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 alter-native
     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

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