Colombia’s President Pastrana Discusses His Country’s Future

Colombia’s President Pastrana Discusses His Country’s Future

BY MICHAEL CINELLI
Rice News Staff
October 28, 1999

For more than a year, Colombia has been engaged in a process aimed at establishing peace and prosperity in the Latin America country that historically has been battered by a battle against illegal drug trafficking.

“I am convinced that the armed conflict that has beset us over the past 40 years must end,” Colombian President Andres Pastrana Arango told an audience gathered in the Rice Memorial Center’s Grand Hall last week. “And I believe that achieving peace is clearly a process, not merely an act of will. To succeed, the process needs the support of a nation-state able to act as a sole guarantor of the public’s freedom, protector of their property and as an engine for their prosperity.

“Without a proper institutional framework, even the most well-intentioned accord will collapse.”

Pastrana’s visit to Rice at the invitation of the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy–where he also received the President’s Award for Distinguished Service from Rice President Malcolm Gillis–was the latest stop in the United States for the reform-minded Colombian leader, who, since being elected in June 1998, has presented his “Colombian Plan” to the United Nations, President Clinton and members of Congress.

And while Pastrana acknowledged that Colombia has only started repairing its infrastructure–unemployment had doubled and the country’s fiscal deficit had quadrupled during his predecessor’s term–he called on the international community to join the effort.

“An international dimension with respect to Colombia is needed, not only in the name of peace or as a means of increasing investment in our country,” he said, “but so we can wage a more effective campaign against a terrible menace–the trafficking of illegal drugs which poisons lives, corrupts values and institutions, damages the environment and which stands ready to strike at our innocent children.”

To attract international support, Pastrana said he must first “dispel false rumors” and counter “oversimplified sound bites” from news media outlets concerning the impact illegal narcotics trafficking has on Colombia’s well-being.

His four-part strategic plan is a step toward reaching that goal. The plan includes:

reactivating the Colombian economy;

forging a lasting, internal peace with insurgent forces;

stepping up the fight against narcotics trafficking; and

strengthening the government both locally and nationally, the “cornerstone” of the plan, according to Pastrana.

What has not been reported about his country’s economy, Pastrana pointed out, is that Colombia has experienced “uninterrupted growth for almost 70 years, we have an investment grade rating, relatively low inflation, a proven track record of having met each and every financial obligation and an economy that has attracted over $30 billion in foreign investment in the last five years alone.”

“We have the tools and the resources not only to weather a global storm, but to prosper and grow,” he said.

But the road to recovery can not be traveled alone, Pastrana said. He has had pursued a bilateral investment treaty with the United States as well as commitments from other members of the international community, which would pump about $1.2 billion each year into Colombia during the next three years.

“My government,” Pastrana said, “will continue to work at home and overseas for the triumph of peace, for the defeat of the illegal drug trade and for an integrated world economy to be sustained and defended by a strong central government dedicated to preserving the values of democracy and human rights.”