Secretary Clinton to Lead the U.S. Delegation to the International Conference of Support for the Central American Security Strategy on June 22
Media Note
Washington, DCJune 20, 2011Following President Barack Obama’s March 2011 announcement of the internationally-supported Central America Security Partnership during his visit to Central America, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will lead the U.S. delegation to the SICA International Conference of Support for the Central American Security Strategy on June 22, 2011 in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Secretary Clinton will be accompanied by Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs Arturo Valenzuela and Assistant Secretary for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs William Brownfield. Watch the conference live at http://www.guatemala.gob.gt/.
For updates on Secretary Clinton’s participation, follow @StateDept, @WHAAsstSecty, @INLBureau and@USAenEspanol. Click here for more information on Secretary Clinton’s travel.
The U.S. delegation will also include representatives from the Departments of State, Justice, Defense, and Homeland Security, the National Security Council and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The International Conference seeks to highlight the grave security challenges that Central America is facing, to urge a more robust joint response from Central American governments, civil society and the private sector, and to galvanize international support for their efforts to reduce the high levels of crime and insecurity in the region.
SICA is the Spanish-language acronym for the Central American Integration System. SICA leadership and the seven Central American states (Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama) will present a new Central America Security Strategy to the international community at the conference in an effort to attract greater international attention to the security challenges, and seek enhanced levels of political engagement and support from their regional and international partners.
The strategy includes an action plan and portfolio of regional programs, aimed at addressing key security concerns in Central America, including narcotics and arms trafficking, transnational criminal gangs, border security, reintegration and prevention, and law enforcement training.
The United States continues to support Central American efforts to combat insecurity and violence through the Central America Regional Security Initiative. In this context, the U.S. will follow through on the Central America Citizen Security Partnership announced by President Obama this March by outlining a draft action plan designed to implement the Partnership. This draft plan includes programs in all the priority areas identified in the SICA Action Plan.
Among the states and organizations that will attend and assist the Conference are: Colombia, Canada, Chile, Mexico, Spain, Italy, South Korea, European Union, United Nations (UNDP, UNODC), the Organization of American States (OAS), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the World Bank.
Additional information on this trip and conference was made available via a special briefing today with Arturo Valenzuela Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs and William R. Brownfield, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. I am posting below a few Q&As that reflect most succinctly Mme. Secretary's agenda (allocation - allocation - allocation).
The entire briefing is available here: Briefing on the Secretary's Upcoming Trip to Guatemala and Jamaica
QUESTION: It’s a very simple question. What is the Secretary going for specifically? Is there a message, is there a program, is it what you’re talking about – coordinating, pushing for all of those countries to coordinate? What’s our lead?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY BROWNFIELD: Mr. Valenzuela, I defer to you.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY VALENZUELA: She’s been concerned about the situation in Central America for some time. She’s been pushing for greater engagement on the part of the United States since she began to focus on these issues some time ago. This particular meeting in some ways is the end result of a deep set of evaluations internally within the U.S. Government as to what our response could be. But at the same time, I just want to stress again the fact that this is a meeting that the SICA countries are doing with others from the international community. The response has to be an integrated, but also an international, cooperative response. The presence of the Colombian president, Mexican president, the foreign minister of Spain, for example, are extremely important. The European Union is going to be present.
Altogether, when you add up the support that is provided towards Central America by the United States and these other partners, it’s a substantial amount of funding for Central America. The question is: Is the funding being used strategically in the appropriate way?And that’s what we’re going to be addressing in this meeting. This is a meeting that takes a significant amount of commitment on the part of various different players, donors, and turns it into a far more effective strategically created strategy. That’s the purpose, and she’s going to unveil it from the United States and join her counterparts.
MS. FULTON: Okay. I think we have time for just one more question. Andy.
QUESTION: Just a quick follow-up on that issue. So I take it this isn’t really a pledging conference in itself. These pledges of aid are all already out there, that she isn’t going to be going with any new packages of either money or material support for Central America beyond what’s already been pledged. Is that correct?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY VALENZUELA: The various donors have been pledging monies now for some time in different kinds of categories. What we’re trying to do is to readjust the categories. We may be – the Secretary may announce how we’re repackaging some of our own assistance. But you’re right that this is not a donors conference. This is a conference in – where we’re taking substantial amounts of support for Central America and try to convert it into a far more strategic strategy, a strategy that’s being led by the Central Americans, that’s been created by the Central Americans. This is not being imposed by the United States or other donor countries, but we want to be more effective partners in carrying out their expectations, which of course, is also in our fundamental interest. Thanks.
MS. FULTON: Okay. Thank you very much, Assistant Secretaries Valenzuela and Brownfield. We appreciate your time.
