Dr. Rice Previews President's Trip to Mexico
The James S. Brady Briefing Room
12:53 P.M. EST
DR. RICE: Happy New Year. On Monday, the President and the First
Lady will travel to Monterrey, Mexico for the Special Summit of the
Americas. There, the President will meet with the other democratically
elected leaders from the region to build on the progress we've made in
strengthening democracy and promoting greater prosperity in the
hemisphere.
The leaders will discuss their commitment and support to economic
growth, especially as it pertains to the private sector and small
businesses; ways to reduce the level of poverty in the hemisphere; how
to improve the lives of citizens, specifically focusing on education;
and also, how to address critical health issues, such as the pandemic
of AIDS.
In a hemisphere where only one country, Cuba, remains uncommitted
to the principles of democracy, President Bush will have an opportunity
to remind his fellow leaders of the benefit of free and open markets
and open societies, and the importance of transparent elections. He
will also emphasize the need for countries to fight corruption and to
consider concrete actions against those corrupt individuals who seek
safe haven in their countries. Efforts to fight corruption will help
strengthen democracy in the hemisphere.
The President will begin the official work of the summit by a
meeting with President Vicente Fox of Mexico. Among other topics, I
expect that they will discuss immigration, initiatives to make our
borders more secure, and the economic relationship between Mexico and
the United States.
Following the meeting with President Fox, the President will meet
President Lagos of Chile, and then attend the inauguration ceremony of
the Special Summit. At the inauguration ceremony, the President will
deliver remarks addressing the strategic areas that I've outlined
above. The inauguration ceremony will be followed by a plenary
session. And later in the day, the President will meet with President
Lula of Brazil. That evening, the President and Mrs. Fox will attend a
dinner hosted by President and Mrs. Fox.
Tuesday morning, the President will have a breakfast meeting with
the Prime Minister of Canada, Prime Minister Martin. The President
looks forward to his first meeting with the Prime Minister and to
discussing a wide range of issues important to both our countries. The
President will attend the second plenary session on Tuesday morning,
and will later meet with President Kirchner of Argentina.
The President will conclude his work in Monterrey with a final
plenary session and a meeting with President Mesa of Bolivia. The
President and Mrs. Bush will then depart Monterrey for Washington,
D.C.
Now I'm happy to take your questions.
Q The meeting with the President of Mexico, could you describe
how you -- the state of relations between the President and President
Fox now, after the strains over Iraq and tensions over immigration? Do
you think that this is a meeting to repair relations?
DR. RICE: Oh, Terry, I think we're well past that. They've had a
couple of very good conversations, including one just the other day.
Obviously, we went through a difficult time about Iraq, but the
relationship with Mexico is one of our most important, one of our
closest. We are cooperating daily on border matters, on fighting
narcotics, on fighting to make the borders more secure. We've just had
an extraordinary period of cooperation in this period of heightened
threat with Mexican officials. I think Tom Ridge meets very often with
his Mexican counterpart.
And, of course, they will have an opportunity to talk about the
President's immigration proposals for a temporary worker program, which
I think fulfills many of the principles that they first enunciated when
they first met here in Washington a couple of years ago. The President
said then -- in fact, they had talked when they were both governors
about the importance of recognizing the economic contribution of these
people. The President believes that it is a proposal that makes
economic sense for the United States and that is also humane.
So we have a big agenda with Mexico. Of course, NAFTA has been an
organizing principle for not just the relationship with Mexico, but
also a trilateral relationship with Canada and Mexico. And so we have
a lot of work to do. The relations are good, and I expect the meeting
to be as fulsome as their meetings have been in the past.
Q What can you tell us about the reception that the Mexicans
have given to the immigration proposal? We know what you're saying
about it. It was not clear to the extent to which they thought it was
a workable solution and would meet their concerns, aside from the
humanitarian aspect, which seems to be fairly apparent.
DR. RICE: What the President is doing with this proposal --and we
all have to remember that there is -- most of this has to be worked out
with the Congress. This is not something that the executive branch
does by fiat. And the Congress will have views. There are lots of
proposals on the Hill that people will be working with, and so we also
have to work with Congress. But we do have to work with the Mexican
government, as well, to make something like this work.
But the -- it is a very sound and feasible and reasonable proposal
that finally addresses what has been a festering problem in the United
States for a very long time. And the President comes to this, I think,
with the understanding of a border governor, as governor of Texas, of
how corrosive this kind of problem can be. He comes to it with an
understanding that the American economy, in effect, has been helped by
these people, and that if you can match willing workers with willing
employers, that you are both doing a good thing for the employee, but
also for the employer, because these are jobs that Americans have not
been willing to take.
And, finally, with the Mexicans, the broader discussion always has
to be about why people are risking life and limb in the way that they
are to come to the United States. And that's why the progress made in
something like NAFTA is so important, because, ultimately, these people
who are clearly ambitious and want to feed their families ought to be
able to feed their families in Mexico as that economy improves. And so
the growth of the Mexican economy, the ability for Mexico to keep its
own workers home, the ability for people to circulate in the meantime
between the Mexican and American economies -- these are all things that
I think they share in common. And so we've gotten good response from
the Mexicans, and obviously, there's a lot to work on to make it work.
Q Argentina still hasn't exactly taken the advice of the IMF,
in terms of restructuring its debt. Is the administration satisfied
with the pace of reforms in Argentina and its efforts to restructure
debt?
DR. RICE: Well, we are in constant discussion with Argentina about
the need to be very careful to meet the terms that it had signed on
with the IMF for and that they're now working on this second letter of
agreement. I believe that there's a good chance they will get there,
because everybody wants to see the Argentine economy recover; everybody
wants to see Argentina deal with the very difficult debt overhang that
it has. But there have to be some difficult decisions and some
difficult steps taken by Argentina. And the President will say that
again when he meets with President Kirchner.
But there are ongoing negotiations between the IMF and the World
Bank -- I'm sorry, the IMF and Argentina, and we are monitoring them.
But I don't want to comment specifically about them, they are between
Argentina and the IMF. What we're doing is encouraging Argentina to
take the difficult decisions that it needs to take.
Q Dr. Rice, the Canadian government was unhappy when the list
of countries that were eligible for the prime contracts in Iraq came
out, and then the former Prime Minister, Mr. Chretien, said that when
he spoke to the President, he was told not to worry, leading to the
impression that this somehow would be changed. Do you see any progress
or change on that front when the President meets with the new Prime
Minister?
DR. RICE: There are several aspects of the contracting that is
going to -- there will be about $5 million let -- $5 billion let in
contracts very soon. And that will go with the list that is there.
But, of course, subcontracts, which will undoubtedly make up a good
part of that, are open to everyone.
Moreover, not everything is going to be let at once, and as further
contracts are let, as further funds are released over the next several
months, then we can review in some detail the circumstances and the
changed circumstances for different countries. And I think that we
will talk to the Canadians about this. I think there's some
understanding of where we're going.
Q There is criticism that the President's plan for temporary
immigration aids employers more than workers, and that it's merely a
means of deporting millions of foreign workers after three years. How
do you think the Congress will deal with this plan?
DR. RICE: Well, first of all, remember that this is expected to be
a status that is renewable; as long as you have a job, it would be
renewable. We would fully expect that eventually people will want to
go home. People tend to want to do that. The President has talked
about letting people be able to keep some of their own money so that
that can be a reality.
And I can't think of anything better for a worker who has worked
under these circumstances, kind of in the shadows in the United States,
to finally have a way to come out of the shadows, to have certain
protections that are not there now because they're having to live in
the shadows, to have recognized that they are an important part of a
strong American economy, and to get that kind of status.
Now, the important thing about this is that it strikes an important
balance, because there are some who talk about amnesty -- the
President simply believes that an automatic path to citizenship out of
illegal behavior is not appropriate, but to recognize these people's
status, to give them a way to come out of the shadows, to give them a
way to play a role in the American economy, and most importantly then,
making a living for themselves, and the dignity -- of themselves and
their families -- and then the dignity that goes with that, I think
it's a great opportunity for the workers and, of course, it benefits
the American economy, as well.
Q Dr. Rice, is one part of your agenda with President Fox
talking about dealing with or preventing a rush of illegal immigration
in anticipation of this opportunity? And, also, do you mind
elaborating on what the President will ask other leaders to do, as far
as fighting corruption?
DR. RICE: On fighting corruption -- which, by the way, I think
it's the World Bank that has called corruption a tax on economic
growth, and therefore, a tax on the poor. I mean, the fact is when you
have the kind of situation in which things are being skimmed off, you
really are taxing economic growth. And so good governance has been a
part of the President's agenda for development and growth, and he will
talk to people about that.
It really means having a strong ethic of that at home for all of
these countries, having laws and means of enforcement that are
important, shining a light on corruption where it takes place,
cooperating when there is information to be had about corruption,
making clear that it is simply not acceptable to be corrupt and to be
in leadership in business or in government.
And they've had these discussions before, and what this summit will
do is to move that agenda forward and to continue to talk about these
issues. But I think that people understand that good governance is at
the core of economic development and growth. And, of course, when the
President put up the Millennium Challenge Account as a different way of
thinking about development assistance, along with, over the next three
years, a 50 percent increase in American development assistance, it was
to use development assistance to reward good governance, not just as a
reward, but as a recognition that unless you have good governance, you
will not grow.
Q On Argentina, there have been some tensions between Argentina
and the United States on several fronts, not only Cuba, recently, but
also immunity for American soldiers, and economics. How would you
characterize today the relationship between the two countries? And
what do you expect of the meeting between Bush and Kirchner?
DR. RICE: I think that we have had a really very good relationship
with Argentina, particularly recognizing that Argentina has been
through some extremely difficult economic times in the last couple of
years, and that the United States has been very supportive of trying to
help Argentina emerge from those difficulties.
Of course, Argentina would benefit greatly in terms of its growth
when we make movement forward on a free trade agreement for the
Americas. And so it's not the easiest thing to do, but it is something
that I think that we should discuss and keep moving forward on.
In any relationship there are policy differences. But it does not
get in the way of the fact that Argentina is an important country in
Latin America; it's a country that emerged from a very dark past of
authoritarianism and oppression, to emerge as a democracy. And that's
a great story that the President celebrates with Argentina's leadership
whenever he sees them. We had a very good meeting with President
Kirchner here. I expect that we will have a very good meeting with him
there.
And let me just say a word more broadly about the hemisphere. When
you look back to the late 1970s or the early to mid-1980s, and you
think of the number of juntas that were in power, the number of civil
wars that were going on, economies that were collapsing completely, all
over the place, and you look now at the fact that with the exception of
Cuba, you have democracies in place in all of these places, and the
road, at least, the road ahead for better economic growth and good
governance, it's quite a remarkable story. And that's been a
partnership between the United States and Latin America.
I would note that on Cuba, it is our hope that the fact that at the
Organization of American States there's one empty chair, and that's
because Cuba cannot fill it because of its lack of democracy, and
because at the Summit of America, Cuba cannot go because it cannot hope
to fulfill the democracy clause, that that is recognized and talked
about. Because the people of Cuba need to know that they've not been
forgotten by their hemispheric brethren.
Q Do you anticipate a new set of agreements on corruption
emerging from the summit? And can you -- well, go ahead.
DR. RICE: I was just going to say, this is something that I think
will be worked over time. No, I don't expect that you're going to have
-- but what you do is you establish the agenda, and then over a period
of time come to more concrete ways to express that.
But this is an agenda, the Summit of Americas agenda, that has been
moving very effectively on a number of fronts and this is really a new
element -- they've talked about it before -- but an element on which
they'll place more emphasis. And I think over time, you'll see that
ways of actually cooperating to combat corruption will begin to
emerge.
Q And then on immigration and Mexico, do you anticipate that
Mexico will take steps, itself, on its side of the border to improve
border security and corruption while the U.S. is moving -- is there
an anticipated level of change? Can you describe that?
DR. RICE: Yes. We will really need to have the Mexican government
continue and increase its efforts in this area. And, you know, the
Mexican government doesn't like to see people trying to cross the
border illegally, particularly because, just in even humanitarian
terms, the harshness of what faces these people when they try to walk
across the Rio Grande, so to speak, is really, really awful. And it
has been a problem that Mexico has identified.
We have increasing border cooperation. One of the advantages of
some of the work that we've done really coming out of the September
11th period, post-September 11th period, is it has accelerated some of
the ideas that were there for smart borders and for better technology
on the borders which will help with some of the larger-scale problems,
like some of the smuggling that goes on. It will by no means solve the
problem on what is a huge border, but some of those efforts will even
help. And, yes, we will, I think, need to have even better efforts on
borders.
Q Dr. Rice, you have stressed that democracy is one of the main
objectives of this meeting, of the summit. Venezuela is going through
a very serious problem on their democracy, whether the referendums will
take place or not. Venezuela is a very important supplier of oil to
the United States. I see among the five bilateral meetings that are
scheduled -- with Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Argentina and Bolivia; I don't
see Venezuela.
What I want to ask you is, what are the present relations between
Washington and Caracas? And, number two, what do you think of the role
President Chavez is playing in Latin America, especially in South
America?
DR. RICE: Well, President Chavez has an opportunity to demonstrate
that he believes in democratic processes by allowing this recall to go
through unhindered, unfettered, and then living up to the terms of it.
And that's what people are asking him to do.
Venezuela -- you're right -- is going through a very tough period
in terms of its own democratic development. But there are other
countries that have gone through those difficult periods and emerged.
I would just point to Peru a few years ago and what the Organization of
American States was able to do in rallying around democratic forces in
Peru to make sure that Peru did not go off the path of democracy. And
now you have, of course, in President Toledo, a democratic-elected,
hardworking President of Peru that is trying to do all the things for
his people that any democratically-elected government would try to do.
And so, yes, Venezuela is going through a difficult period of
time. We're working very closely with the Organization of American
States; we're working very closely with the non-governmental
organizations, like the Carter Center, that are there trying to ensure
that this process goes off without interference. And the best thing
that President Chavez could do at this point is to demonstrate that he
believes in a democratic future for Venezuela by carrying out the
wishes of his people in this regard.
Q I have a follow-up question. Mr. Chavez has a very special
relationship with Fidel Castro.
DR. RICE: Yes.
Q Some people think of it as an --
DR. RICE: Yes.
Q -- and he is playing roles in various countries --
DR. RICE: And not all -- there are roles that Venezuela has played
that have not been very helpful. And we have talked to them about it.
I think the Colombians, in particular, have had some concerns about
activities that Venezuela may have been involved in. So, of course,
those are the kinds of things that need to be raised with the
Venezuelans, need to be raised by the neighbors with the Venezuelans,
and I think will be.
And it is beyond me to understand why anybody who believes in
democracy or wants people to believe that they believe in democracy
would want to have anything, in that regard, to do with Fidel Castro,
because that's the one truly undemocratic regime in the region.
Q Dr. Rice, a senior Syrian military intelligence official says
that Iraq moved weapons of mass destruction, chemical and biological,
into Syria in February and March of last year, before the war started.
He has documentation and cites three sites within the country, says he
has maps and proof that it's there. Does the U.S. know that to be
true? Does the U.S. believe that to be true?
DR. RICE: We're going to follow every lead on what may have
happened here. I don't think we are at the point that we can make a
judgment on this issue. There hasn't been any hard evidence that such
a thing happened. But obviously we're going to follow up every lead,
and it would be a serious problem if that, in fact, did happen.
Q Can you press Syria to let you look at the sites?
DR. RICE: We have a number of issues that we'd like to talk to --
that we talk to the Syrians about, including the borders with Iraq and
what may have happened in the past there and what may be continuing to
happen there; Syrian support for terrorism in Damascus, particularly
support for Hezbollah and Hamas, and their relationship with Lebanon in
that regard.
And, clearly, any indication that something like that happened
would be a very serious matter. But I want to be very clear, we don't,
at this point, have any indications that I would consider credible and
firm that that has taken place, but we will tie down every lead.
Q But you wouldn't dismiss it, either?
DR. RICE: I can't dismiss anything that we haven't had an
opportunity to fully assess.
Q A couple of weeks after the President took office, when he
went to Mexico and met with President Fox, he said that good foreign
policy begins with good relations with your neighbors. Three years
later, a lot of these leaders have been disappointed with the pace of
the FTAA talks, a lot of other issues, there were strains over Iraq
that have been brought up. Does the President have a sense that this
is part of the price that had to be paid for the post-9/11 adjustment?
Will he express that in any way to these leaders?
DR. RICE: I think that there's a perception or a line of argument
out there that somehow after 9/11 the United States lost interest in
anything that didn't relate to terrorism and 9/11. It's just not
true. If you look at the President's agenda, you look at the fact that
he was able to get trade promotion authority so that for the first time
in five years the President of the United States actually had the
ability to make trade agreements with a trade partner without -- in a
way that was going to make it possible, so that you didn't have
Congress trying to vote on every aspect of a trade agreement.
If you look at the fact that we have signed a trade agreement with
Chile, we've finished negotiating a trade agreement with the Central
Americans; if you look at the fact that the Andean initiative has been
renewed and continues -- the Andean Preferences Initiative; if you look
at the fact that on -- that the Millennium Challenge Account, which is
a -- really, there's so much talk was always made about how important
development assistance was, but it was this President who made the
commitment to increase American development assistance by 50 percent in
exchange for good governance, that that Millennium Challenge Account is
likely to benefit some of the countries of this region.
If you look at the fact that the President's AIDS initiative
includes countries -- a couple of countries from the Caribbean, which
are suffering just as the Africans are doing. If you look at the fact
that our NAFTA relationship with Mexico and with Canada has both
broadened and deepened, and that, in fact, the -- some of the border
things that we did out of 9/11 have given us better means of
cooperation and coordination -- yes, on terrorism, but also on drug
traffickings, also on problems of immigration. If you look at the fact
that we have supported a new strategy in Columbia, a much tougher
strategy toward the FARC that is making inroads there.
This President has had a broad, deep, and intensive engagement with
Latin America, and a lot has gotten done. One of the best things that
will happen to this region is the recovery of the American economy.
Because, as the American economy recovers, so, too, will the economies
of Latin America.
So the President came in saying that he was going to put an
emphasis on the neighborhood. He has come with an agenda that has done
exactly that. And the Summit of the Americas will be an opportunity to
celebrate that.
Q Can I ask you a follow up on Cuba? Secretary Powell
yesterday portrayed Cuba as a real threat to the hemisphere. What is
the government of the United States afraid of the government of Fidel
Castro right now? And second question, you are talking why is not the
free trade of the Americas in the agenda for this summit?
DR. RICE: First of all, there is plenty of talk going on about the
free trade agreement of the Americas. You know there was just recently
a ministerial in Miami and that relationship continues on on another
course.
This special summit was called to do some specific things and
they're mostly around issues of governance and issues having to do with
economic development, with good governance, with education. There's a
pretty full agenda for a day-and-a-half-plus. But to be very clear,
there continues to be work on the free trade area of the Americas.
It's not easy. There are a lot of interests to be considered when you
talk about an area that's big and you talk about variations between
extremely small countries of the CARICOM versus very large countries of
the southern cone. So there's a lot of work to be done. But it is an
agenda that is still very active. Bob Zoellick is in constant
discussion with his colleagues.
As to Cuba, there are really two kinds of problems with Cuba. One
is that Cuba does continue with the very limited resources that it
has. Because if you look at the level of life for the Cuban citizen,
you have to wonder what in the world Cuba is doing trying to stir up
difficulty in other parts of the region that shouldn't be a Cuban
interest, frankly. Cuba ought to be focused on its own people. But
Cuba can't focus on its own people because it is an oppressive,
nondemocratic state that is an anachronism in the Western Hemisphere.
It belongs to another era. And what the President has done is to shine
a spotlight on that.
You know, more than a year ago, the President had what he called
the New Cuba Initiative, and he went out and he said, all right, we can
even begin to change the nature of the relationship with Fidel Castro
there, if Fidel Castro is prepared to allow his people some democratic
exercise, for instance, in the parliamentary elections.
And how did Castro respond to that? He responded with an even
greater crackdown against dissidents, a crackdown that has earned him
the criticism of Europe and of Latin America and countries worldwide
for the kind of crackdown he's been -- Cuba is an anachronism, and it's
a sad thing that the proud people of Cuba are the only ones who have,
at this point, no hope for a democratic future. But the President
appointed, a couple of months ago, a commission to look into what the
United States government could do, both to help stimulate democratic
development in Cuba, and to prepare for the day when there will be a
post-Castro Cuba that is democratic. And that day will come.