Excerpts from State Department Daily Briefing, May 31, 2001

Excerpts from State Department Daily Briefing, May 31, 2001
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
Richard Boucher, Spokesman
Washington, DC
May 31, 2001

QUESTION: Do you have any reaction on the resignation -- I know it sounds pretty weird -- from the leader of the military forces, Carlos Castano, in Colombia? He announced he was resignating.

MR. BOUCHER: Resigning. But the vice president was appointed. You're talking about the leader of the military forces or the defense minister?

QUESTION: No, I'm talking about the leader of the paramilitary forces.

MR. BOUCHER: Oh.

QUESTION: He has said he is resignating from the AUC.

MR. BOUCHER: No, that's kind of news to me. I'll have to double-check on that and see if we have any particular information. As you know, we don't have any contact or relationship with those people so it's not likely we would know much more than we see in the press.

QUESTION: Okay. And then do you have about the new defense minister?

MR. BOUCHER: Fancy you should ask. Yes, I think it's worth saying because we do welcome President Pastrana's decision to appoint Vice President Bell to serve concurrently as Minister of Defense. I think it's a clear signal of the priority that the Colombian Government attaches to human rights. We would expect that Bell would work aggressively to end any collusion between the Colombian military and the paramilitary groups.

We do praise outgoing Defense Minister Luis Fernando Ramirez for improving professionalism, for improving accountability of Colombia's armed forces, and we would note that he and the forces have had recent success against the paramilitaries. A good step.

QUESTION: Also on Colombia, could you say how the US stands on the issue of certification that Congress required last year?

MR. BOUCHER: I would have to double-check that, where we are on the legal aspects.

As of June 1, 2001, this document was also available online at http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2001/index.cfm?docid=3188