06 May 2002
Powell Urges Western Hemisphere to Continue Pursuing Reforms
(Says "second-generation reforms" will produce sustained growth)
(4120)
On September 11, 2001, the 34 democratic nations of the Western
Hemisphere pledged their solidarity in the global fight against
terrorism and formally adopted the Inter-American Democratic Charter,
a document that "announced to the world that democracy is the norm in
this hemisphere and that we will not tolerate backsliding ... into the
bad old days of unelected authoritarian regimes," recalled Secretary
of State Colin Powell.
Powell, speaking May 6 at the annual conference of the Council of the
Americas, applauded those demonstrations of regional unity while also
noting progress toward establishing the hemisphere-wide free-trade
zone that the United States endorses.
"With our partner Brazil, we will co-chair negotiations for the Free
Trade Area of the Americas this fall," he said. "We are nearing a
free-trade agreement with Chile and preparing to negotiate one with
all of Central America. And President Bush and his administration are
working to gain congressional reauthorization of the Andean Trade
Preference Act and approval of the trade promotion authority that we
desperately need to bring our very ambitious trade agenda to a
successful conclusion."
Yet despite these important developments, "we see a hemisphere that is
more troubled than it was when we met a year ago, we see a hemisphere
that has difficulties in many, many ways -- difficulty with their
democratic institutions, difficulty with their economies," Powell
observed. He cited the ongoing political and economic crisis in
Argentina as one example. The United States wants "to help Argentina
work its way out of its problems," he added.
However, "economic reform alone will not bring Argentina out of
crisis," the secretary warned. "Argentina must also address the
underlying political and institutional flaws that encourage excess
public-sector borrowing, corruption, politicized judicial systems, and
a lack of transparency in government activities."
Colombia, too, is under intense pressure, he indicated. "The
democratically elected government of Colombia faces multiple threats
to its survival, to its very existence, and we will help Colombia to
defend its democracy against the threats of drugs and terrorists,"
Powell said. "We will help promote a peaceful, prosperous society that
respects human rights and respects the rule of law."
In response to widespread violence attributed to armed Colombian
rebels, "we are prepared to assist Colombia in asserting state
authority and effective security throughout the country," Powell
declared. "While there is clearly no military solution to all of
Colombia's problems, there must be a more robust military and security
component to U.S. policy [in Colombia]. We are prepared to expand the
scope and nature of our assistance, but Colombia must also fully
commit itself to the tough steps that will be needed to achieve
success. We will support the efforts of the Colombian people, but we
cannot and will not supplant them."
Democratic principles have also been threatened in other regional
countries, Powell said. He pointed to the unsuccessful attempt to
overthrow Venezuela's controversial President Hugo Chavez, who was
removed from office on April 12 and re-instated on April 14. The
United States has suggested that Chavez's increasingly autocratic
governing style was largely responsible for provoking the popular
discontent that resulted in his brief ouster.
"Venezuela's democracy, as we all know, is undergoing a severe test,"
Powell told regional executives at the conference. "If the people of
Venezuela are to succeed in building better lives for themselves and
more hopeful futures for their children, their political leaders must
resolve their problems in a constitutional and democratic manner."
And because "this is the era in our hemisphere of democracies, not
dictators; of constitutions, not coups," any attempted coups "must be
recognized for what they are: fading echoes of a discredited past, not
the road to a democratic future," he emphasized. Urging Chavez to
"follow with deeds his new pledges of national reconciliation and
respect for democratic principles," Powell called upon the Venezuelan
leader to work closely with the Organization of American States (OAS)
"in order to facilitate genuine strengthening of Venezuela's
democratic institutions on behalf of all Venezuelans."
Turning his attention to the Caribbean, Powell expressed his "personal
disappointment" over the fact that "Haiti has made so little progress"
in reversing "bad leadership that has failed to respond" to the needs
of ordinary Haitians. The current Haitian government "is still far
from supporting a democratically competitive political environment, in
which human and civil rights are respected and economic growth is made
possible," he said.
Similarly, Cuba "cannot remain forever the sole holdout from the
hemisphere's march of democracy," Powell asserted. The regime of Cuban
dictator Fidel Castro "makes a mockery of freedom," he charged. "It
impoverishes the Cuban people. As President Bush has said on many
occasions, our goal is to promote a rapid, peaceful transition to
democracy in Cuba. The people of Cuba deserve no less."
Quite apart from "the specific problems besetting these and other
countries, there is a broader, deeper discontent in the region,"
Powell conceded. "Peoples throughout much of the Americas are
increasingly dissatisfied with the quality of democracy and frustrated
with the results of economic reform." Inevitably, "there is a
disenchantment with the institutions of elective government" when
material benefits from democratic rule are slow to appear, and now,
"in too many countries, people are losing faith in their political
systems and leaders," he said.
If "too many people are making too many economic sacrifices in the
name of freedom, without seeing their lives improve," and if "it is
still a daily struggle [for people] to put that food on the table
[and] educate their children," the reason is that "too many
governments have failed to undertake the so-called second-generation
reforms that are necessary to consolidate the [earlier] gains and
attract the investment that economies need to grow," Powell argued. "I
don't need to tell you that without reforms to tax laws, pensions,
regulatory systems and the judiciary, investors will find other places
to send their money."
Investment capital "flees from corruption and bad policies, conflict
and unpredictability," he explained. "Capital flows to countries with
clarity of law, and accountability is what we must all strive for."
As the nations of the hemisphere move forward, "our challenge is to
work with our neighbors to help them complete and consolidate their
political, institutional and economic reforms," Powell said. "The only
answer to the problems of insufficient democracy and incomplete
economic reform is more democracy and more economic reform."
The secretary of state concluded his address by issuing two challenges
to the region. "And the first of these challenges is to the
governments of the hemisphere," he said. "I challenge them to finish
the job. I challenge them to improve the quality of their democracies.
I challenge them to see political, institutional and economic reforms
through to completion. I challenge them to join us in making the Free
Trade Area of the Americas a reality."
But "to you, the business people in this room, I issue the second
challenge: to help the governments, institutions and people of the
hemisphere achieve the vision that we all have, the vision I have just
described; support free trade and open economies; insist on good
governance and economic reform; demonstrate your convictions in your
business practices," Powell said. In closing, he reminded his audience
that "you have a critical role to play" in realizing the vision of
sustained political and economic development in the Western
Hemisphere.
Following is the transcript of Powell's remarks at the 32nd annual
conference of the Council of the Americas:
(begin transcript)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
May 6, 2002
As Delivered
REMARKS
Secretary Of State Colin L. Powell
at the Annual Conference of the Council of the Americas
May 6, 2002
Washington, D.C.
(8:30 a.m.)
SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you very much, David, for that very warm and
kind introduction. It's good to be with so many good friends as I scan
the audience, and especially with you, David. And I do appreciate that
kind introduction.
And I also would like to thank the Council for making allowances for
my schedule, allowing me to come down a little earlier. It is one of
these particularly busy days in Washington that comes from time to
time. I have King Abdullah of Jordan, Prince Saud of Saudi Arabia, the
Foreign Minister. Prime Minister Sharon will also be coming today.
I'll be meeting with him. And also President Museveni of Uganda.
And then we have a number of meetings having to do with the upcoming
U.S.-Moscow summit that we have to attend to. We are looking forward
to the summit meeting with Russia in two weeks' time, but the
preparations for a summit are always quite demanding. So it is just an
average day in the life of a Secretary of State. (Laughter.)
And I am also going to have the privilege a little later this morning
of speaking to the Anti-Defamation League as well on the subject of
tolerance. So no better way to start the day, however, than with the
Council of the Americas. I'm very pleased to be with you, and it's a
pleasure to welcome you -- David and Bill Rhodes and Alan Stoga and
the Council -- to the State Department for your 32nd Washington
Conference.
And as you all know, it has become something of a tradition for the
Secretary of State to open the Washington Conference, but I'm not here
today just out of a reverence for tradition. I'm here because I want
to reach out to you once again, the business people who have hands-on
experience in the Americas. I see all the old friends in the audience
that I've worked with in the past, so many who have been committed to
democracy and economic development and reform, and I know that each of
you will see many other old friends here at the podium over the next
two days, beginning after I leave with my point man for the Americas,
Assistant Secretary Otto Reich. He's well known to you. He headed the
Council's Washington Office from 1976 to '81, and now he is the
Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemispheric Affairs. It
wasn't always easy, but Otto is here, he's on board, and I can tell
you we're very, very glad to have him on the team.
You'll be hearing from him in a few moments. You'll be hearing from
the Vice President and many of my Cabinet colleagues over the next
several days, but first I'd like to set the stage for those later
presentations, if I may. And let me start, as David noted, with
September 11th of last year, the day that changed the world as we knew
it. For me, it was a remarkable day. For all of us it was a remarkable
day, but for me it was a moving day, a day of many mixed emotions, as
it was also for you.
But I was in a breakfast meeting with President Toledo in Lima, Peru.
We were talking about bilateral issues, we were talking about trade,
we were talking about textile imports and exports when two notes came
in from my assistant telling me that something terrible had happened
in Washington, D.C., and in New York. And I knew that I had to return
immediately.
But before returning to Washington, while the plane was being
prepared, I did want to participate in the OAS Conference, because we
were there to validate our belief in the community of democracy here
in the Western Hemisphere -- 34 of 35 nations all committed to
democracy, not only as a political system, but as something we believe
in as a value system. And we were going to put in place the rules of
the road. If you're going to be a member of this democratic club in
our hemisphere, there are rules, there are obligations, there are
consequences for violating those rules and obligations.
And so I wanted to participate in that meeting and be part of the
vote, and I'll never forget moving into the conference room, and my
various colleagues from around the hemisphere stood up and expressed
their solidarity with the United States in this time of crisis and
pledged their support. And then we passed that statement on democracy,
that Charter on Democracy, and then in a unanimous vote of
acclamation, they made it clear that the OAS would be standing with
the United States in this time of trial.
Our hemispheric solidarity and action have continued since then. The
OAS has acted further. We are working together as a hemisphere to deny
haven to terrorists and their funds. We particularly valued Brazil's
leadership in bringing together the signatories of the Rio Treaty to
invoke its collective defense provisions. Brazil is the world's
fourth-largest democracy and Latin America's largest economy. We share
many common goals, such as promoting democracy and economic reform,
advancing free trade, and combating terrorism and narcotics
trafficking. And we look forward to a continuing partnership with
Brazil, both in the hemisphere and increasingly on the global level.
Now our challenge is to work with all of our partners in the
hemisphere to weave our cooperation against terrorism into the very
fabric of our relations and into our institutions. We must ensure that
such cooperation becomes part of the normal way that we do business
here in the hemisphere. I am pleased to say that we are well on our
way to doing so.
September 11th was also about our hemisphere's commitment to freedom
and democracy, as I mentioned, a commitment made even more important
by our fight against terrorism. At last year's Summit of the Americas
in Quebec City, our leaders charted the vision of a hemisphere free,
prosperous and secure; free for all peoples to live their lives under
responsive and representative governments; prosperous for everyone,
not just the privileged few; and secure, not only from the scourge of
terrorism, but also from the plagues of narcotics trafficking and
criminality.
We have made progress. The Democratic Charter we approved on September
11th announced to the world that democracy is the norm in this
hemisphere and that we will not tolerate backsliding, backsliding into
the bad old days of unelected authoritarian regimes. President Bush's
Compact for Development, which he unveiled in his March 14th speech to
the Inter-American Development Bank, marked a further stage in the
linkage between democracy, good governance, and development. And at
the International Conference on Financing for Development, which met
shortly after that in Monterrey, Mexico, leaders from around the world
committed their countries to sound policies, good governance at all
levels, and rule of law.
We have also advanced the trade agenda at the heart of the Quebec City
declaration of last year. We have launched the Doha development round
of World Trade Organization negotiations. With our partner Brazil, we
will co-chair negotiations for the Free Trade Area of the Americas
this fall. We are nearing a free-trade agreement with Chile and
preparing to negotiate one with all of Central America. And President
Bush and his administration are working to gain congressional
reauthorization of the Andean Trade Preference Act and approval of the
trade promotion authority that we desperately need to bring our very
ambitious trade agenda to a successful conclusion.
The recent history of our region shows why we believe so strongly that
freedom, prosperity and security are mutually reinforcing. We all now
know how countries such as Mexico, Chile and El Salvador have made
great strides in combining institutional reform, responsive
government, and economic opening to create better lives for all their
people. Uruguay, too, has parlayed good governance and economic reform
into an island of stability in a sea of political and economic
uncertainty. Uruguayans enjoy the most equitable income distribution
in Latin America. They have confidence in their political
institutions. In Uruguay, corruption is a crime, not an accepted part
of doing business. With this foundation of good government and
democracy, Uruguay has so far been able to withstand powerful economic
shocks that would have crippled more fragile countries and societies.
Still, as the problems besetting us appear, and we see a hemisphere
that is more troubled than it was when we met a year ago, we see a
hemisphere that has difficulties in many, many different ways --
difficulty with their democratic institutions, difficulty with their
economies. Our close friend and ally, Argentina, is in the midst of a
profound economic and political crisis. We want to help Argentina work
its way out of its problems. Working through the IMF and other
international financial institutions, we remain committed to
supporting additional financial assistance to help stabilize the
Argentine economy and put it on the long road to sustained growth.
But economic reform alone will not bring Argentina out of crisis.
Argentina must also address the underlying political and institutional
flaws that encourage excess public-sector borrowing, corruption,
politicized judicial systems, and a lack of transparency in government
activities.
The democratically elected government of Colombia faces multiple
threats to its survival, to its very existence, and we will help
Colombia to defend its democracy against the threats of drugs and
terrorists. We will help promote a peaceful, prosperous society that
respects human rights and respects the rule of law.
We are prepared to assist Colombia in asserting state authority and
effective security throughout the country. While there is clearly no
military solution to all of Colombia's problems, there must be a more
robust military and security component to U.S. policy. We are prepared
to expand the scope and nature of our assistance, but Colombia must
also fully commit itself to the tough steps that will be needed to
achieve success. We will support the efforts of the Colombian people,
but we cannot and will not supplant them.
Venezuela's democracy, as we all know, is undergoing a severe test. If
the people of Venezuela are to succeed in building better lives for
themselves and more hopeful futures for their children, their
political leaders must resolve their problems in a constitutional and
democratic manner.
This is the era in our hemisphere of democracies, not dictators; of
constitutions, not coups. Coups must be recognized for what they are:
fading echoes of a discredited past, not the road to a democratic
future. President Chavez must follow with deeds his new pledges of
national reconciliation and respect for democratic principles. We urge
him to work with the OAS. We look forward to working with him in the
context of the OAS's Democratic Charter in order to facilitate genuine
strengthening of Venezuela's democratic institutions on behalf of all
Venezuelans.
The people of Haiti have suffered for almost two centuries under bad
leadership that has failed to respond to their needs. Breaking that
cycle is Haiti's greatest challenge. I might say it is a source of
personal disappointment to me that nearly eight years after my mission
with President Carter and Senator Nunn to help restore Haiti's elected
government, Haiti has made so little progress. It is still far from
supporting a democratically competitive political environment, in
which human and civil rights are respected and economic growth is made
possible.
And then we have to, of course, not lose sight of the situation in
Cuba. Cuba cannot remain forever the sole holdout from the
hemisphere's march of democracy and free markets. The Castro regime
makes a mockery of freedom. It impoverishes the Cuban people. As
President Bush has said on many occasions, our goal is to promote a
rapid, peaceful transition to democracy in Cuba. The people of Cuba
deserve no less.
In addition to the specific problems besetting these and other
countries, there is a broader, deeper discontent in the region.
Peoples throughout much of the Americas are increasingly dissatisfied
with the quality of democracy and frustrated with the results of
economic reform. If we got rid of the dictators, if we got rid of the
generals, if we got rid of all of the authoritarian regimes, things
are supposed to get better; there's supposed to be food on the table,
a roof over our heads, education for our children, health care. There
is a disenchantment with the institutions of elective government. In
too many countries, people are losing faith in their political systems
and leaders. Things were supposed to be better; things were supposed
to be better rapidly.
A recent region-wide survey found a decline in support for democracy.
There's a decline in support for democracy stated as preferable to any
other kind of government. In 16 of the 17 Latin countries that were
polled, that was the result: a decline in support for democracy. What
good is democracy if your life is not better?
Meanwhile, too many people are making too many economic sacrifices in
the name of freedom, without seeing their lives improve. For them, it
is still a daily struggle to put that food on the table, educate their
children, and do all the other things that we want to do for our
families. Too many governments have failed to undertake the so-called
second-generation reforms that are necessary to consolidate the gains
and attract the investment that economies need to grow.
I don't need to tell you that without reforms to tax laws, pensions,
regulatory systems and the judiciary, investors will find other places
to send their money. Capital, as I say all the time, is a coward. It
flees from corruption and bad policies, conflict and unpredictability.
It goes where it is welcomed, where investors can be confident of a
return on the resources that they have put at risk, the resources that
they in turn get from shareholders, get from average citizens looking
for a decent return on their investment, on their savings. Capital
flows to countries with clarity of law, and accountability of
government is what we must all strive for.
Going forward, our challenge is to work with our neighbors to help
them complete and consolidate their political, institutional and
economic reforms. The only answer to the problems of insufficient
democracy and incomplete economic reform is more democracy and more
economic reform. The past year has been a difficult one, where our
beliefs have been tested. But it has also been a time when our
convictions have been confirmed, and that is what makes me optimistic
moving forward. We have come very far since the lost decade of the
1980s. In the 2000s, our ability to weather the storms will provide
the strength of the hemisphere we are building.
Last year I challenged you to do even more of the wonderful work that
you have done to free and empower the people of our hemisphere. This
year I have two challenges for you, for all of us really, and for the
governments of the hemisphere. And the first of these challenges is to
the governments of the hemisphere. I challenge them to finish the job.
I challenge them to improve the quality of their democracies. I
challenge them to see political, institutional and economic reforms
through to completion. I challenge them to join us in making the Free
Trade Area of the Americas a reality.
The United States will be there to help them. We fully support what we
did in Quebec City last year. We are fully committed to the initiative
that President Bush launched just before Monterrey, and we discussed
at some length in Monterrey, of a Millennium Challenge Fund: $5
billion a year when it comes into effect in about three years from
now, 5 billion additional aid dollars a year to those countries that
are committed to democracy, to those countries that are committed to
the rule of law, to those countries that are committed to
transparency, to help them -- to help them jump-start their economies
so that they can cross over this gap that exists between the initial
promise of democracy and the reality of a better life for people.
To you, the business people in this room, I issue the second
challenge: to help the governments, institutions and people of the
hemisphere achieve the vision that we all have, the vision I have just
described; support free trade and open economies; insist on good
governance and economic reform; demonstrate your convictions in your
business practices. You have a critical role to play if we are to make
the vision of Quebec City and Monterrey a reality.
With hard work from all of us, with your help and with a little bit of
luck, we will succeed. Thank you very much.
(Applause.)
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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