MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Carondelet Palace. Next, the Foreign Minister of Ecuador Gabriela Sommerfeld and the Secretary of State of the U.S. Marco Rubio will be giving a press conference after the meeting with President Daniel Noboa. A note to our friends from the press: We will only take four questions, two for U.S. press that came with the Secretary of State delegation, two questions granted to Ecuadorian press. Once we conclude the remarks, we will go to the press release.
FOREIGN MINISTER SOMMERFELD: (Via interpreter) Thank you very much, and thank you and good morning to the national and international press. Secretary Rubio, once again it was a pleasure to meet with you and open our arms to you in greeting in our national territory to our dear friend, the U.S., our main trade partner, security partner, and great ally not only to Ecuador but also to the whole region.
During our meeting, which we held this morning with President Noboa and members of his cabinet, together with the Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his team, who came to Carondelet Palace, we discussed highly important topics for our bilateral relations and security. We started by speaking about security. We decided to work jointly in terms of security to be able to have a higher control in drug trafficking routes that affect our nations and to fight against money laundering through information exchange support, technological equipment support, working on borders, working against illegal mining.
And also especially we are working on an extradition treaty, which we are going to modernize because the latest one was created 150 years with an agenda that is at least 90 years old that do not respond to today's realities in the region. We have identified terrorist groups by Ecuador that are of interest to the U.S. and also by the U.S., such as Los Lobos and Los Choneros, gangs that Secretary Rubio will be giving you more information on.
On trade, we have agreed to work as fast as possible to overcome some barriers to trade, to a trade agreement that will strengthen our bilateral trade soon. We're looking for a safer environment for attracting U.S. companies investing in Ecuador to create more jobs in our country. Financially and economically, there is a commitment by the U.S., as Secretary Rubio said, for supporting working and successfully working on the IMF programs in the next few weeks.
So what is it that we are seeking through our relationship and this meeting? We are seeking to put together two nations, the U.S. and Ecuador; our region, the Americas; and to make them secure and prosperous without threats from transnational organized - criminal organizations and terrorist groups that want to subject our citizens to violence, and to create countries that respect democracy and work under the principles of rule of law and human rights. Thank you very much.
MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) We now give the floor to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
SECRETARY RUBIO: (Via interpreter) Thank you very much for the opportunity to meet with you today. This is my second visit, but the first as Secretary of State. I was here as a senator several years ago and I came back today. It was an honor to meet with you to - in very - two very important meetings.
First, we have to say that without security, we cannot make economic progress. This is something that our president, the Ecuadorian president, know well. And what we are seeking is to help this government in Ecuador to face these threats. These threats are basically brought in from other countries, such as drug trafficking, illegal mining, that form these illegal groups and basically coming from other countries that are affecting the country internally.
First and foremost, I want to say that today we are designating as terrorist groups Los Lobos and Los Choneros, which gives the U.S. many options to fight against them through this special designation. I want to announce that we are designated $13.7 million to fight drugs and crime at the Department of State through our efforts, and also we are working to invest $6 million for drones, UAVs for Ecuador, for the Ecuadorian navy, so that they can combat this scourge. This is the beginning of what we can do together. We spoke of the possibilities - this is something long-term - to station U.S. troops in Ecuador in cooperation, obviously, with the Ecuadorian Government to create opportunities for joint training and operations and face common threats.
Our relationship with Ecuador will not be limited just to security to fight drug trafficking and money laundering and illegal mining. That's not the only focus of our relationship. We wish to have a broad relationship - an economic relationship. We've had a longstanding relationship culturally, personally, economically. These are links that have existed for a long time. The U.S. have - import a lot from Ecuador. We want to expand it. I'm not in charge of tariffs, but I do understand their importance in our bilateral relationship. We have made much progress in that regard. We've made much progress in our negotiations, and we hope that soon we will be able to have a positive announcement to strengthen and promote our capacity to expand our relations - not just to maintain them but expand our economic relations.
We also spoke about the IMF. This is something that is the purview of the U.S. Treasury, but we will be speaking to them to see what can be done. This is something that can be solved, and we can see positive results in that regard.
We also spoke about the hemispheric threat that comes from narcoterrorism groups. We used to call them narcotraffickers, but they're really narcoterrorists. They commit terrorist acts against the government, against the population, against countries. And you've lived this yourselves in specific areas. It's important to say this. There are places in the country where people live peacefully, but violence is concentrated in geographic areas along the borders. And due to human mobility, this is something that has grown because there is a such a huge inflow of cash in cooperating with foreign groups like Venezuela - Cartel de Colombia - (inaudible).
These are things that affect the country internally. We are a hundred percent committed to work together because this is a threat for us. And at the end of the day, most of those drugs - you suffer violence, but most of these drugs are going to the U.S., and thousands and thousands of people have died because of these drugs coming to our country. So we are working with you.
If you allow me, I'll speak in English for a few moments. I speak in Spanish much more. I speak very fast in English.
(In English) - thank President Noboa, the foreign minister as well, for having me here today. It's my second visit. I was here as a senator just a few years ago, and now I've returned for the first time as Secretary of State. We had a very productive meeting and we have a lot to work on together. Obviously, the issue of security came up. This 2is an important issue. You cannot have economic prosperity without stability, and you cannot have stability without security. For example, it's nearly impossible to attract foreign investment into a country unless you have security.
And Ecuador is facing some substantial challenges that come from the exterior. These are narcoterrorist organizations that operate in the region who are using Ecuador as a transit zone. And that needs to be confronted, and they are confronting it. This government, this administration, is confronting it like it's never been confronted before by any previous administration, and we want to help.
Today we have designated as terrorist organizations two groups that operate here in Ecuadorian territory. One is Los Lobos and the other is Los Choneros. We've designated them as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, and that brings with it all sorts of options for the United States to work in conjunction with the Government of Ecuador in the future to stamp these groups out.
By the way, I want to say that we had a very successful - the first one in a long time of one of these leaders of one of these groups - an extradition to the United States. We want to modernize that extradition treaty. Both sides agree it's a pretty - we were able to get this guy because he's committed so many crimes, even a law that was 120 years old fit him. But we need to modernize it, and we're going to work together on that.
Today I can announce that we are going to be providing $13.5 million to help Ecuador with its - improve its ability to provide security for its citizens and take on the - combat drugs and crime, and another 6 million in UAVs for the navy here in Ecuador, again giving them domain awareness and the opportunity to really track these, because these are all very important. And we're going to do more.
There's more coming, but that's an important step that we wanted to take here today, and I'm proud to announce it. And we're ready to support in this - what is - frankly, it's a war. It's a war on killers. It's a war on terrorists. These are not narcotraffickers. These are narcoterrorists who terrorize the countries they operate in. Our relationship with Ecuador will not simply be based on security. It will not simply be based on the fight against narcoterrorism.
We also want to amplify, we want to grow an already existing and vibrant economic relationship. And so we are hopeful here that in a couple of weeks we will reach agreement. We're very close now on a trade agreement that we think will be incredibly beneficial to both of our economies. In fact, our economies are very compatible. What they export, we don't do; what we export, they don't do. So it's a really good fit, and we think we're very close to that, and hopefully we'll have something positive to announce in just a few weeks. But we've made a lot of progress and we're very close. I don't negotiate trade deals but I follow them very closely, and I know where we are on it, and we feel very positive about that.
So this is an important relationship, an incredibly willing partner. And I want to just say that President Noboa and his administration has done more just in the last couple years to take the fight to these narcoterrorists and these threats to the security and stability of Ecuador than any previous administration in the past. And sadly, I hate to say it, but there were previous administrations - going back 10 years - that were actually cooperating with some of these terrorist organizations. And we are - when we see someone that's willing to stand up, at great risk - personal risk, broader societal risk - we're going to be 100 percent supportive. It's the reason for my visit today, it's the reason why we'll be working very closely with this government to achieve our mutual - our goals that benefit both the United States and the great people of Ecuador.
Thank you. Muchas gracias.
FOREIGN MINISTER SOMMERFELD: Muchas gracias.
MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Thank you, Secretary. We will now go to questions from the press. First, we give the floor to Daniel Borja, TCN Television.
QUESTION: (Via interpreter) Good morning. Secretary Rubio, Foreign Minister. Regarding international cooperation and then designating Los Choneros and Los Lobos as narcoterrorists, what does this mean for the U.S. Government, and where would this take us? Especially given that the ramifications or the links that these gangs could have in - that could affect not only the U.S. but also Ecuador. What would be the scope of this?
And Madam Foreign Minister, could you tell us what is the scope of this cooperation - economically, as the Secretary just said? How could this help the government of our country?
SECRETARY RUBIO: (Via interpreter) Regarding the designation of these two groups as FTOs, this will allow us to go against the assets, properties, and monies of any individual in the U.S. or in the U.S. banking system related to these groups. This is something that we have used quite successfully in Haiti, for example, in other countries. Secondly it allows us something that I did not talk about is intelligence sharing. Sharing intelligence is limited because it cannot be used in operations that could lead to lethal actions - that is, they can capture people. But now we can share information without limitations as to how the Government of Ecuador can use it against these terrorist groups. They're terrorists. We can help them fight these terrorist groups. These are examples of opportunities that we have thanks to this designation.
There is another group we're considering. There are other groups that we are considering as designated. We have a process through our system, a legal process we have to follow. And hopefully in the next few weeks we will at least have another couple - one or a couple designations.
(In English) And just in English, (inaudible) well, what terrorist designation mean - it means that we can now, number one, go after the money, the properties, the banking system of anyone who is related to these groups. In the end what you find is these groups are making money, that money finds its way into the U.S. or dollarized banking system. We can now go after them, and it's proven quite effective, for example, against the gangs in Haiti and in other parts of the world.
The other is from an intelligence sharing standpoint. It now allows us to share intelligence that can be actioned for potentially lethal operations. And that means the ability to kill terrorists. And not by us, but by the host country. Sometimes in the past you can't provide them evidence that they're going to - they're going to use it to arrest them, yes, but if they're going to use them to go - these guys don't usually go down willingly. And so it opens up the aperture for the amount of intelligence that we can now share, which is very valuable when you're trying to wage war against these vicious animals, these terrorists.
FOREIGN MINISTER SOMMERFELD: (Via interpreter) Thank you. Regarding the question you just asked us to the scope of this cooperation and the economic terms of our meetings, just as the Secretary has stated and myself have stated, we spoke about the moment that is approaching Ecuador. Because we have a board meeting with the IMF where we will have the vote of the U.S. We have spoken about programs and disbursements coming up so we can have greater stability and growth in our country. These resources are extremely important to Ecuador, and they will need the support of the U.S. for that. This does not mean that we will continue working on other programs for financing projects and other mechanisms that we have been using with the U.S., such as the DFC, who financed some of our important projects in infrastructure and energy in Ecuador.
MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Thank you. The question will be asked by John Hudson from The Washington Post.
QUESTION: Gracias. Mr. Secretary, when it comes to the drug trade, Venezuela is not the most problematic country, but it is a major U.S. adversary. Should we expect smugglers coming from friendly U.S. allied nations like Mexico and Ecuador to also face unilateral execution from U.S. forces? And if so, will the administration seek authorization for the use of military force? Thank you.
SECRETARY RUBIO: You're wrong in your question. Number one, Venezuela is a major source, and the reason why is the following - and I've seen a lot of this reporting, and it's fake reporting and I'll tell you why. It says that somehow Venezuela is not involved in the drug trade because the UN says they're not involved in the - I don't - the UN - I don't care what the UN says. The UN doesn't know what they're talking about. Maduro is indicted by a grand jury in the Southern District of New York. That means the Southern District of New York presented the evidence to a grand jury, and a grand jury indicted him. And then a superseding indictment came out that was unsealed about a year and a half ago that specifically detailed Maduro's actions. So number one - let there be no doubt - he, Nicolás Maduro, is an indicted drug trafficker in the United States, and he's a fugitive of American justice.
Number two, for cooperative governments, there's no need, because those governments are going to help us identify them. We don't - they're going to help us identify them. Now, they're going to help us find these people and blow them up if that's what it takes. They're going to help us with it. I don't know if you saw yesterday, Trinidad - Trinidad, a country that has suffered greatly from all these drugs coming out of Venezuela - they were congratulating us for it. They thought it was a great thing because they've suffered from it. So we're going to continue to hunt for, like we always have, but this time we're not just going to hunt for drug dealers or their little fast boats and say let's try to arrest them. No, we're - the President has said he wants to wage war on these groups because they've been waging war on us for 30 years and no one has responded. But there's no need to do that in many cases with friendly governments, because the friendly governments are going to help us. They may do it themselves, and they're going to - and we'll help them do it.
(Via interpreter) The question is whether the U.S. will take measures. First and foremost, Nicholas Maduro's a narcotrafficker. This is not just me saying it. It's a grand jury that's - so in New York - in New York, the prosecution presented the evidence, and he was indicted - a grand jury of the people of New York. And two years ago, a new indictment was put forth detailing the role of Nicolas Maduro, especially during the Chávez years, with drugs.
You say, oh, the UN don't agree. I don't care what the UN says. I don't care. They are - he is a fugitive of U.S. justice. He's not the legitimate leader of Venezuela. We never recognized him. He is an indicted fugitive causing trouble in the region, and he was indicted by a grand jury in the Southern District of New York.
The second question is whether we'll have similar actions to what we had a few days ago with narcoterrorists with allied countries. And I can tell you that in these countries perhaps it won't be necessary, because these countries will cooperate with us. They've been - will be working with us in those actions. For Venezuela, they can't cooperate with us because they're part of terrorism. They're not a government. That is clear. Nicolás Maduro is not a government or political regime. They are a terrorist organization and organized crime organization that have taken over a country so that they can become the leaders so that they can become billionaires. And that is why they were indicted by the courts in the U.S. But with Ecuador and other friendly countries, they are cooperating with us. In Venezuela, there is no legitimate country or cooperation. They are in fact involved in drug trafficking.
QUESTION: Do the agreements that you mentioned, including - do those include taking third country migrants deported from the U.S.? And is Ecuador agreeing to do this in exchange for security aid that Secretary Rubio just announced?
FOREIGN MINISTER SOMMERFELD: (Via interpreter) Thank you for your question. When we talk about cooperation among friendly countries, this is a comprehensive cooperation that entail and benefit one country and the other. In this case, in the migration policy of President Trump, these types of agreements as a safe third country are very important for people who are in the process of seeking refuge. The - Ecuador will support the U.S. It's symbolic and important for a partner. We will do so in a coordinated fashion by protecting - by interests of the Ecuadorian state and given the right that the Ecuadorian state has to reject those that we believe are not positive for our country, and we won't accept their paperwork. So, of course, we will do so because this is important for our partner.
As Secretary Rubio just said, we have a broad cooperation framework in several issues. Migration is one of them. President Noboa - the fight against illegal migration is very important because it also is part of transnational organized criminal groups that benefit from the suffering of civilians in the region and in our country.
MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Thank you. Denise Alasar from Visionarias.
QUESTION: (Via interpreter) Good morning, Foreign Minister. In your opinion, how did Marco Rubio receive the explanations received by the ministers that were part of the meeting regarding the conflict between the Ecuadorian state and narcoterrorism?
And for you, Secretary of State Rubio, you spoke about the possibility of having a military base installed in Ecuador.
FOREIGN MINISTER SOMMERFELD: (Via interpreter) Thank you, again, for your question. How was this information received? Well, it's information that is exchanged every day through our borders, and it is received through diplomatic channels. These meetings where we have a chance to see each other personally, eye to eye, to hear our voices directly - they're so important.
This is where you can see that we share values, that there is a good relationship, that we are all focused on the same goals. Because the goals that President Noboa stated for his government are very similar to those that President Trump has. We're seeking to fight organized transnational crime, terrorist groups. We want prosperous and economic growth and - prosperity and economic growth in our country, fighting irregular migration, and to bring Ecuadorians back to Ecuador so that they have a safe program so that they can be safe in other places in a safe environment.
The information that we have received so far by President Noboa himself through the information that was given to him through the ministers was very well received because we have seen different angles of what is happening in Ecuador and what is also shared every day through diplomatic channels.
SECRETARY RUBIO: (Via interpreter) Yes, I didn't see anything new, because we are talking all the times. All the time we're in constant communication through our embassies, and so we're very well aware of everything that happens, and I personally know everything that happens. But it's important to see each other personally. These visits should be seen not just as a visit but as a signal of how important we believe our relationship with Ecuador is.
Regarding the military base, Ecuador is a sovereign country. If they invite us - we have to be invited. If they invite us, we will consider it. In fact, we had a military base in the past. We were asked to leave, and during Correa's administration we left. If we're invited to come back, this is strategic; we will study it, see if it makes sense, if it helps us. And if we can help with illegal mining, narcoterrorism, and illegal fishing, which is extremely serious - if we can help with that, we are willing to consider it. This is something that the President and the Department of Defense will make. But if we are asked to do so, this is an ally and a friend in a strategic location. They are a sovereign country, and they have to invite us to come, and we will take this into consideration.
(In English) But in terms of (inaudible) there's nothing in the meetings we haven't discussed in the past, because we're in constant communication through our embassy, through the personal relationships that we have. And I follow the issues very closely and I've been very familiar with Ecuador for a very long time. These visits are important, though, because I think they signal how much we value our relationship with Ecuador, how important our relationship with Ecuador, and how much we appreciate the cooperation and the cooperative spirit in which we interact.
The other question was whether we were considering military bases. Look, Ecuador's a sovereign country. They'd have to invite us. We used to be here. In 2009, we were asked to leave by Correa, who didn't like us very much and I guess wanted to help out the narcotraffickers, and so we left. But if they invite us to return, we will consider it very seriously because it's a request of an ally in a very strategic part of the world.
MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) So in closing, we have a question - Shaun Tandon from AFP.
QUESTION: Thanks, Secretary Rubio and Madam Foreign Minister. Mr. Secretary, if I could go briefly to another part of the world, there have been moves by members of the Israeli Government toward annexation of the West Bank. It's been discussed. This is explicitly a step to bury the prospect of a Palestinian state, which you've publicly opposed. Does the United States either support or accept these moves? The United Arab Emirates have said that that - that this is a red line, that this would jeopardize the Abraham Accords.
