COLOMBIA: U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN POWELL HAS WRAPPED UP A VISIT TO COLOMBIA SHOWING SUPPORT FOR ITS LEADER PRESIDENT ALVARO URIBE

Record ID: 645678

  • Title: COLOMBIA: U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN POWELL HAS WRAPPED UP A VISIT TO COLOMBIA SHOWING SUPPORT FOR ITS LEADER PRESIDENT ALVARO URIBE
  • Date: 4th December 2002
  • Summary: (U7) BOGOTA, COLOMBIA (DECEMBER 4, 2002) (REUTERS) SV/MCU OF POWELL AND URIBE ENTERING MEETING (2 SHOTS) LV OF MEETING SLV OF POWELL LEAVING PRESIDENTIAL PALACE SV SOLDIER IN FRONT OF ANTI-NARCOTICS PLANE LV POWELL ENTERING NEWS CONFERENCE MCU (English) POWELL SAYING: "It is their (Iraq) responsibility to answer to the international community and to answer fully. We know they've had such weapons, we know they have such weapons, and they continue to try to develop more weapons and it's time for them to make it to judgment, are they going to cooperate or are we going to have to disarm them forcefully." LV POWELL DURING NEWS CONFERENCE MCU (English) POWELL SAYING: "I hope that in the declaration the Iraqis said they will be providing on the seventh of December they are forthcoming. Fully forthcoming with respect to what they might have and where it came from. I don't know what the Russians might have in their inventory. We are in constant contact with the Russians on this issue. It's been the subject of discussion between President Bush and President Putin over the years" SLV END OF NEWS CONFERENCE
  • Embargoed: 19th December 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BOGOTA, COLOMBIA
  • Country: Colombia
  • Topics: General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAF52TUBMIPV1053I0SR0BAH84V
  • Story Text: United States Secretary of State Colin Powell has wrapped up a visit to Colombia, showing support for its leader and discussing the U.S.'s position on Iraq.
    In his first trip to South America since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, United States Secretary of State Colin Powell on Wednesday (December 04) showed support for Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, a leader who has become one of the United States' firmest friends in the region, as left-wingers have won power in Brazil and Venezuela.
    Under heavy security, Powell toured an anti-narcotics police base and said he would recommend Washington grant more aid to help fund Colombia's twin wars on drugs and "terrorists". He added, however, that U.S. assistance had its limits.
    The United States in the past few years has plowed almost $2 billion in mainly military aid into Plan Colombia, spraying peasants' drug crops and trying to stem the flow of cocaine cash to outlawed armed groups fighting a 38-year-old war.
    Colombia is the third-largest recipient of U.S. aid after Israel and Egypt, but Bogota says it also needs greater access to U.S. markets, help to bolster world coffee prices and closer military assistance. It says it is sacrificing lives and money to fight outlaws funded partly by U.S. cocaine addicts.
    The United States recently authorized Colombia to use its aid against guerrillas, not just the drug trade, saying it saw the country's decades-old conflict as part of its "war on terrorism." But Colombia's war has no relation to the Middle Eastern threats preoccupying Washington and has slipped down the list of Bush administration priorities since Sept. 11.
    Colombia now holds the rotating presidency of the U.N.
    Security Council, and Powell said he expected Colombia to host "a full, comprehensive debate" when Iraq submits its declaration this weekend on its weapons programs.
    "It is their (Iraq) responsibility to answer to the international community and to answer fully. We know they've had such weapons, we know they have such weapons, and they continue to try to develop more weapons and it's time for them to make it to judgment, are they going to cooperate or are we going to have to disarm them forcefully," he said.
    He insisted on full disclosure from Iraq.
    "I hope that in the declaration the Iraqis said they will be providing on the seventh of December they are forthcoming.
    Fully forthcoming with respect to what they might have and where it came from," Powell said.
    Powell has been cautious about how the United States will respond to the cease-fire declared by the main far-right outlaw force in Colombia's conflict, the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, known as "AUC." The United States recently indicted fugitive AUC leader Carlos Castano on drug charges, but the paramilitaries want an amnesty as a condition for peace talks.
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