Excerpt from State Department Daily Briefing, July 16, 2003

Excerpt from State Department Daily Briefing, July 16, 2003

QUESTION: On Colombia, are you at all concerned that the effort to withhold military aid from Colombia is in any way undermining the government of President Uribe, who, after all, has shown himself to be a strong ally of the United States?

MR. BOUCHER: I think, first of all, you have to remember that the United States has been a very strong supporter of President Uribe and of Plan Colombia and the steps that he has taken to actually reduce coca production in these -- in the last year.

The overwhelming portions of our assistance to Plan Colombia and to President Uribe's program is in the form of counternarcotics aid, assistance that is not covered by the so-called Article 98, the restrictions that come from not having an Article 98 agreement.

So when we discussed that, I think I said, actually the portion that's caught for this year is about $5 million. Now, this thing comes up again with a larger chunk of money of military assistance around about October 1st, but the United States and Colombia have been in discussions already of how to resolve these issues in a way that would satisfy the American Servicemembers' Protection Act. And so I think we need to continue those discussions and arrive at a conclusion that permits us to continue to support Colombia in its effort against drugs and its effort to build a stronger society.

QUESTION: On Colombia. Have you an update on Article 98s? Have any other countries signed or any countries that were going to lose money signed?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't have a list with me right now. I would have to see if there's -- is there still one on the web? I will have to check and see where you can get an updated list. If we have to, we'll find one for you.

As of July 21, 2003, this document was also available online at http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2003/22480.htm