The pictures are from her press conference with Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, who appears to appreciate our talented SOS like crazy! (No wonder a certain former POTUS is traveling right behind her and due to catch up tomorrow! Those Latin men certainly know how to demonstrate their admiration for feminine gifts! And she is SO gifted! BTW ... David who?)
Remarks With Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa Delgado
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of StatePresidential Palace
Quito, Ecuador
June 8, 2010
MODERATOR: (In Spanish.)
SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you very much, and I want to begin by thanking the president and his cabinet and officials for a very gracious and warm welcome. Mr. President, I greatly enjoyed our meeting and I am looking forward to continuing our discussions on a range of issues. And it is such a pleasure for me to be here in Ecuador. This is a treat for me since I am here for the first time, and it is especially exciting to be in this city, one of the first world cultural heritage sites ever recognized by UNESCO.The United States values our long relationship with Ecuador. We have a very important relationship that includes trade, investment, security for our people, a mutual commitment to the environment. And I want to commend President Correa for his leadership in UNASUR, especially in the aftermath of the earthquake in Chile and the devastation in Haiti.
The people of the United States, Ecuador, and our neighbors share many common aspirations. And today, the president and I discussed how we can work together to achieve those.
Now, like any two countries, we will not always agree. But we are committed to a partnership of open dialogue and cooperation that is rooted in mutual respect and mutual interest and for the benefit of both of our peoples. I’m very much looking forward to delivering a speech that lays out in more detail our commitment to development and the ways in which the United States is already working and wishes to work with Ecuador and other of our neighbors in the region.We believe long-term, sustainable prosperity that is inclusive and broad-based is the right of every person and that all people should have the opportunity to fulfill their God-given potential.
So again, Mr. President, thank you for this opportunity both to meet with you and I look forward to continuing our discussion.
PRESIDENT CORREA: (In Spanish.)
MODERATOR: (In Spanish.)
QUESTION: It’s a lovely room, isn’t it? Madam Secretary, the Obama Administration reached out to Iran on the theory that the effort would build support if the pressure track was eventually needed. But in the vote planned for tomorrow, it looks like you’ll end up with two, maybe even three no votes. And no resolution passed during the Bush Administration ever had any no votes. You obviously think the case against Iran is strong, so what do you think accounts for the failure to win unanimous support for this resolution?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, first, Glenn, I’m not going to comment on something that hasn’t occurred yet. The vote is scheduled for tomorrow. But I think it is fair that these are the most significant sanctions that Iran has ever faced. And the amount of unity that has been engendered by the international community is very significant. So we will wait to comment on the vote after the vote occurs.MODERATOR: (In Spanish.)
QUESTION: (In Spanish.)
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, as you might expect, the president and I discussed this along with many other issues. The United States has provided and will continue to provide information concerning the use of bases that are not U.S. bases but Colombian bases. I think everyone recognizes that Colombia has waged a long and difficult struggle against the combined forces of the FARC insurgency and the well-organized drug trafficking gangs. And the United States has been proud to help Colombia.
But clearly, we respect the territorial integrity of all countries in the region and we certainly are committed to sharing information and working in a mutually beneficial way with the neighbors of Colombia to resolve any questions. I think it is also important that we look for more opportunities to partner with all of our friends in the region because we want to be sure that the threat posed by the drug trafficking gangs and the continuing FARC presence is not a threat to anyone, not just to Colombia.
So I want to put your mind at ease that these – this agreement between the United States and Colombia is solely intended to assist Colombia in its continuing efforts against its internal threats. And as I mentioned to President Correa, we would be very interested in a dialogue about how we could better work together to create more understanding and transparency and mutual efforts against these common threats.
PRESIDENT CORREA: (In Spanish.)
MODERATOR: (In Spanish.)
QUESTION: The Obama Administration has been reaching out to countries all over the world, but in Latin America it often seems that things are going in the wrong direction, particularly with countries such as Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, and sometimes even Ecuador.
Mr. President, I’m wondering if you could tell us what your analysis is of what’s holding the Obama Administration’s hopes for better ties with Latin America back. What are they doing wrong? What should they be doing better? And what’s your advice for Secretary Clinton?
And Madam Secretary, what’s your message to leaders like President Chavez of Venezuela who often seem to derive a lot of their popularity from their anti-American rhetoric?
Thank you.PRESIDENT CORREA: (In Spanish.)
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, I think it’s very clear from what the president just said that a country like Ecuador which is facing many challenges that it is attempting to overcome has to be judged on its results, on whether or not it produces positive outcomes for the people of Ecuador within the framework of democracy that the Ecuadorian people expect.
And from our perspective, we have reached out and feel very much as though we are forging a new set of relationships. It’s the 21st century. It’s 2010. We’re not turning the clock back. We’re not expecting countries that have their own internal agendas in order to accomplish their own economic and social goals to be exactly as we are. If we ever did expect that, it is certainly no longer the case.
And I think the goals that Ecuador and its government have set are goals that the United States agrees with. As I said in my opening remarks, I don’t know any two countries that are going to agree on anything. But we have to have a relationship that is mature enough and strong enough, which we do. Some of our oldest allies in the world in Europe, we don’t agree with everything that they do.
So I think it’s a difficult question to answer because we just don’t see it as the premise of the question suggested. We see a dynamic and vibrant hemisphere and we see leaders in Latin America that are trying, sometimes against great odds, to remedy past wrongs. In my speech later today, I talk about an issue the president raised, namely tax evasion. When you have 50 percent tax evasion in many of the countries in Latin America, it is hard to get the revenues that are needed in order to provide the services that the vast majority of people deserve to have.
So these are very difficult problems and the United States wants to be a partner in working with Ecuador and other countries to try to solve them.
MODERATOR: (In Spanish.)
QUESTION: (In Spanish.)
MODERATOR: (In Spanish.)
QUESTION: (In Spanish.)
MODERATOR: (In Spanish.)
SECRETARY CLINTON: I will certainly take the material and thank you very much for raising these issues.
PRESIDENT CORREA: (In Spanish.)
MODERATOR: (In Spanish.)
Here are her remarks at the embassy meet and greet.
Remarks with Embassy Staff and Their Families
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of StateJW Marriott
Lima, Peru
June 8, 2010AMBASSADOR MCKINLEY: Secretary Clinton, the fabulous Embassy Lima team and their family members, and if I could ask Embassy Lima to give a rousing welcome to Secretary Clinton, who is – (applause) – we thank you all so much for being here with us today.
Secretary Clinton, over to you.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you so much, Ambassador. Well, it is wonderful to see all of you today, and I am delighted to see so many of the young people who are associated with this Embassy and our mission here in Peru.
I want to thank the Ambassador. Ambassador McKinley and his family, Mrs. McKinley and their three children, have been a dynamic team and are being nominated to move not too far away, as you know, to Colombia. But in our estimation, this mission is one of the hardest working and most dynamic that we have. And I thank each and every one of you, and I also want to recognize DCM Jim Nealon, who is on his way to Canada.
It is one of the both joys and sorrows of the Foreign Service that people come and go, but we are so grateful for each and every one of you. And some of you have been here working on behalf of this mission for a very long time. Your work on the Free Trade Agreement, which was passed and now Mike is going to have to go and try to convince the United States Congress to pass the one with Colombia – but Peru did a great job and I thank you for that. Your work on transnational challenges such as terrorism, narcotic trades, your efforts to work with the Government of Peru in expanding economic opportunity to all of its citizens, supporting both our diplomatic and our development work here has enabled us to engage much more energetically, both in Peru and in the surrounding region.
And I so appreciate the work that was done with respect to President Garcia’s visit to Washington and my visit here in Lima. We think we had two very successful visits. And I know that your plate has been very full this year. You’ve not only had to handle plenty of high-level representatives from our government and many members of Congress, but 400 muddy Americans who needed to be evacuated from Machu Picchu. And we got lots of great reports about how well that was handled. You ensured the safety of that particular group of Americans, but you do it all the time, as people increasingly are coming to Peru.
Our partnership with Peru is a real bedrock of our relationship here in the hemisphere. And there are many of you who I would like to personally thank. But part of what we do is to reach out to wider audiences, particularly young people. The population of Latin America is very young, as it is in most of the world. And a lot of them don’t really have any set opinion of the United States. And everything you do to reach out helps to form a positive impression.
I want to thank Linda Gonzalez and the whole Public Affairs section for your work using the network of bi-national centers – thank you, Linda – to teach English and to help share our values and to make those people-to-people connections that are extremely important. I want to thank everybody who helped with the OAS General Assembly. Raise your hand so that I can thank you all who helped with my trip and helped with all the other people who were coming.
I have heard time and again that this is one of the best run, best managed embassies in the hemisphere, and I really appreciate what each of you have done. As you look around this room, you see colleagues not only from the Foreign Service and the Civil Service, not only from the State Department and USAID, but the Departments of Defense, Agriculture, Commerce, Homeland Security, the Peace Corps.
We have six locally employed staff members here whose work has helped to strengthen the relationship between the United States and Peru for 40 years or more. So who are those locally employed staff who have been here the longest? Let’s give them a round of applause and thank you so much. (Applause.)
Now, I go to a lot of missions in countries that are bigger than Peru that have smaller staffs. This mission is approaching 1,000 employees, and I think that is a real tribute because I know that ambassadors come and go, secretaries of state come and go, but locally employed staff remain, and they provide the real backbone of our mission. And I want to thank you for your commitment, your sacrifice, the efforts that your families put in to support you with all those long hours.
We’re at an incredibly important point in history. We are looking forward to try to determine how we can deepen and broaden our relationship with our neighbors in the hemisphere. When the Ambassador and I were meeting with President Garcia yesterday, he said, “So how would you describe the Obama Administration’s approach to the hemisphere?” And I said, “We want a partnership, a partnership for peace, progress, and prosperity.” He goes, “Too long, too long. It has to be shortened.” (Laughter.) And so anybody who has any ideas about how to shorten what we’re trying to do, let me know, because it really does embody – and we don’t want a relationship of patronage; we want a relationship of partnership. And that is what we are working on diligently every single day.
So now, I’m going to go take a picture with these very patient children – (laughter) – who have been gotten out of bed early, dressed up to look fabulous, and then I will shake your hands on the way out. But again, thank you, thank you, thank you for everything you’re doing. (Applause.)
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