THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(South Brunswick, New Jersey) ________________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release August 23, 2000
August 22, 2000
Presidential Determination
No. 2000-28
MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE
SUBJECT: Presidential Determination on Waiver of Certification
Under Section 3201 "Conditions on Assistance for
Colombia," in Title III, Chapter 2 of the Emergency
Supplemental Act, FY 2000, as Enacted in Public Law
106-246
Pursuant to the authority vested in me by section 3201(a)(4) of the FY 2000 Emergency Supplemental Act (the "Act"), I hereby determine that it is in the national security interest of the United States to furnish assistance made available under the Act to the Government of Colombia without regard to the following provisions of section 3201 of that Act:
(a)(1)(A)(ii) the Commander General of the Colombian Armed Forces
is promptly suspending from duty any Colombian Armed Forces
personnel who are credibly alleged to have committed gross
violations of human rights or to have aided or abetted paramilitary
groups;
(a)(1)(A)(iii) the Colombian Armed Forces and its Commander General
are fully complying with section 3201 (a)(1)(A)(i) and (ii) of the
Act;
(a)(1)(B) the Colombian Armed Forces are cooperating fully with
civilian authorities in investigating, prosecuting, and punishing
in the civilian courts Colombian Armed Forces personnel who are
credibly alleged to have committed gross violations of human
rights;
(a)(1)(C) the Government of Colombia is vigorously prosecuting in
the civilian courts the leaders and members of paramilitary groups
and Colombian Armed Forces personnel who are aiding or abetting
these groups;
(a)(1)(D) the Government of Colombia has agreed to and is
implementing a strategy to eliminate Colombia's total coca and
opium poppy production by 2005 through a mix of alter-native
development programs; manual eradication; aerial spraying of
chemical herbicides; tested, environmentally safe mycoherbicides;
and the destruction of illicit narcotics laboratories on Colombian
territory; and
(a)(1)(E) the Colombian Armed Forces are developing and deploying
in their field units a Judge Advocate General Corps to investigate
Colombian Armed Forces personnel for misconduct.
I have attached a Memorandum of Justification for the decision to waive the foregoing certifications.
You are hereby authorized and directed to report this waiver to the appropriate Committees of the Congress and to arrange for its publication in the Federal Register.
WILLIAM J. CLINTON
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