U.S. Relations with the People's Republic of China (2005)

U.S. Department of State

The President's 2006 Narcotics Certifications

R. Nicholas Burns, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs;
John Walters, Director for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy;
Nancy J. Powell, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs
Foreign Press Center Briefing
New York, New York
September 15, 2005

5:30 P.M. EDT

UNDER SECRETARY BURNS: Now I think we're going to turn to another issue, the President's 2006 narcotics certifications. And let me just ask to join me here on the podium Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy John Walters and our Acting Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Ambassador Nancy Powell. I'm going to have a brief statement to make. I then am going to have to rush off to join Secretary Rice in her next meeting, but the two people behind me are our experts in the U.S. Government and they will answer all the questions that you have.

Let me just say by way of beginning, you know that President Bush signed today for transmittal by Secretary Rice to the U.S. Congress the Annual Narcotics Certification Report. In July, Secretary Rice announced changes in the State Department's reporting structure for several bureaus with the intention of refocusing -- or focusing some of them on democracy promotion. And we wanted to integrate our international narcotics policy more closely with our regional bureaus, and so for the first time you have the Under Secretary for Political Affairs, myself, presenting this report because I am now helping to oversee the activities of our Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement.

Combating the drug trade around the world requires a global effort. It also requires that we work together in common purpose with countries around the world. The United States is committed to taking action in close cooperation with friendly governments against drug trafficking and against the criminal activities that are linked to it. Meeting the challenge of drug trafficking requires integrated measures. Combining eradication with interdiction, alternative development, criminal justice modernization, anti-corruption measures, and demand reduction and awareness programs -- all of these are essential to tackling this common threat to our political and economic, social and cultural well-being. And we in our government are vigilant about the problem that narcotics poses to our society, particularly new threats such as synthetic drugs which threaten our young people and communities across the United States.

The United States Government, through the State Department and other agencies, provides billions of dollars per year in counternarcotics assistance to nations throughout the world. Much of this assists foreign military and law enforcement agencies in improving their own capacity to fight the scourge of illicit drugs while respecting human rights and the rule of law, and that is a very important imperative of these assistance programs.

Our government also provides training and technical assistance to help countries strengthen their border patrol, to develop stronger law enforcement, to improve financial regulations to thwart money laundering and to help establish more effective judicial systems and a culture of lawfulness.

Now, this year, Secretary Rice and the Department of State have appreciated the fact that it takes the combined commitment of the United States Congress and our Administration to advance our nation's interest in fighting narcotics trafficking and transnational organized crime. There are 20 countries this year on the President's list that are categorized as drug-producing and transit nations. For 2006, the President's major concerns are directed towards Burma and Venezuela in terms of how their narcotics control -- in terms of their narcotics control performance. We have also taken a very serious look at the need for improvement in such countries as Afghanistan, Haiti, Nigeria and a small number of countries that are not actually on the certification list.

At the same time, I would like to stress that certain nations on the President's drug certification list have performed admirably in terms of their counternarcotics effort even though there is still much work that remains to be done in those countries. And I would single our Colombia, the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic in that effort. I had the opportunity to visit Colombia in late July and speak with President Uribe about the efforts made by the Colombian Government, and we fully support what they have been able to do through Plan Colombia and we look forward now to the Colombian Government giving us a follow-on to Plan Colombia that we might approach the United States Congress and ask -- and request the full funding.

With that by way of introduction, it is now a pleasure for me to ask Director Walters to give a summary of our efforts and our progress both overseas and at home to combat the narcotics problem. Ambassador Powell is with him and both of them will be glad to answer any questions that I'm sure you will have for them. Director Walters.

DIRECTOR WALTERS: Thank you, Under Secretary Burns. I want to add my thanks to his work at the State Department in helping us to pull many of these programs together. We are at a key time in the importance of being able to follow through with our allies throughout the globe. It's critical. He's been in the forefront of helping us build on the progress that's been made, as has Acting Assistant Secretary Ambassador Powell. I want to thank her and my colleagues at the State Department for their hard work every day throughout the world to help make the drug problem smaller for children of all nations.

As Under Secretary Burns mentioned, this year's majors list, as it's been called, is comprised of 20 countries, down from 22. That is certainly a good sign. The countries that were removed from this year's list are China and Vietnam. Of the 20 on the list, as referred to earlier, only two of them have been designated as failed demonstrably to make substantial efforts: Burma and Venezuela. This is a failure to meet their obligations under international treaty and the commitments that we have had in the past, in the case of Venezuela, for cooperation that was quite successful and extensive.

International cooperation here is obviously critical. Drug trafficking tries to use borders and use areas of governmental weakness to produce poisons that addict and destroy the lives of citizens throughout the world. The only way to effectively combat this problem is by international cooperation. What today's report is based on, the certification is based on, is a summary of analysis of what's been happening in the key countries throughout the world. And that summary is, in general, a summary of progress of continued efforts to build institutions to combat the violence, to combat the spread of criminal activity and to reduce this problem in key areas, as well as reduce the problem as it affects citizens of the United States.

For example, in terms of changes that affect the United States, we've just recently -- the DEA reported that there was a 22 percent decline in South American heroin, meaning principally heroin produced in Colombia, and its availability in the United States. Both purity is down its cost was increased. This is the heroin that affects mostly the eastern part of the United States and shows a direct effect between what's been happening in Colombia, both in terms of controlling the production source and the efforts by U.S. and other law enforcement interdict and stop the flow of this drug here and throughout this part of the hemisphere.

As Secretary Burns also referred to, Colombia has also made great progress across the board in eradicating coca, the other large substance of this hemisphere that has affected many Americans as well as others (inaudible) in other countries. It has attacked both the cultivation and the criminal structures, including terrorist structures that have been marketing and living off the profits of the drug trade. There is certainly more to be done in the effort to bring lawful order to the municipalities of Colombia for the first time in more than a generation by President Uribe, the reduction of kidnapping, murder, terrorist attacks, massacres, the improvement of lawful order, the growth of economic prosperity in that country and the confidence that's reflected in the people of that country shows the value not only in terms of drug control but the rule of law and the prosperity of people who have been suffering under the violence of the drug trade and those who participate in it.

Mexico, as you know, has also faced tremendous challenges. The Bush Administration and the Fox Administration are both committed, and have been, to addressing the production and trafficking of illegal drugs. Mexico conducts large-scale marijuana and opium eradications, killing about 80 percent of the cultivation each year, knocking down the poison that would otherwise be directed toward this country and that has, in recent years, of course, affected more citizens of Mexico as well. As many as 35,000 troops are in the field to eradicate drugs crops in Mexico.

Marijuana cultivation in Mexico fell 23 percent between 2003 and 2004 to an estimated 5,800 hectares. Opium cultivation declined 27 percent in Mexico as well. Mexico also has a vigorous interdiction effort that has further cut down the production of these drugs. There is certainly more to do but I don't believe any administration in recent history has done more to attack not only the production but the powerful criminal organizations that are the beneficiaries of that production that operate in Mexico.

Our two nations are working directly to attack the methamphetamine production that has both fueled the consumption in the United States and in Mexico, both in terms of product operations in Mexico and in movement of precursor chemicals used to make methamphetamines from other parts of the world and controlling that diversion.

Afghanistan as well has committed itself to a path of combating the extensive opium production that has grown up in that country through the instability of war and the problem of establishing stable government in that nation. The heroin consumption -- production remains a serious problem there, although the U.S. is least affected by Afghan heroin than any other source that's available. We have been working in the office that Ambassador Powell directs has been making an extensive investment in the infrastructure with the Karzai government to help to further move this important mission in Afghanistan. But it really lies with the leadership of the country. President Karzai has been forthright and direct as he stands up many other important institutions in Afghanistan.

As we mentioned, Venezuela has been a disappointment. President Chavez has acted as though he no longer wants a productive relationship with the United States over the past year. We stand ready to continue to work with his government. We hope that some indications in the last days that there may be a willingness to change course will prove to the path he will follow. But we certainly stand ready to work but we need to do that effectively and we need to do that by establishing trust and cooperation.

Finally, let me say, the United States recognizes its own responsibilities here with regard especially to drug consumption. Our government has focused on, at the President's direction, a balanced strategy: reducing both supply and demand. The President began with setting as the measure for the effectiveness of our efforts in this area reducing the number of users of illegal drugs in the United States. We are both treating those who are addicted. The President's access to recovery treatment initiative expands to the total of $3 billion the United States federal government investment in drug treatment. An additional $1.5 billion is spent by our national government on prevention initiatives. Part of those investments include investments in the National Institute on Drug Abuse here which supports 90 percent of the world's science-based research on illegal drug addiction, prevention and treatment.

The results of our research in these efforts are shared with governments throughout the world and made available to people through both print and electronic means. Our whitehousedrugpolicy.gov website contains links to both scientific and prevention and treatment information that's being used by individuals as well as families to help protect children.

These measures have been successful. We just released last week our latest annual epidemiological survey of drug use among the larger population of the United States, age 12 and above. According to those results, teenage drug use continues to go down through that survey. Over the two years, 2002 to 2004, teenage drug use was down 9 percent. The decline has continued in -- now into the 18 to 25 year old age group, which has been the most intense age group cohort for use in the past, and that fell by 5 percent during this period. Teen meth use fell 33 percent as a part of those numbers and marijuana use by 7 percent.

We understand that where the drugs become dollars, the fuel leads to drug trade and where we have to change both use as well as supply. And part of what we have seen in these results are the benefits of both more effective prevention and treatment and more effective supply control. The balance strategy is working. We see declines and many other nations that are now trying to work with us more aggressively in helping on the prevention and treatment side are trying to follow this examples and get some relief from drug use and its consequences in their nation.

I want to thank those countries that continue to work with us. And it's now my pleasure to introduce Acting Assistant Secretary, Ambassador Powell, to speak in more detail about some of the features of this evaluation and certification process.

AMBASSADOR POWELL: Good afternoon. Let me thank Director Walters and Under Secretary Burns for their participation in the briefing today.

As you know, the President sent to Congress the majors list and his annual determinations on narcotics certifications for fiscal year 2006 earlier in the day. In his report, the President is required to designate those major drug transit and producing countries that have failed demonstratively during the previous 12 months to make substantial efforts to comply with the provisions of international counternarcotics agreements and to take the counternarcotics measures set forth in Section 49(a)(1) of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act.

International obligations include the goals and objectives of the UN Convention Against Illicit Traffic In Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances. They can include things such as taking action against illicit cultivation, production, distribution, sales, transport and financing of drug trade, as well as money laundering, asset seizure, extradition, mutual legal assistance, law enforcement, transit cooperation, precursor chemical control and demand reduction. The counternarcotics agreements include both bilateral and multilateral agreements involving the United States.

As you may recall, the congressional statute requires that countries designated major drug producers are on the basis of specific numerical threshold, regardless of whether the drugs significantly affect the United States. On the other hand, in order for a country to be classified as a major drug transit country, no specific numerical threshold is required; instead, a country must be a significant direct source of illegal narcotic or psychotropic drugs or other controlled substances significantly affecting the United States or be a country through which transport of such drugs or substances.

As we stated earlier, this year's majors list comprises 20 countries. They are: Afghanistan, the Bahamas, Bolivia, Brazil, Burma, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela.

And of those 20 countries, the President designated two countries, Burma and Venezuela, as having failed demonstrably to make substantial efforts during the previous 12 months to meet their international counternarcotics obligations. However, the President also determined that the United States' vital national interests require that U.S. assistance to Venezuela be continued so that selected programs can be supported. These are programs that aid Venezuela's democratic institutions, establish selected community development projects and strengthen Venezuela's political party system.

Let me talk a little about these two countries. In Burma, despite continued reductions in poppy cultivation, Burma remains the world's second largest producer of illicit opium and is among the world's largest producers and traffickers of amphetamine-type stimulants. Production and trafficking of methamphetamine from Burma continues to be one of the most serious problems facing Southeast Asia. Drug gangs operating freely along Burma's borders with China and Thailand, producing several hundred million methamphetamine tablets, using precursors imported from countries in the region.

Burma has also failed to restrict the trafficking and production of narcotics by the United Wa State Army, the UWSA. Major UWSA traffickers continue to operate with apparent impunity in Burma and their involvement in methamphetamine production and trafficking remains a serious concern.

For Venezuela, it is a major transit country for drug shipments moving to the United States and Europe, with 150 metric tons of cocaine and increasing quantities of heroin moving through its territory annually. Despite an unverified increase in drug seizures during the past four years, the President determined that the Government of Venezuela had not addressed the increasing use of Venezuelan territory to transport drugs to the United States.

Venezuela has also failed to eradicate coca and opium fields found near its border with Colombia. We are also very concerned about the willingness and the ability of Venezuela to cooperate with the U.S. Government in meeting bilateral counternarcotics obligations. The sudden withdrawal of the Venezuelan National Guard from a joint counternarcotics law enforcement program, the failure to sign a bilateral data-sharing agreement under the Cooperating Nation Information Exchange System and Venezuela's negative publicity campaign against the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, DEA, have all contributed to a demonstrable and significant decline in counternarcotics cooperation efforts compared to past years.

In additional, some of the U.S. most effective high-level interlocutors in Venezuela law enforcement, administration of justice and national drug policy were removed without cause from their positions. Despite a stated intent to eliminate corruption, the Government of Venezuela has failed to take significant steps to address the problem of corruption among its law enforcement, military and other public officials.

I want to turn for a moment to talk about the countries that have demonstrated noteworthy achievements in terms of their drug and crime control performance even though being listed in the majors list. As mentioned by Under Secretary Burns, I particularly want to highlight Colombia, the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic.

By any measure, Colombia is making significant progress in the fight against trafficking and terrorism in our hemisphere. Eradication of illegal crops is at an all-time high in the country. Democratic institutions are much stronger and programs to provide farmers with alternatives to coca and poppy cultivations are having the intended positive impact. Most important, thanks in great part to the leadership of President Uribe, there has been a dramatic decrease in violent crime and terrorism in Colombia, making it a much safer place to live.

Looking to the Caribbean, we note that the police in the Bahamas have a superb record in terms of dismantling drug trafficking organizations. Since 2001, the Bahamas has stopped the illegal activities of three major drug rings, an accomplishment which resulted in the arrest of hundreds of criminals in the Bahamas as well as in the United States. This island nation has also worked hard to improve the ability to combat money laundering.

In the Dominican Republic, authorities cooperate extensively with the U.S. on a wide range of law enforcement issues. Most particularly, law enforcement officials had worked closely with our Drug Enforcement Administration to arrest and extradite the notorious trafficker Quirino Paulino and several of his associates in the past 12 months.

In addition to these countries on the occasion of this year's certification process, the President has also expressed concerns about several other countries, including three that are not on the majors list. I would add, however, that there are also positive signs in each of these countries which have been singled out for comment.

Afghanistan is the first of these. Despite the Afghan Government's counternarcotics efforts, we remain concerned about the disturbingly large scale of the drug trade and the prospect that opium poppy cultivation may increase in 2006. We are also concerned about government corruption, especially at the regional and local levels, impeding counternarcotics efforts. To be effective, government corruption must be addressed seriously, both locally and centrally. Nevertheless, in spite of these difficulties in Afghanistan, the Administration wants to point out that the country, with the help of the international community, is making important efforts to stem the illegal drug trade. And we know that President Karzai's political commitment in this area is unswerving.

We reiterate our concerns from last year about Haiti and its ability to reorganize and restructure the Haitian national law enforcement sufficiently to permit sustained counternarcotics efforts. The criminal justice system as a whole must be strengthened significantly in order to be effective and to gain public confidence. Although the Administration recognizes that Haiti made concerted efforts this year to improve its performance, a more sustained program must be undertaken in the country before any lasting results in the area of drug control can be achieved.

The third country of concern is Nigeria. Drug trafficking, money laundering and other organized criminal activity in Nigeria remain a major source of concern to the United States. Progress over the past year on anti-money laundering controls is welcomed but much needs to be done to make those controls effective. Corruption at all levels of government continues to hamper effective narcotics law enforcement. In addition, measures analogous to those taken to improve law enforcement -- drug law enforcement at Nigeria's main airport -- now needs to be expanded to and replicated at Nigeria's seaport where drug trafficking is a growing concern.

Finally, the national drug law enforcement agency and other counternarcotics institutions should work towards developing the capacity to pursue investigations and prosecutions of major drug traffickers based in the country.

The fourth country of concern is North Korea. We remain concerned over continued involvement by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, a country which is not on the majors list, in criminal activity, including drug production and trafficking. Given the intimate relationship between Japanese and Chinese criminal elements and the DPRK drug traffickers in past incidents, there is a real possibility of continuing DPRK involvement in drug trafficking, even when a given incident seems to only involve ethnic Chinese or other organized Asian criminal groups.

The Government of Canada, another country not appearing on the majors list, has made real progress in curbing the diversion into the United States of pseudophedrine which has been fueling production of methamphetamines. The United States appreciates the excellent law enforcement cooperation received from Canada. There are indications, however, that Canadian-based criminal groups are increasingly involved in the production of ecstasy destined for the U.S. Large-scale cross border trafficking of Canadian-grown marijuana remains another serious concern.

The Government of The Netherlands have achieved considerable success in countering the production and sale of ecstasy to the United States. The U.S. commends The Netherlands for its enhanced efforts. In the coming year, the United States would like to build on our law enforcement cooperation with the Dutch Government for advancements in legal assistance and additional direct engagement between our respective police agencies.

To conclude these formal comments, I'd like to note that the President has removed China and Vietnam from this year's majors list. This is because there is presently insufficient evidence to suggest that China is a major source zone or transit country for narcotics that significantly affect the United States and there is no information to refute Vietnamese Government claims that they have virtually eliminated opium poppy production. Additionally, although cooperation with U.S. law enforcement is limited, there are not indications of significant Vietnam-based drug threats to the United States.

Thank you very much. Director Walters and I are happy to take your questions.

QUESTION: Victor Martin from EFE news agency. Is there any specific reference to Spain in this report?

AMBASSADOR POWELL: There is not.

QUESTION: Thank you.

QUESTION: Judy Aita with the Washington File. On Afghanistan, (inaudible) President Karzai comes to the UN and other Afghan officials are asking for increased help with their drug problem and combating their drug problem. How much aid has the U.S. given? Are you working with other countries to increase, you know, increase their contributions through the UN drug program? What are you doing? I mean, they obviously seem to be struggling and need a lot more help than they're already getting.

AMBASSADOR POWELL: As far as I know for that, there's a multilateral effort. We're working with the UN. The UK is the lead agency for counternarcotics and this is about -- we're working with Germany which has the lead on police training and Italy which has the lead on the judicial system. The United States is the major contributor of funds and personnel for training and other programs.

But (inaudible) with the Afghans is a five-pillar strategy that tries to understand the problem in Afghanistan is not one-dimensional. It is multi-dimensional. We are working on a public information campaign particularly right now to deter planting (inaudible) getting through the planting season to ensure that people know it is illegal, that it's anti-Islamic. And President Karzai has been very effective in spreading that message.

We are also working on reform of the judicial system, particularly looking at counternarcotics legislation, setting up ports and prison facilities for those who violate the law. We're working on interdiction, trying to find the heroin and stop it from flowing out of Afghanistan. We are working on elimination or eradication and trying to -- where fields have been planted to eradicate it before it reaches (inaudible). And the last one is a very important one of providing alternative livelihoods or development efforts for those who -- to replace the opium and to encourage licit crops such as (inaudible) sunflowers, other things to allow the farmers to have a living.

DIRECTOR WALTERS: I would just add the encouraging news that we got recently that you may have seen, the United Nations Drugs and Crime Office released its survey of cultivation in Afghanistan. The U.S. Government also does such a survey. We have not completed ours yet and won't for another month, month and a half. But the UN report for the last year showed a 21 percent reduction in the area under cultivation, which is, of course, important progress and I think shows, most of all, the leadership and determination that President Karzai has demonstrated has been making progress. We obviously need to follow through. We need to continue and build on these issues.

And I think to get back to your original point, we are working with Afghan leaders to try to get more nations to contribute more to this effort. There are -- there's a need to stand up institutions and we are welcoming more partners from nations that receive some of this as a poison that affects their (inaudible) and citizens from Europe to Asia.

MS. NISBET: Any additional questions?

QUESTION: Sylvie Lanteaume, AFP. I'm (inaudible) kind of question. I wanted to know why Venezuela is still on the list of certified countries. You said that they didn't cooperate fully.

DIRECTOR WALTERS: It has been decertified as a result of this process. I think maybe the confusion is over the waiver that was a part of the decertification because the process as a whole is something that requires us to report to Congress whether or not countries that have a role in production and trafficking as it affects the United States are fully cooperating. The consequence of decertification is to remove the eligibility for aid programs from the United States Government, with the exception of drug control programs. The waiver allows us, in addition to drug control programs, they can be continued, we would be willing to continue productively. But also, we did not want to stop those, as Acting Assistant Secretary Powell mentioned, that support democracy in Venezuela. They would have been adversely affected by a decertification decision. We have told the truth about what we see in terms of cooperation but we've also used the interests of concern of the United States to allow those efforts to continue.

AMBASASDOR POWELL: Let me just go back over the reasons for the -- citing them (inaudible). It included not only the noncooperation with our law enforcement efforts, but also the lack of financial controls involving drugs, the inability to eradicate crops along the border with Colombia both of opium and coca, and also the use of Venezuelan territory for transit of drugs coming into the United States. It is a fairly long list that covers a variety of aspects of noncooperation.

MS. NISBET: Well, thank you so much for being here today. I know it's been a busy day for you.

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