Mycoherbicides

Mycoherbicides & Clinton

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 alternative
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