PRESIDENT CHAVES: (Via interpreter) Good morning, fellow citizens. On this very happy occasion where we receive this visit from the Secretary of State of Costa Rica's main ally in the world, it is currently dulled by the death of Official Zamora from the legal investigation group who was cowardly slain by members of the criminal organizations that we are fighting with all of our strength and with support from the United States of America. My deepest condolences to Mr. Geiner's family, his wife, Ms. Susana. I believe this makes us reflect why we in this country must have tighter laws against paid assassins, drug trafficking, and international drug trafficking. It's not a matter of giving more or spending more money, but rather it's a matter of ensuring that those who are a threat to our society are sent to jail and make sure they remain there.
On a different note, it is a great honor, on a personal level, Mr. Secretary, to receive this visit from such a high-level official from our main ally, the United States of America, Mr. Marco Rubio. I believe the relationship between both countries is strong, where we agree on what we want for our respective people. We want prosperity. We want peace. We want law and order. We want our states and our societies to be prosperous, where people have the right to be happy and pursue their own happiness. And that is why we have had this historic relationship with the United States.
During this visit, we were able to outline our ongoing cooperation roadmap with this new administration. And I believe that we reached significant agreements around illegal immigration. We understand that Costa Rica is one of the most prosperous countries in Latin America, and it is a destination for migration. We also understand that we need to strengthen our fight against international organized crime, which is something that Mr. Secretary has very generously offered to continue helping with, and help us with the waivers to - that freeze aid in that area for our country.
We also talked about cyber security. But I would like you to hear from him about all the details. But nonetheless, Mr. Secretary, it's an honor. It's a pleasure. And I believe that we have paved the way for our joint work based on shared values, interests, and hopes. Welcome to Costa Rica.
SECRETARY RUBIO: (Via interpreter) Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you for being here. Thank you for this warm welcome to this warm country that's an ally with the United States, where we have a lot in common. We have shared history, values, and people. A lot of American people have decided to move to Costa Rica and live here, and I believe that that's because of the stability and security that this country has to offer.
We also want to give our most - express our most deep - deepest condolences for the loss of life of an officer that faced organized crime. And the most sacred thing that a government can offer to a society is security.
We have talked about common ground today. First of all, we talked about 5G and the importance of having cyber security. All of the technologies that will advance the economies in this century will be based on telecommunication and technology. And you have been very kind because you will allow - you will not allow companies that pose a threat to national security or economic security and to - and when you take a stand against companies like that, there's consequences. There's threats, there's blackmailing, and there's attempts to infiltrate different government agencies. And you have had a staunch position of that, and we will continue to work and help with that. Because this is an issue - cyber security - that we also face in the United States.
In this country, they have over 100 million cyber attacks a year. That is unacceptable. And we continue to build up on what we have so that we can face this foreign threat. Because it's - this threat is used to compromise your system and threaten the state and its economy. This is something that we need to discuss, and we will cooperate on.
Unfortunately, when there's efforts like these, there are individuals in power and in certain agencies that are willing, for different reasons, to support that which is contrary to the interest of the state and its people. So, we will work together to see what kind of consequences we will impose when something like that happens and to see how we can help you to punish this attitude by high-ranking government officials that are not working for the good of their national interests. So, anything that we can do to help in that, we will.
In terms of national security, we have the threat of these drug terrorist groups that use your country because of your geographic location as a transit point, with all the problems that come with that. So we will collaborate with you; we will investigate to see how we can involve the DEA and the FBI from the United States, working under your security teams here, so that they can investigate cases that are around drugs that are to be sent to the United States and other places. But this is - we're - this is work now we are going to build on.
I would like to congratulate you. I was here only once before, in 2017, for the first time, when that problem was just starting to surface. And you had done a commendable effort to face that. So, we will support you 100 percent.
And finally in terms of migration, you are a country that is not only used for transit but designation as well, because this is an advanced economy where there is job opportunities, and a lot of people want to stay. But you have also seen that there has been attempt to come through your borders, migration that are from different countries like - and continents such as Africa. And these people may have ties to terrorism, but they were in route to the United States. So, we will continue to work as strongly as ever with biometrics, et cetera, to identify these people and prevent them from damaging you, us, or any other country in the region for that matter.
And one of my priorities is to ensure that the U.S. foreign policy shows - sends a signal that it's better to be a friend than an enemy; it's better to be an ally than a troublemaker. And unfortunately, this has not been the case in the past - in several administrations in the past. And this is a complaint that I heard time after time - with my time in the Senate - that sometimes it's better to be the United States enemy than friend. Because if you are your friend, you're overlooked and ignored, and even criticized. But if you are an enemy, they want to come up with some arrangement, negotiate. And we cannot have a foreign policy that rewards those who wants to harm us and ignore those who cooperate with us. This is going to change under President Trump's Administration, and I hope that today's visit is the initial signal to say that President Trump will be a friend to their allies and will work together with your allies, especially when it's a country like this that we take as an example, as a model that we would like other countries around the world to follow.
If I may briefly say a few words in English.
PRESIDENT CHAVES: Please go ahead, sir.
SECRETARY RUBIO: (Via interpreter) He speaks perfect English, by the way. (Laughter.)
(In English) Just briefly, it's important to be here in Costa Rica. It's a country that I believe is a model for what we want to see other countries in the region become and, frankly, the world. And there's so much to work together on.
First, I want to congratulate and thank the president. They've been very firm on the security of their 5G system, on only allowing trusted vendors to bid on it. It's important. 5G is going to be critical technology for the development of all of the industries that are going to drive the 21st century. But it has to be secure. And when you confront companies that are not secure, they're backed by governments like the Government of China that likes to threaten, that likes to sabotage, that likes to use economic coercion to punish you. And they've been very firm, and I think they deserve a lot of support in confronting that and in carrying out a process of responsibly bringing 5G, which is going to be essential to future economic development.
This is a country that's also facing a cyber security issue. It's very serious - 110 million cyber attacks a year for a country of this size - it's extraordinary, and they have faced it very bravely. We're going to continue to work on what we're already doing together to help them secure their telecommunication systems and more broadly against cyber attacks. I think it's also important to understand that oftentimes, unfortunately, when you confront elements such as these, there are efforts to undermine your institutions by individuals in the government that should be working in the national interest but instead have found, for some reason, to become complicit with malign actors.
And so, we're going to try to work in cooperation with you to impose costs on those within the country who use their positions of authority to undermine the interests of the people of Costa Rica and in favor of a malign foreign actor.
And the issue of narco-traffickers - this is not a country that produces drugs because of geography. It is a place where people, these elements try to traffic drugs, and you've done extraordinary work in preventing those drugs from getting out. And we are going to continue to work with you on providing the technologies - that's what these waivers are about today - to prevent the exportation of drugs. But when you confront these groups, they become violent, and they become vicious. And so, we want to see how we can work, perhaps by allowing more DEA and FBI resources to conduct investigations together with your police and your law enforcement, to identify and help you capture and arrest them and bring them to justice.
And last but not least, on the issue of migration, which is a catastrophe of mass migration, Costa Rica is not a source of migration, but it is a route that's used for migration. Because it's an advanced economy unlike many of the other countries along the migratory route, some decide to stay, and you've done that at great cost, especially due to the instability in Nicaragua, where so many have left to flee that - but the cost - 20 percent of the population at this point here is from another country. And I know it's been extraordinary.
But the one area we've really worked very closely on is biometric data sharing. We want to build on that because - because we are seeing, and you have seen, and they have confronted here elements from all over the world - from other continents, from Africa, from the Middle East - that have links to terrorism, that have been stopped through our biometric sharing programs and identified and prevented from moving forward and doing God knows what if they had ever reached the United States. That's an important partnership and it's one we want to build on, and we're going to look for opportunities to build on and make stronger than ever through intelligence sharing, biometric sharing in real time, and very close coordination to ensure that this never becomes a place where terrorists can transit and do harm somewhere else.
It's an honor to be here. As I said, one of my priorities as Secretary of State is to ensure that, under President Trump, we have a foreign policy in which we are strong and providing support to our allies, and it's been the reverse for a very long time. It has seemed as if it's almost better to be an enemy of the United States than to be a friend. If you're a friend, you get sanctioned, you get criticized, and you get ignored. If you're an enemy or an adversary, we make concessions and cut deals and do all sorts of things to try to get on your good side, and that needs to change.
We need to have a foreign policy in which we are firm in confronting those that seek to do harm to the United States, and we are strong in support of those that work so closely with us, and in the case of Costa Rica serve as a model to what we hope the region and other countries around the world will one day become. Thank you. (Applause.)
MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Thank you very much, Marco Rubio, Secretary of State of the United States. Thank you very much, and thank you to the President of the Republic Rodrigo Chaves. We'll start with the round of questions. We'll start with our colleague Lucía Pineda from 100% Noticias.
QUESTION: (Via interpreter) Good morning to both of you. Mr. Secretary of State, I'd like to hear a bit if you discussed Nicaragua, CAFTA. We'd heard that it was - that you could talk about removing Nicaragua from CAFTA but you don't want it to affect its allies. What mechanisms did you agree upon in that regard, taking into consideration that there are no exclusion clauses that provide for removing a country from CAFTA?
And I'd like to continue with the issue of deportations. What's going to happen to Nicaraguans who were rejected in Nicaragua, who are not accepted by the regime, they're not allowed in? And the actions of Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela - what is the position of the U.S. vis-a-vis your three enemies on this continent? How are you going to react?
SECRETARY RUBIO: (Via interpreter) Well, first of all, in my opinion, those three regimes that exist in Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Cuba are enemies of humanity, and they have created a migration crisis. If it were not for these three regimes, there would not be a migration crisis in the hemisphere. They have created it because they are countries whose systems do not work.
In the case of Nicaragua, it's turned into a family dynasty with a co-presidency where they've basically tried to eliminate the Catholic Church and the religious community, and anyone who tries to take power from that regime is punished. And you've seen that. We've seen thousands and thousands of Nicaraguans who are fleeing that system for the same reason people are leaving Cuba or Venezuela. In the meantime, as I said in my words, there are more U.S. citizens living here than Costa Ricans living in the U.S., which is an example of what happens when a country does things right as opposed to those countries.
Now, when it comes to CAFTA, the administration has not taken a position on exactly what role Nicaragua will have within an agreement that existed to reward democracy. And today we must acknowledge that Nicaragua is not a democracy. It doesn't work as one. But we need to study that carefully because there are impacts with removing a country, and it could have an impact on neighboring countries who are part of that arrangement.
But that is something that we'll take very seriously, but for now we have not established an official position, because today is my two-week anniversary in this position, and I think it will take longer than two weeks to determine this. But I understand that it's a serious issue.
MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) John Hudson from The Washington Post.
QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. Secretary. On President Bukele's offer to jail incarcerated Americans in El Salvador, is that something you'd like to see happen?
And separately, there have been accounts of the U.S. exemptions on President Trump's aid freeze not working, resulting in clinics for HIV medication in Africa shutting down, the suspension of de-mining in Cambodia, and challenges for the malaria prevention program PMI. Are these waiver problems a thing you're seeing and looking to address? Thank you.
SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah. Let me address the first one. That's an offer President Bukele made. Obviously, we'll have to study it on our end. There are obviously legalities involved. We have a Constitution, we have all sorts of things. But it's a very generous offer. No one's ever made an offer like that, and - to outsource at a fraction of the cost at least some of the most dangerous and violent criminals that we have in the United States. But obviously, the administration will have to make a decision, and it's - but it's - I raised it yesterday because it's an incredible offer, an unprecedented one.
On the second point, look, we froze foreign aid so that we can review those programs. The waiver process exists so that we can review those programs. Today, here, we've issued waivers for programs that make all the sense in the world. They make America safer. They make America stronger, because the programs we've issued a waiver for are helping our trusted partners intercept and stop drugs and terrorists from coming into the United States.
But I issued a blanket waiver that said if this is lifesaving programs, okay - if it's providing food or medicine or anything that is saving lives and is immediate and urgent, you're not included in the freeze. I don't know how much more clear we can be than that.
And I would say if some organization is receiving funds from the United States and does not know how to apply a waiver, then I have real questions about the competence of that organization, or I wonder whether they're deliberately sabotaging it for purposes of making a political point.
I want to repeat what I've said: I have long supported foreign aid. I continue to support foreign aid. But foreign aid is not charity. It exists for the purpose of advancing the national interest of the United States. Every dollar we will spend as long as I'm Secretary of State - and as long as President Trump is in the White House is going to be a dollar that's advancing our national interests.
And you see this here today. These are programs that work. This is the kind of foreign aid we need to do. And there are programs that we have questions about that do not further the national interest, and they should be eliminated. And then there are those we need to learn more about.
But I have - we have a blanket waiver. It's been out for a week, and anybody who tells you they don't understand it, let me repeat it in very simple words. If it saves lives, if it's emergency lifesaving aid - food, medicine, whatever - they have a waiver. I don't know how much clearer we can be. And if they're not applying it, then maybe they're not a very good organization and maybe they shouldn't be getting money at all.
MODERATOR: Alejandro Urbina, Trivisión.
QUESTION: (Via interpreter) Good morning, Mr. President. Secretary Rubio, welcome to Costa Rica. We've learned that this morning before your meeting with the President Rodrigo Chaves you held a meeting with two former ministers of this administration. We'd like to know if you can share a bit about the contents of the meeting with former Minister Laura Fernández and Minister Batalla, and if you will have additional meetings in our country with a similar interest as the meetings you had this morning.
SECRETARY RUBIO: (Via interpreter) No, these are two people who up until a few days they were in government and during that time, during their time in government, they had been very strong allies of the United States with whom we exchanged - we shared ideas and values. I know they were outside, out of government. I wasn't going to have another chance to meet with them and I had the chance to greet them today and thank them for all of their cooperation. They've been very firm voices in everything we've talked about today. These are people who understand very well the threats that Chinese companies represent to economic sovereignty and the security of countries, and we simply wanted to thank them for everything they did in their positions during their time in government, in the cabinet, knowing that they have left government.
MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Shaun Tandon from the AFP.
QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. Secretary and Mr. President.
Mr. Secretary, could I follow up my colleague John's - John's remarks, his questions about the aid? You talk about the United States being a strong partner. China, of course, is doing aid projects around the world. When you have these drastic changes, what does it do to American soft power? Is there a question about the U.S. using leverage perhaps against some of these programs that are there?
And also, you mentioned there are, of course, legalities involved in sending prisoners overseas, if you could explain that. Obviously, there's the Constitution. What type of human rights protections would prisoners have if they're being sent overseas? Does that - is that a question that you raised with President Bukele?
And Mr. President, you're, of course, a development expert. How do you feel about the cuts in U.S. assistance or the changes in U.S. assistance, and how will this change worldwide and change with the competition with China? Thank you.
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, let me just answer the first - the second question is, again, President Bukele made an offer. We communicated it to the public. He communicated it to the public. We'll have to study it and see how something like that could even be applied.
On the first question about aid, no one's talked - this is a 90-day freeze through which it allows us now to review programs. Before we did the freeze we couldn't find out anything about some of these programs, and USAID in particular they refused to tell us anything. We won't tell you what the money is going to, where the money is for, who has it, which contractor it's been - in some cases it goes through four different contractors before it reaches the intended recipient. These are not my numbers. These are USAID's number.
In some cases, with USAID, 10, 12, 13 percent, maybe less of the money was actually reaching the recipient and the rest was going into the overhead and the bureaucracy. This isn't my money. This is taxpayer money. So, we're not going to eliminate foreign aid. We're going to have foreign aid that makes sense. We're going to have foreign aid that works. We're going to have foreign aid that furthers the national interest. We're going to have foreign aid that benefits our trusted partners and our allies.
I am here today - we've issued a waiver today - because in Costa Rica we have a trusted partner and an ally who has proven that they have taken aid from the United States and used it to fix a problem, to help us, to do it in a way that actually helps the United States. They're stopping drugs. They're stopping criminals. They're identifying terrorists. This is foreign aid that furthers the national interest.
Other programs we have questions about, and - but we've also issued waivers because we don't want anybody - to see anybody die or anybody be harmed in the short term. But we are going to conduct a review, and we are going to have foreign aid in this country that is going to further the national interest of the United States. If it doesn't make us stronger or more prosperous or more secure, we aren't going to spend taxpayer money on it. We owe that to the people of our country.
MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Final words from President Chaves and Marco Rubio before we end.
PRESIDENT CHAVES: (Via interpreter) In that order?
MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Yes.
PRESIDENT CHAVES: (Via interpreter) Mr. Secretary, it has been an honor to have you here. I am extremely pleased that we have come to fundamental agreements for our common interests in both countries. The partnership between the U.S. and Costa Rica is strong, and under your leadership and the leadership of President Trump we will make it even stronger, because it's dark before light but we are looking at each other and seeing eye to eye on these very important issues. Thank you very much, and it's been a great pleasure. (Applause.) Thank you.
SECRETARY RUBIO: (Via interpreter) Thank you very much for having us and thank you for your cooperation and our friendship as peoples and as countries. We will continue to work on that foundation, and do very important things that will help not only improve lives in the U.S., in Costa Rica. It will be a model for the region and for the world. God bless you all and thank you very much. (Applause.)
PRESIDENT CHAVES: (Via interpreter) Amen. God bless you as well.
MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Thank you very much to both of you and thank you to our colleagues from the press. Thank you for everyone who's been following this broadcast on social media. God bless. Have a good afternoon.
