Clinton Gives Voice to Satellite Diplomacy

Showcasing a novel form of satellite diplomacy, President Clinton on Thursday conducted a hemispheric “town hall meeting,” fielding questions from audiences in Buenos Aires, Los Angeles and Miami on topics that meandered from drug policy to immigration to campaign finance reform.

The president, who also designated Argentina a “non-NATO ally”--a largely symbolic pat on the back that has provoked some envy elsewhere in South America--used the meeting to compliment the host nation’s shift toward an active role in peacekeeping around the world: “We believe that we should be sending a signal that this is the policy that other countries should follow,” Clinton said.

The town hall meeting itself was perhaps more remarkable as an exercise in targeted, international communication than for most of what Clinton told his respectful questioners. Los Angeles-based Univision, which is run by former Clinton Cabinet official Henry G. Cisneros, broadcast the event via satellite in Spanish to an estimated 533 million households in 33 countries, including the United States, South America and Spain.

During the hourlong broadcast, Clinton lauded information technology as a tool for teaching the poor and suggested that it would one day end Cuba’s dictatorship. Asked what the U.S. could do to combat human rights violations in the region, he said the United States was no longer in “the invasion business” but can work with and apply pressure on nations in the hemisphere to improve their records. And he urged legal immigrants living in the United States to become citizens.

Asked about U.S. drug consumption, which helps support the illegal industry in South America, he declared, “We can show a lot of our drug consumption is going down.”

He took most questions from an audience of about 75 in Buenos Aires but occasionally broke off to engage smaller groups assembled in Los Angeles and Miami, watching his long-distance questioners on a screen. Clinton stood on a blue-carpeted platform during most of the questions; a wall nearby sported stylized letters spelling out “Voces del Futuro”--Voices of the Future--and was bathed in sleek images of spinning globes.

The questioners, picked by Univision and screened by the White House, were young leaders: professionals, educators, entrepreneurs and human rights activists.

It was when the moderator here, U.S.-based Univision anchorwoman Maria Elena Salinas, asked a question about campaign finance that the smile vanished from Clinton’s face.

“Some people in Latin America criticize presidents because they use their position to benefit from power and from elections, and there are people who criticize you perhaps for the same thing, by making phone calls from the White House or perhaps holding coffees for people who could finance your campaign. Do you think there is anything valid in any of those criticisms?” she asked.

“No,” Clinton said, prompting some laughter. “But it’s true that I tried to win reelection, and it’s true that I asked people to support me, and it’s true that from time to time I actually talked to my supporters. I think that’s how democracy works.”

Clinton also seemed a bit impatient with a Los Angeles questioner who asked if the United States should not improve the existing North American Free Trade Agreement among the U.S., Mexico and Canada before pursuing free trade deals in South America and before Congress gives Clinton much broader authority to negotiate trade agreements--authority that Congress so far has withheld.

“Absolutely not,” snapped Clinton, who launched into a broad defense of NAFTA and the benefits of expanded trade.

At another point, he seemed taken with a question about whether he had policies for young people “to become part of the strategic decision-making process” and whether such an approach could help bring different continents together.

“To be perfectly honest with you, I never thought of it in that way before,” Clinton said. “. . . I would urge anyone else here who is interested in this, if you have any ideas, write me about it. I will think about it and see what can be done.”

Asked about the legal situation of Central Americans who were allowed into the United States under special refugee status during the civil wars of the 1980s and early 1990s and who now face possible deportation, the president expressed support for legislation to do the “humane” thing for them.

In May, Clinton vowed to fight Congress over a new law that would force the deportation of thousands of Central Americans who came to the U.S. during those years. Last week, congressional Republicans backed off that plan, tentatively agreeing to avoid some deportations.

After the cameras stopped rolling Thursday, Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton waded into the studio audience and talked with the questioners, most of whom spoke English.

In a meeting with Argentine President Carlos Menem earlier Thursday, Clinton formally announced his plan to designate the South American nation as a non-NATO ally. The decision, reflecting U.S. gratitude for Argentine involvement in peacekeeping operations worldwide, has prompted protest from Chile and raised questions about whether the U.S. will remain evenhanded in its dealings with South American nations.

The decision reflected “the truly extraordinary efforts that have happened just in the 1990s, where Argentina has gone with us to Bosnia, has gone into Haiti, is working with British soldiers in Cyprus, is working in Mozambique,” Clinton said.

The designation as a special military ally is largely symbolic. It will give Argentina a limited priority in purchasing some U.S.-made military supplies and increase cooperation between the two nations in military training.

Although the United States has said it also might sell F-16 fighters to Chile, Clinton discounted the possibility of a South American arms race, suggesting that it would be prevented by shared information between nations.

“We want Argentina to be working with Chile, to be working with Brazil. It would be the height of stupidity for these countries to go to war with each other,” he said.

Earlier Thursday, Clinton laid a wreath at the tomb of Jose de San Martin, Argentina’s nation-builder. He also met privately with members of Argentina’s Jewish community who are deeply frustrated by two unsolved terrorist bombings against Jewish facilities in Buenos Aires in 1992 and 1994.

Clinton today is scheduled to visit the Andean resort town of San Carlos de Bariloche, and then the Iguazu Falls on the Argentina-Brazil border before returning to the U.S. on Sunday.