Centro de Convenciones Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada
Bogotá, Colombia
July 18, 2018

ADMINISTRATOR GREEN: Buenos Dias, President Santos, members of the legislature, our guests.  Thank you for your very warm welcome and for your kind hospitality. I bring you greetings from President Trump and Vice President Pence.  As, shall we say, a recovering congressman myself, it is a particular honor to join you at the start of your new legislative session. I remember how special and auspicious the beginning of each new term can be.  It is an optimistic time. After all, you have not passed any votes yet. Nobody is angry; everybody believes you are still going to vote his or her way.

Enjoy this moment while it lasts.  In all seriousness, I am humbled to join you in a tribute to your vibrant democracy in this grand and historic city.  Not far from here, Simon Bolivar valiantly fought the battle of Boyacá, changing the course of history not just for Colombia, but for the entire region.  Just blocks from this very spot, President Alberto Lleras Camargo and U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall led the conference that gave birth to the organization of American states.  And in this very city, your prestigious universities are educating the next generation of both Colombian leaders and world leaders, preparing them today to assume tomorrow's reigns of leadership.  They are learning to create, invent, and push the boundaries of knowledge, so the future can be bigger and better and brighter for all of humanity.

My friends, though I come from the United States, as I look around me, I see so much that is friendly and familiar.  Our countries may sit more than 4,200 kilometers apart border to border, but in every important way you are so very close, joined together in heritage, values, and most importantly their hopes for the future.  Colombians have helped shape the very fabric of American society. When U.S. students study literature, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Gabo, is assigned reading. The generation of my countrymen has grown up watching John Leguizamo on stage, listening to Shakira on the radio, and seeing Sofia Vergara on T.V.

Countless Americans go to the gym every day to take Zumba classes created by Beto Perez. They cheer on Juan Pablo Montoya as he races in the Indy 500. And young American fans of BMX follow Colombia's Olympic star Mariana Parjon.  She is even serving as USAID's reconciliation ambassador. And for proof, we need look no further than baseball. We call baseball the USA's national pastime, yet we know it is a richer game for the contributions of great Colombian athletes like Julio Teheran, Jose Quintana, and of course, World Series MVP Edgar Renteria.

But our blending of cultures shouldn't surprise anyone.  Since their founding, our two nations have followed paths that so often have mirrored each other or intercepted each other.  We both led history-changing revolutions for freedom and self-determination. It was in Boyacá that Simon Bolivar won independence for this continent's Northern areas, much as George Washington defeated the British in Yorktown.  We have often joined hands to take on great battles. 

Our soldiers fought shoulder-to-shoulder during the Korean War, and our leaders pulled together under Plan Colombia to take on the Cartels and transnational criminal networks. We have joined hands in great conservation efforts, to preserve the breathtaking diversity that is both your natural and national heritage and your gift to the world. USAID has just partnered with the International Conservation Caucus Foundation to create a new 15-year strategic plan for your national park system, using in part the skills and experience of retired park officials from the United States.

Today, I am announcing that we will commit $6.8 million U.S. dollars* to help implement that strategic plan.  These funds will support conservation and natural resource management activities in Colombia and Peru. We have also rushed in to help each other during times of great need.  Last year, when flooding tragically struck near the town of Mocoa, the U.S. assisted in sheltering the displaced, reuniting families, and launching projects to help indigenous populations find new livelihoods.  Just a few months later, when Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico, it was Colombia that sent tons of supplies to support the humanitarian response, because that's what good friends do. We also shared the experience of facing great tasks that, admittedly, we have brought on ourselves.  In the U.S., time and again, we have struggled with a range of social ills, and some of them continue on today. But though the tone of our political debate may hide it, in the States we are united to, in the words of the preamble to our Constitution, "form a more perfect union."

Colombia's role hasn't always been easy or smooth either.  Just as our Union faced a crippling civil war that left hundreds of thousands of our citizens dead, so too you have had to overcome a domestic conflict that has tragically killed many thousands of your own. Just as the Mafia and organized crime preyed on America's major cities like a deadly cancer, so too you have tenaciously battled against the Cartels and criminal gangs. America is still engaged in the struggle to defeat violent Islamic Extremism that threatens not only lives and communities, but our very freedoms themselves.   Not so long ago, Colombia was still battling the terrorist insurgency that stole the lives of over 220 thousand citizens and drove six million more from their homes. I have heard it said that there is not a single family in Colombia that hasn't been scarred by the war in some way.

But today is a celebration; not that all of our challenges are behind us, but that we will continue to push until they are.  Today your people, like my people, are resilient and unbowed. You give thanks to your values. Colombia has become a model to all of Latin America.  Your President has won the Nobel Peace Prize, and millions of your citizens have lifted themselves from poverty. While the work isn't over in bringing peace to all Colombians, stability is on the rise.  Since 2002, murders have fallen over 50 percent, kidnappings and forced displacements have fallen more than 90 percent each. 

Today, you're a NATO partner.  Today, you are a member of the OECD.  You are moving steadily from once being dependent on traditional assistance in areas like housing and education towards being an aid donor yourselves, and you are a donor of special importance and influence because of what you have overcome along the way.  I'll never forget this: not so long ago, the International Republican Institute, an organization I used to lead, had an important initiative on strengthening citizen security in parts of the Northern Triangle. We are partnered closely with a number of mayors, police chiefs, and community leaders, through rural Honduras and Guatemala.

Now, as part of this program, we wanted to bring these leaders to Medellin to learn from your progress.  When we first told them that's what we wanted to do, many of them were nervous, even afraid. A few didn't want to go.  At Medellin, they expected a war zone. And they were sure they were certain, they could not possibly be safe. 

When they arrived, of course, they couldn't believe their eyes.  They hadn't expected to find a safe, vibrant, beautiful metropolis.  They shortly discovered what others of us already know: Cali and Medellin rank among the world's great and most vibrant cities.  In meeting your community leaders, they saw that citizen security isn't merely about money or technology; it is about leadership and responsive governance building bridges between communities and involving every citizen in the stand against crime and violence. 

Today, major Latin American cities — from the Favelas in Rio to Ciudad Juarez in the Northern Triangle — are implementing citizen security strategies based on Medellin's model for community-oriented violence prevention.  Seeing how far you have come inspires people in ways that USAID and our American partners could not — at least not alone. More than any other reason, that's why I stand before you today. I appear to enlist your help, to harness your leadership and your experience; to forge an even stronger partnership between our countries, one that can chart a brighter future — not just for our own people, yours and mine, but for a new generation across the Americas, north and south.

As you know, Thomas Jefferson holds a near sacred place in the collective heart of the United States.  As the author of our Declaration of Independence, he was the architect of American notions of liberty, and what Abraham Lincoln famously described as "government of the people, by the people, and for the people."  As our first Secretary of State, Jefferson defended those notions in many a foreign capital. Perhaps more than any other man of his time, he understood that those values, those ideas, distinguished the New World from the Old.  In 1823, he wrote, "America, North and South, has a set of interests distinct from those of Europe, that are peculiarly her own. She should, therefore, have a system of her own, separate and apart from that of Europe. While the last is laboring to become the domicile of despotism, our endeavor should surely be to make our hemisphere that of freedom."  A hemisphere of freedom; how beautiful that sounds. What Bolivar fought so hard for and Lincoln gave his life to defend.

Two centuries later, even though so much has been achieved in the Americas, in too many places, freedom is still but a dream.  In Cuba, Fidel Castro may have passed away, but his legacy of repression continues with Raul Castro still leading the Communist party.  In April, at the Summit of the Americas, I met with Cuban pro-democracy leaders. Their message to me was clear. They said that instead of (inaudible) the Havana regime is merely mutating.  They said we should not be fooled. The Cuban dictatorship continues to crack down on civil society by harassing, beating, and jailing the Cuban people. Las Damas de Blanco still gather every week and walk to church peacefully to protest human rights violations and call for the unconditional release of political prisoners.  And every week, those courageous ladies are met with harassment, violence, and arrests by Castro's thugs.

In the name of the hemisphere of freedom, let us stand together with the Cuban people. Let's help them achieve their dream of true democracy, respect for the rule of law, and an end to human rights violations.  Let's reaffirm our support para una Cuba Libre by helping to bring democracy to Cuba. We can stop the cancer that Fidel and Raul Castro have sought to spread throughout the region, a cancer that has, unfortunately, metastasized as I speak, in Nicaragua and Venezuela.

As you know, in Nicaragua, the Ortega regime is directing its national police, youth groups, and the gangs they control to attack innocent citizens.  More than 1,500 Nicaraguans have been injured and more than 300 have been killed outright and the death toll is rising daily. NGOs on the ground say the regime has authorized a "shoot to kill" policy and is using tactical weapons and snipers to carry it out.  There are widespread reports of kidnapping, forced disappearances, ethno-judicial killings, and torture. And the injured have been intentionally denied access to life-saving care.

We should be very clear.  Ortega must end the violence now, and as friends of freedom and as friends of the people of Nicaragua, we must hold responsible those who would carry out these vicious tactics.  The U.S. Government has already sanctioned four senior regime officials from our Global Magnitsky list. But we need more allies from the region to follow suit as well.

And as we know, tyranny also reigns not far away in Venezuela, and the results have been disastrous.  A country rich in resources has been reduced to stock-outs, hyperinflation, malnutrition, and scarcity of basic medicine.  A country which should be a donor nation, helping other countries to lift their people from poverty; instead, it is driving despair.  The Maduro regime imposed an illegitimate Constituent Assembly and recently held a sham election. These actions have only made the crisis worse.  Its citizens are fleeing the country, according to some reports, 5,000 per day. It is driving the largest cross border mass exodus in the history of the Americas.

As the Gospel according to Luke points out, "To whom much is given, much is expected." As responsible democracies, we cannot sit by while such atrocities are being committed. USAID is mobilizing more than $30 million in funding to support Venezuelans and Colombians who have fled Venezuela.  This will help with such things as medical attention, emergency food assistance, safe drinking water, hygiene supplies, shelter, and protection from violence and exploitation. This brings total U.S. assistance to the region for this crisis to nearly $56 million.  We stand ready to offer humanitarian assistance to families inside Venezuela, if only President Maduro will allow us access and a chance to extend a helping hand.

As I saw this week when I visited the border myself, the world owes Colombia a great debt of gratitude for your willingness to accommodate the Venezuelans who have fled here.  You have shown them courage as a regional leader despite the challenges that we know it presents. All of us thank you for what you are doing. Still, it is clear that more will need to be done.  The Maduro regime will not and cannot last forever. The day will come when Venezuelans will be free to return home and to rebuild. They will never forget your generosity and assistance, just as millions of Colombians have not forgotten the Venezuelan people's assistance during Colombia's time of need.

But of course, humanitarian assistance isn't a long-term answer in Venezuela, nor anywhere else.  That answer is suggested in Thomas Jefferson's letter and reiterated by Vice President Pence around the Summit of the Americas.  It is freedom. We need to build and foster, you and I, the hemisphere of freedom. That's the mission that you and I must help to lead.  That includes democratic freedom and its related freedoms of speech, association, and conscience. Ortega, Maduro, and Castro, they are on the wrong side of history.  Our experience tells us that one of the most important elements in economic growth and development is democratic governance.

Now, you'll notice I didn't say just governance.  Authoritarians have governance, lots of it. But as a result, they have very little else.  It is citizen-centered, citizen-responsive governance that truly matters. Governance that listens to every voice and governance that listens to every community.  Freedom must also include the freedom to be safe and secure in your own home and your own community. Throughout the hemisphere, we need to join hands to ensure that narco-traffickers and dealers who sow death and violence find nowhere to hide; yes, in your country, but in my country as well.  We should aggressively pursue eradication as our governments have agreed, but we must also offer alternative livelihoods. We should be relentless in prosecution but also reduce use by providing treatment. As leaders in the Americas, we should also help the Northern Triangle take on their challenges of crime, corruption, violence, and in some places, outright lawlessness.

The thuggery that creates a climate of fear in some parts of Central America affects all of us.  It drives families to desperation and unaccompanied minors to fall prey to traffickers and coyotes.  We are too often lured into violence and gangs. Our work can create alternatives to the despair to drive recruitment.  We can engage young people through sports and arts. We can offer life and employability skills. We can help young people become productive members of their communities. 

And freedom must also include economic freedom; the right to own and invest and create; the right to pursue your entrepreneurial dreams and God-given potential and to craft your own bright future.  Economic freedom is far more than just a legal right to make money. It is also the single most powerful human force for lifting people from poverty.

As Colombia has demonstrated over the past decade, it unleashes energy and creativity in a way that government alone could never match -- an economic freedom that reinforces the other freedoms as well.  As the opportunity grows, and good jobs are created, and access to justice reaches communities that are sometimes being forgotten, crime will find no quarter. As communities flourish, democracy becomes stronger because people see it -- deliberate, tangible, real results. 

So, how can we pursue this hemisphere of freedom?  It is not very complicated, really. We should simply help our neighbors harness those same policies that have brought us growth to this moment.  At USAID, we believe the purpose of our international systems must be to end the need for its existence, not because we wish to retreat from our friends, but because we believe in our friends and their own potential.  While each country must reexamine the development journey because the yearning for self-reliance is right in the heart of Americans, and I know it does for Colombians, we feel a special obligation to help out if we can.  Our own experience tells us that we can help Northern partners by prioritizing programs that incentivize market-based performance, strengthen in-country capacity, mobilize domestic resources but also strengthen the role of civil society.  We also note the traditional systems programs are not an omen, or in many cases, even the best means, for helping continents develop themselves. You should relentlessly pursue private enterprise-given solutions that give people a greater stake in their own future. 

For some of our neighbors, the journey to self-reliance and prosperity may well be a long one.  But that's why I think -- that's why I think Colombia's role is so important. Your success, your journey, and the obstacles you have overcome are proof that this is not just simply un sueno -- a pipe dream.  It can be done. You have done it. 

My friends, the need for us to reach out to our neighbors is increasingly urgent for another reason.  Other powers -- with other interests -- are reaching out as well. While we strive for a hemisphere of freedom and offer help for a journey of self-reliance, they offer a very different bargain.  One that is perhaps more intensive in the short term, but one that we both know will exact a heavy price in the years ahead. 

Authoritarian powers from outside the Americas are increasingly active in this hemisphere, looking to buy influence and lock up access to strategic resources.  They offer easy money, cash up front, but these funds come with disturbing strings attached -- unsustainable debt, decreased transparency, restrictions on market economics, and the loss of control of the natural resources.  In essence, they offer a mortgaged future. 

Our [unintelligible] the path to self-reliance is the only one with a true [unintelligible] towards its leaders.  Colombia's experience of leadership is irreplaceable here because you have shown the right path -- that hard reforms pay off, that self-reliance and prosperity are within reach.  Providing money is not enough. It must be joined by policies that centralize reform, prioritize people, and help them to take charge of their own future. 

We at USAID, we can tell them it will work, but you can show them it will work.  Join us in pursuing a hemisphere of freedom, one free from the need for foreign assistance and free for all people to take hold of their birthright and pursue their own dreams.  Join us in helping our neighbors complete their own journey to self-reliance, and one day, prosperity. A few final thoughts: allies come and go, but friendships are enduring. Yes, Colombia and the United States are important allies, but we are so much more than that.  We are friends. We share a common set of values, and a common set of aspirations. 

And just as we in the United States will always embrace freedom and liberty, we will always be proud to embrace Colombia and call you our friend. Let us close by thanking President Santos for his leadership.  He took office at a critical time in this nation's history. After years of conflict and civil war, the hope for a more peaceful, brighter tomorrow has finally taken root. The United States also congratulates Iván Duque on his election as the next President of Colombia.  We look forward to working with him, his new government, this new Congress, as we all begin an exciting new chapter in our shared history. We know he has big plans. 

Finally, we congratulate the people of Colombia as they celebrate another peaceful transition of power between democratically elected leaders.  Colombia is a true model and a true leader in this hemisphere of freedom. Thank you for the honor of being here tonight. I offer my best wishes to your legislative session.  The future is yours. Muchísimas gracias.

*Pending congressional approval