Remarks: U.S. Representative Elliot Engel

Thank you, Bill [Rhodes] for that wonderful introduction. And, thank you for your extraordinary leadership of the Council of the Americas.

It’s a pleasure to be here at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). President Moreno, I appreciate you hosting us here, and I also appreciate the excellent work that you do at the Bank.

I am truly flattered to be here tonight with my good friends from the Council of the Americas, and to receive this great honor.

Since I became Chairman of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee at the beginning of 2007, I have consistently relied on the Council of the Americas, an organization on the cutting edge of all policy discussions aimed at enhancing US-Latin American relations.

Staff from the Council of the Americas have testified at my Subcommittee hearings, provided me with important briefing materials for my official travel, and have always been welcome guests in my office. I have also been pleased to speak at a number of Council of the Americas events in New York, Washington and Miami.

In particular, I want to thank Susan Segal, Eric Farnsworth and Brian Wanko – all of whom I have worked very closely with as Subcommittee Chairman.

What I would like to do tonight is reflect briefly on the Summit of the Americas.
 
As Chairman of the House Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, I led the official US Congressional delegation to the Summit of the Americas with a bipartisan group of 8 of my colleagues.

We had a full schedule in Port of Spain, including meetings with heads of state from 22 countries in the Americas, OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza, President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton.

I would like to focus my remarks on President Obama’s stellar performance at the Summit.

I believe that the Obama Administration is already off to a running start in the Americas.

When you think that President Obama has only been in office for a bit more than 100 days, it is pretty incredible to see the extent to which he has been engaged with the hemisphere early on.

It’s worthwhile to quickly review the hemisphere-related meetings and trips by senior Obama Administration officials in the first 100 days:

In addition to Trinidad, President Obama has already traveled to Mexico and Canada, and met with Brazilian President Lula da Silva in Washington.

Vice President Biden traveled to Chile and Costa Rica prior to the Summit where he was able to meet with heads of state from throughout South and Central America.

And, Secretary Clinton traveled to Mexico, Haiti and the Dominican Republic before going to Trinidad for the Summit.

At the Summit of the Americas, President Obama set a new tone for US policy toward the region.

The goodwill generated by President Obama’s presence at the Summit is already doing a great deal to reinvigorate US-Latin American relations.

Several pieces of President Obama’s agenda for the hemisphere were articulated in Trinidad and during his trip to Mexico right before the Summit.

For example, I was particularly pleased at President Obama’s announcement that he would push the Senate to ratify the Inter-American Convention against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives and other Related Materials (CIFTA).  I have been calling for the ratification of CIFTA for quite some time now.

I believe that President Obama’s policy toward the region – from the proposed Energy and Climate Partnership for the Americas to his pledge to work closely with our neighbors on the economic crisis and public security – can be summed up in two words: cooperation and engagement.

As I mentioned, President Obama has quickly set a new tone for US relations with the Americas.

He said it best at the Summit’s opening session: “I pledge to you that we seek an equal partnership. There is no senior partner and junior partner in our relations: there is simply engagement based on mutual respect and common interests and shared values. So I’m here to launch a new chapter of engagement that will be sustained throughout my administration.”

As Chairman, I have traveled throughout the region over the past two and a half years. I constantly hear the same message: the US must be more engaged. Clearly, President Obama has quickly taken this message to heart.

Talking about partnership also means taking responsibility for actions taken in the United States that negatively impact our neighbors in the Americas.

President Obama and Secretary Clinton have quickly taken leadership in asserting that the US must reduce our demand for illicit drugs that fuels the drug war.

The Obama Administration has also stepped up efforts to curb the illegal flow of US guns to Mexico and other countries in the Americas.

In February, I visited both Mexico and Jamaica. In both countries, over 90 percent of the weapons recovered and traced by police come from the United States.

This is simply unacceptable.

I have urged the Obama Administration to enforce the ban on imported assault weapons, which was previously enforced by the administrations of Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

This is not a Second Amendment issue, as this import ban only applies to halting shipments of assault weapons with no sporting purpose at and before they reach US borders.

Enforcing this import ban – which is independent of the Assault Weapons Ban of 1994 – requires no legislative action and would be a win-win for the US and our partners in the Americas.

Let me talk briefly about the US demand for drugs:

I truly commend the Obama Administration for being candid about our own responsibility in fueling the illegal drug trade.

To tackle our nation’s horrific drug problem once and for all, we cannot simply look to solutions on the supply side. We must more robustly fund prevention and treatment programs that will cut down on domestic drug usage.

I was shocked to learn that while the United States accounts for approximately 5 percent of the world’s population, in 2007 an estimated 17 percent of the world’s users of illegal drugs were from the United States.

I recently introduced a bill in Congress called the Western Hemisphere Drug Policy Commission Act of 2009 (HR 2134).

This bill will create an independent commission to evaluate US policies and programs aimed at reducing illicit drug supply and demand.

Billions upon billions of dollars have been spent over the years to fight the drug war in Latin America and the Caribbean. Yet, in spite of our efforts, since the early 1980s, the number of US lifetime drug users has steadily risen for marijuana, cocaine and heroin.

Clearly, the time has come to reexamine our counternarcotics efforts here at home and throughout the Americas.

In closing, let me emphasize that the Summit – which by all accounts was an enormous success – must not be the high point of our relationship with Latin America and the Caribbean.

Rather, it must represent a new beginning where the US shows real respect for our neighbors to the South and pay sustained attention to the Western Hemisphere.

Again, I thank the Council for this tremendous honor.