Hearing of the Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Peace Corps, and Narcotics Affairs of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations - Nominations
Interview
Hearing of the Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Peace Corps, and Narcotics Affairs of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations - Nominations
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
SEN. JOHNNY ISAKSON (R-GA): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I concur completely with your comment at the outset about the qualification of these nominees. And particularly, they are career Foreign Service individuals.
And having traveled and seen what you do in some of the more challenging places in the world, I thank you for being willing to accept this responsibility, and certainly hope that you are confirmed.
And Mr. Callahan, you and I had a great conversation about some of my experience with Nicaragua when you came to my office. And I know Ortega, a Sandinista, is back in power and was re-elected with a plurality.
Is there any -- and I note -- and I've read that he has sought aid both from Venezuela and Chavez as well as Iran, and has received some commitments for the ports and from Iran and housing, I think, in Venezuela.
Do you know the extent to which they are working together, the extent to which Chavez is influencing Ortega and the extent to which he influenced his election?
MR. CALLAHAN: Yes, thank you, Senator. It's nice to see you again.
There is no question that the President Ortega does maintain a close relationship with President Chavez, that President Chavez, through the Petrol-Caribe program, is making oil available to Nicaragua at discounted rates.
But I would point out that the United States also has an economic engagement with Nicaragua which is both broad and deep, not only our bilateral aid program but the Millennium Challenge Account, which I think we discussed, which is $175 million over five years; there is the CAFTA program, the CAFTA free trade agreement, which has resulted in a dramatic increase in both Nicaraguan exports to the United States and American investment in Nicaragua. Through the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, which we play a leading role, about $1.7 billion of Nicaraguan debt has been forgiven.
So the Nicaraguan economy depends greatly on the United States, both for its trade and for a lot of its federal aid.
In addition to that, as I mention in my statement, we have a very active Peace Corps program. And these volunteers are all over the country.
To get back to your original point, yes, he does have a relationship with Mr. Chavez. But in a recent poll that I just looked at, the approval rating for the United States in Nicaragua is over 80 percent. So the Nicaraguans clearly have a great affection for the United States, which is something we can work with as well.
SEN. ISAKSON: And he won with 37.6 percent, so we're doing better than he did. (Laughter.) Right?
MR. CALLAHAN: Yeah. (Laughs.)
SEN. ISAKSON: Well, for all of you, Central and Latin America is critical to the interests of the United States. And I'm troubled by the amount of power Chavez has through the prices of petroleum and how he's leveraging that money. And I think your presence in those countries and your outreach to maintain the great friends that we do have and maybe win over a couple that we may have lost is going to be critically important to us, both in the short run as well as the long run. And I wish you the very best of luck.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source