years. We are currently right now in discussions with the Colombians on whether or not a mechanism like that makes sense. We may see some further talk about that. Other than that, I'm not expecting anything else to come out of this. Q:What about on the arms transfers? A:Arms transfers? I don't think, we are not expecting it -- at least from our side going in, we're not expecting anything on that side either. Q:A little bit on Chile's decision to buy the fighter jets... A:The decision on the procurement has been slowed down. That is attributed to the downturn in the Southeast Asian economies which Chile is significantly dependent upon for its export earnings. We have been told that basically the procurement decision is on hold until we get a more favorable economic environment in Chile. Q:Will there be a discussion about where is going to be located the new multilateral center for antinarcotics after the negotiations with Panama collapsed? A:That may end up being a discussion topic for some. I'm not sure if it's going to be one that you'll see addressed by all. But clearly, with the onward progress towards the U.S. military leaving Panama, we are interested in right now finding alternative locations to run counternarcotics operations. So that is something that is certainly on our mind, and I think we will probably have a couple of discussions with someone about that. Q:Can you give us an idea which are those alternative locations for this? A:I think it's a little bit premature for a public discussion of that, but it's something we're very focused on. Q:Are you planning to raise the question of international terrorism? A:I think there will be some discussion of terrorism. There was, from what I understand, a very good OAS meeting in Argentina over the last couple of days. Clearly this is an area of great interest to us. I think in this forum and in others we will be looking to encourage the cooperation of democratic societies in sharing information that helps protect them from international terrorism. Press: Thank you. As of March 13, 2000, this document is also available at http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Nov1998/x11301998_x1125col.html |
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