Excerpt from State Department daily briefing, February 20, 2002

Excerpt from State Department daily briefing, February 20, 2002

Daily Press Briefing
Richard Boucher, Spokesman
Washington, DC
February 20, 2002

QUESTION: I have two questions. The first one is, the FARC kidnapped this morning on a plane some passengers (inaudible) that they kill at least five passengers, and one of them is a congressmen, a Colombian congressman. I wanted to know, what is your opinion about these new acts of terror by the FARC?

And my second question is, are you willing to clarify something -- (inaudible) said that the USA Government sent drugs to Colombia to try to (inaudible) or to (inaudible) some US and civilian citizens who has been kidnapped by the FARC or by the ELN?

MR. BOUCHER: I wouldn't jump to any particular conclusion about any hypothetical circumstances. Don't start speculating about everything that could happen if something happens. That's not what we're doing today in terms of announcing this policy. We're trying to say clearly that we will look at every case, we will figure out what the best, most appropriate reaction is, and we will make clear in advance and at the time the hostage takers won't get any benefit from taking Americans hostage.

As far as the airplane goes, we do have information from our Embassy in Bogotá. They tell us first of all that no American citizens were apparently passengers on that flight, but we also note Colombian authorities have said that the evidence points to the likely involvement of the FARC in this hijacking. I'm afraid there's little further needed to remind us that the FARC has been designated and why the FARC has been designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the United States.

We have noted many times in recent months that the FARC has failed to respond in good faith to President Pastrana's previous efforts, and we call on them once again to end their attacks on civilians; stop hijackings, kidnappings and murders; give up their involvement in the illegal drug trade; and commit themselves to a peace process. Regrettably they have not done so, despite President Pastrana's efforts.

As of March 12, 2002, this document was also available online at http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2002/8195.htm