Excerpts From the Daily Press Briefing Pertaining to Western Hemisphere Affairs Full Briefing
MR. DUGUID: Okay, thank you. I would like to lead with a statement for your information and consideration.
At the invitation of Mexican Foreign Secretary Patricia Espinosa, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will travel to
Mexico City and Monterrey, Mexico from March the 25
th to the 26
th. While in Mexico, Secretary Clinton will discuss a broad range of bilateral and international issues of mutual interest, including cooperation under the Merida Initiative.
And with that, I shall take your questions.
QUESTION: Yeah, on the trip, how concerned is the United States about the level of violence on the border and the spillover?
MR. DUGUID: I think you will notice that our Travel Alert is fairly comprehensive. The violence in certain areas along the borders is of concern. We have made our concerns known in our Travel Alert.
I would point out, however, that it is localized. I would also point out that the violence is a response to President Calderon’s strong action against drug cartels. These cartels wanted to have things their own way, and the president refused to accept that and has taken them on, and they have responded with violence. Some of the violence is between the gangs themselves, and some of it is against the police and the other law enforcement authorities.
So while we are concerned about the violence in these localized areas, we congratulate the Mexican Government for taking on the problem. And we note in our Travel Alert that American citizens should be aware of the problems in these areas, but that also the – their travel does not need to be hindered if they have the information that they need.
QUESTION: Do – does the U.S. believe that President Calderon is in full control of his country?
MR. DUGUID: Yes.
QUESTION: Because there have been senior officials who have said --
MR. DUGUID: I understand. I speak for --
QUESTION: Testified --
MR. DUGUID: -- the State Department. The State Department’s opinion is that President Calderon is taking the necessary action to deal with the problem, and that a result of his strong action is the – some of the violence that is going on in those areas.
QUESTION: So the State Department disagrees with other – with other agencies in the Administration?
MR. DUGUID: I will let other agencies speak for themselves. I’ve just given you the State Department opinion.
Yes, please.
QUESTION: On (inaudible). Sorry.
MR. DUGUID: I’ll go behind you, and then I’ll come to you. Yeah.
QUESTION: On the same topic. Secretary Clinton will be visiting Monterrey and, as you know, there have been shootings around the General Consulate of the U.S. in Monterrey. Can we understand that this is some kind of signal of your assurance to U.S. citizens that Mexico’s safe to travel there? And second, can you describe yesterday’s meeting about Mexico?
MR. DUGUID: Well, on the second question, there was a policy dinner last night. The Secretary has the – and will have these dinners on occasion to discuss a broad range of issues regarding a region or perhaps a particular country, as was the case last night. I don’t have a readout of that for you. It included U.S. Government officials. It included academics. It included a wide range of opinions. I did speak with the Secretary this morning, who said she found it a very, very useful preparation for her travel to Mexico.
On the choice of Monterrey – Monterrey, as you know, is an important city, an industrial city with ties to the United States, not only economic but cultural, because of its proximity to our border. As to a decision on security, we take the Secretary where she wants to go and we make our decisions for a broad range of policy reasons. But I think that you can judge that if we did not feel somewhere was safe, that we would not take our Secretary there. So I think it does make that statement.
Yes, Lach, now, please.
QUESTION: Yeah. You said that the Secretary will discuss the Merida Initiative. Will she be discussing any new initiatives to help the Mexicans – to cooperate with the Mexicans in fighting the drug problem --
MR. DUGUID: The --
QUESTION: -- with U.S. military involvement?
MR. DUGUID: Well, the U.S. military involvement would be a Pentagon lead, and I would refer you to them. The Department of State has the Merida Initiative and has laid it down as a three-year plan, so it’s not simply this year that we have work to do on the plan. It’s also looking forward and how we’ll fulfill the remaining term of Merida. And she will certainly be talking about that, what is new coming in the next year or two. So ideas that the Mexicans have on how Merida can help them will be most welcome and I’m sure that she will speak of those. But Merida does already have ongoing programming in Mexico. We’ll be reviewing those, as well.
Yes.
QUESTION: Gordon, just in terms of the timing again, why specifically is she going at this moment, and is it designed to send some type of signal?
MR. DUGUID: Well, if you look at what’s coming up, we have debates going on in this country about the North American Free Trade Agreement. We’re going down to talk about economic issues. The financial crisis affects us and our NAFTA partners. The Summit of the Americas is approaching. And of our Latin American partners, Mexico is certainly one of the most important. It’s good to speak to them about the Summit, as well, and what we hope to achieve there. They are going through a period in which violence is affecting certain areas of their border. That is also something good to discuss with them.
So there are a number of reasons for going now, and I would say that the decision was that this is the right time in order to deal with the conjunction of all those issues.
I’ll go to the back and then I’ll come up. Yes, please.
QUESTION: A different subject.
MR. DUGUID: Oh, okay. We staying on Mexico for a while? Okay, I’ll do the Mexican – yes, please.
QUESTION: Okay.
QUESTION: Following Lach’s question, earlier this week President Obama said that he’d like to overhaul some parts of Merida. Do you think that this is going to be the forum where that’s going to be discussed? And can you preview any of the ideas that you guys would like to bring up?
MR. DUGUID: Well, I wouldn’t preview anything here that may be discussed. We will be discussing Merida. It’s not a – you know, a U.S. decision alone on how we proceed. This is a partnership with Mexico. And the programs, the projects, the training that occur under Merida aren’t static. They can be adapted to the needs that both partners see on the ground. So without being able to preview it, precisely where we’ll go, that’s certainly a topic of discussion that we can follow.
QUESTION: Is there an aspect of Merida that you feel is inadequate at this point that needs revamping?
MR. DUGUID: I don’t know – I don’t think I have the information on the ground to deal with that question. Merida is really a new initiative. It’s not looking at negatives. It’s looking for the positives and where we can go from here, and it’s assessing the needs as we go forward.
Yes.
QUESTION: The omnibus bill cut out, I think, about $150 million for Merida. And I wonder if the Obama Administration will be looking for funds elsewhere to try to deal with that.
MR. DUGUID: Let me put it the other way: the omnibus bill put $300 million into Merida for this year. It is a three-year program. These are tough times for the U.S. budget. It’s tough times for the financial system. You put forward a budget request with the funding that you would like to see for a broad range of programs. Congress has the very difficult job to try and balance requests from one part of the government off against the part – other parts of the government, and then come up with a spending bill that makes sense for everyone. We understand that.
Will we be looking to do more? Yes, we will. As we can find where the effective means are in Merida, where we best can apply our resources, we will be doing that. We have an ample amount of funding for this year and we will move forward on that basis.
Still on Mexico? Change of subject.
QUESTION: Wait a second. Just --
MR. DUGUID: Yes, please.
QUESTION: Do you have any other stops to announce?
MR. DUGUID: No, I don’t. That is her foreign travel coming up to Mexico City and to Monterrey.
QUESTION: A very specific qualification on what you say about the Secretary visiting Monterrey, specifically. Is this an endorsement that Mexico is a safe country to travel to?
MR. DUGUID: We’ve said that Mexico is a safe country to travel to. I’ve said that from this podium and so has Robert Wood, my colleague. Our travel alert is information that we provide regularly for American travelers so that they know what the situation is on the ground not only in Mexico, but in a number of other countries. And when they have that information, they can best judge for themselves how they should undertake their travel.
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QUESTION: Vice President Biden may be attending the Progressive Governance Conference in Chile this March. Can you say something about his agenda and if he’s going to meet with some president or if he’s going to have bilateral meetings?
MR. DUGUID: Sorry, this is the President going to Chile?
QUESTION: Vice President.
QUESTION: Vice President.
MR. DUGUID: Vice President, sorry. That’s – it threw me a bit.
I don’t have anything for you on that. I’d have to refer you to the Vice President’s office on his travel, and – yes, please.
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QUESTION: Just to return us to
El Salvador, and following on Assistant Secretary Shannon’s remarks that the U.S. has met with both presidential candidates and would stand ready to work with either one. Congressman Rohrabacher has disseminated a statement in which he expresses concerns about FMLN’s history, about the presence on the ticket of the vice presidential candidate who he says cheered the attacks of 9/11. And so I just wonder if the origins of FMLN or any of its current activities or associations or affiliations should rightly be of concern to America – American policymakers?
MR. DUGUID: I do think that Assistant Secretary Shannon has expressed U.S. policy very fully on this issue. Members of Congress, of course, have opinions on foreign policy issues and express those regularly. Those are a welcome part of the debate. As we move forward, we do want to work closely with El Salvador, and we want to have positive relations with the country of El Salvador. The congressman’s remarks, though, I’ll have to leave to him to further elaborate.
QUESTION: Well, leaving aside the congressman and just raising the issue independently with him, should American policymakers have any concerns about the presence on the FMLN ticket of somebody who cheered the attacks of 9/11 or about any other aspects of FMLN’s affiliations and association?
MR. DUGUID: The United States is going to work with a democratically elected Government of El Salvador. We will look to the El Salvadoran people to see who they choose to elect. And until the election takes place, I will leave our policy there.
