22 March 2002

Bush Aid Plan for Poorer Nations Called "Leverage" Against Corruption

Assistant Secretary Reich interview at Monterrey conference

By Eric Green
Washington File Staff Correspondent

Monterrey, Mexico -- President Bush's plan to increase U.S. foreign aid to the developing world will go only to those countries with "just, representative" governments that respect human rights, says Otto Reich, assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs.

Interviewed March 22 at the conclusion of the United Nations International Conference on Financing for Development in Monterrey, Mexico, Reich said there is no "silver bullet" in the battle against world poverty, a problem that he said that afflicted humanity since biblical times.

But the proposed U.S. boost in aid is a "major step forward, not just because of the money, which is significant," but as a force for needed changes in the way governments do business, said Reich. He repeated President Bush's conclusion that the United States has given tremendous sums of foreign aid for many decades "and a lot of that money has disappeared. So, the best thing we can do is use our money as leverage to bring about economic, political, and social reforms" in the developing world.

Bush, said the assistant secretary, has vowed that the United States will not give money to leaders of other countries "who throw it away, either through corruption or through poor economic policies."

Reich pledged that "we are going to help the poorest countries of the world, but only if those governments are just, represent their citizens, and respect human rights." Without that, he asserted, "there's not going to be economic development and prosperity" in the world's poorer nations.

The United States can counteract corrupt foreign leaders by being more vigilant and by "making sure that our money is put to the proper uses," Reich said. He added that the Bush administration will not help those leaders "who have abused their power, who have taken (foreign aid money) from the people and, in many cases, taken food literally from the mouths of children."

"At the very least," Reich said, "we are going to use our laws" to keep corrupt leaders from coming to the United States, "just as we keep out war criminals, narcotics traffickers, or other undesirables."

Reich was asked to explain the Bush administration's yardstick for determining how developing nations are progressing against corruption. In that regard, he said a country's gross domestic product (GDP) or per capita income are unreliable measuring tools, as the figures can be skewed by a few wealthy individuals raising the average income level in a country which is predominantly poor. A more accurate measure, Reich said, is to examine how a country's population and institutions are benefiting from U.S. aid. By this, he explained, the Bush administration wants to see improved social-economic indicators, lower infant mortality rates, higher literacy rates, a greater number of doctors and hospital beds per capita, and more children staying in school longer.

Turning to the situation in Colombia, Reich said the Andean nation is under attack simultaneously from Communist guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries, and narcotics traffickers, "and in some cases they are all one and the same." Reich outlined a vicious circle in which narcotics traffickers use the guerrillas and paramilitaries to protect them, and then in turn finance those groups.

Colombia is very important to U.S. interests, he noted, both because it is a democracy and because of its strategic location bordering Central America, the Andean region, and the Amazon Basin.

"Whoever controls Colombia can have a foothold" on almost the entire Western Hemisphere, Reich said. He added that Colombia has been a friend of the United States and has a freely-elected government, "so we're helping them fight all these different threats at the same time."

On the subject of Cuba, Reich said the U.S. trade embargo against that nation is not the cause of its problems.

"The cause of Cuba's problems is 43 years of Marxist dictatorship. It's that simple," Reich said. The embargo, he continued, is the U.S. response to Cuban leader Fidel Castro's "meddling in the internal affairs of other countries, (in) supporting terrorists as he has in every country in this hemisphere."

Reich said the Bush administration is presently reviewing its overall policy toward Cuba, which extends far beyond the trade embargo. That embargo, he said, is not in itself a policy, but "one element of a total policy," which consists of "all the instruments at the disposal of a government," including political, economic, diplomatic, military, informational, and psychological tools. However, Reich said that not all of these tools are "appropriate" to Cuba, or to other countries such as Iran or Afghanistan.

The assistant secretary said the policy review toward Cuba will work its way up the Bush administration's chain of command. If the president decides to change policy, he will do so based on the recommendations of his Secretary of State and National Security Advisor, Reich said. He suggested, however, that no announcement is imminent about any possible shift in Cuban policy.

Reich accused Castro of using terrorism to both gain and maintain power.

Castro has "supported, trained, armed, financed, transported, and harbored terrorists" throughout his 43 years as Cuba's leader, said Reich. "And that's why Cuba is one of seven countries on the State Department's terrorist list."

Asked what the United States might do about Castro, Reich said "every case of terrorism is different. What we are doing now, as the president has said, is going after terrorist groups with a global reach," and that Castro, because of the impoverished state of his country's economy, is not a leader with global reach.

Reich said the U.S. embargo has played a role in increasing the cost to Castro of doing business by denying him foreign resources.

"Castro's bankrupt, so he has no global reach," Reich said. "Actually, he was bankrupt pretty early on in his 43 years in power, but the Soviet Union subsidized him to the tune of about $5,000 million a year, which doesn't sound like much, but for a country the size of Cuba, that was about one-fourth of its GDP," Reich said. When the Soviet Union disappeared in 1991, Reich said, the Cuban economy shrunk in four years by about 52 percent, while imports dropped by 80 percent.

"So that shows you how dependent Castro was on the Soviet Union," Reich added.