Sec. Marco Rubio participated in a Memorandum of Understanding for Cooperation in the Examination of Protection Requests signing ceremony with Paraguayan Foreign Minister Rubén Ramírez Lezcano on Thursday.
00:00Thank you all for being here, it's a great day to reaffirm the strong ties and bonds of cooperation, partnership and alliance between the United States and the government of Paraguay, the nation of Paraguay, that I visited as a senator just a couple of months ago and we talked quite a bit and interact and this is just another
00:30example of cooperation and the ability to work together to prevent something that we both countries are very concerned about and that is illegal and irregular migration which poses a national security threat and so the ability to work together on this in partnership is extraordinary and I want to thank the foreign minister for being here today, I want to thank my friend the president who said President Peña who's a great strong partner and ally of the United States and we're very happy to be
00:59signing this here today along with our partners from the Department of Homeland Security.
01:03Brevemente en español quiero darle las gracias al ministro por estar aquí con el canciller por estar con nosotros en el día de hoy y poder celebrar lo que ya existe una alianza, una amistad muy fuerte entre no solamente los gobiernos de Paraguay y Estados Unidos sino entre los pueblos de Estados Unidos y Paraguay, lo cual cooperamos con tantos temas que vamos a cooperar en muchos temas más.
01:26Las oportunidades económicos, las oportunidades económicos, las oportunidades económicas que existen son enormes, pero hoy estamos aquí para poner en escrito nuestra cooperación sobre lo que es la inmigración irregular, la inmigración ilegal, que si ha abusado obviamente es algo que puede causar problemas de seguridad nacional para ambos países.
01:43Así que hoy estamos aquí para firmar estos acuerdos que es un punto más en lo que es una alianza y una amistad muy fuerte, un enlace muy fuerte que existe entre nuestros países, nuestros gobiernos y nuestros pueblos.
01:55Muchísimas gracias. Thank you for being here.
01:57Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary. Really, you are a very close friend of our government, of our country. You have been the only one after 50 years of senator visiting Paraguay, and that represents a very important alliance that we are developing.
02:17Today, this agreement represents our deep engagement with our governments to work not only on migration program, but also in security.
02:34We are working on trade. We are working as well as on investment.
02:39We are working in security cooperation, and that represents the huge agenda, the bilateral agenda, it means the DBOC-5 and the alliance that we have as a Paraguay government with the United States government, and personally with you, Secretary, is amazing to work and cooperate with all your staff here as well.
03:06Really, it is a pleasure to be here. Thank you for hosting us for this meeting, and the Homeland Security Secretary, really, we appreciate very much this agreement that represents the opportunity to work in several issues.
03:22We were discussing about the visa waiver. We are discussing about our common and shared values and principles, democracy, freedom, human rights, rule of law, that represent our principles and values shared. Thank you. Thank you so much.
03:45Yeah. First of all, Minister Ramirez and Secretary Rubio, thank you so much for the diplomacy, being able to help us.
03:51You know, the Secretary Nome and myself have been very focused on establishing safe third country agreements within Latin America, South America, even in Africa.
04:00So this has been a big step for us. We're very appreciative of the opportunity to be able to work with you.
04:04Like you said, we did talk a little bit kind of behind the scenes about the visa waiver program and some of the different programs that are out there where we work together.
04:13And we are very much appreciative of everything that Paraguay is doing.
04:17We look at Paraguay as a law enforcement border security partner.
04:21You guys have been a great partner, and this is a great step.
04:24You know, the America's asylum system is one that has been significantly abused in the previous administration.
04:31And being able to sign an agreement like this really starts to loosen the burden within the homeland security and our ability to be able to process and provide the asylum process to people that are actually deserving of it and go through the process.
04:44So we just want to thank you for what you're doing.
04:46We want to thank you for your partnership, Secretary.
04:48Secretary, we just think everything that you do and with your team, we're always appreciative.
04:53And thank you both.
04:55I also want to thank your staff and the team at Homeland Security for putting this together and our team here at the State Department.
05:00And your team.
05:01Without your team, we couldn't.
05:03Try not to stand.
05:04Thank you, guys.
05:05Okay.
05:05Well, let's sign.
05:08Secretary Rubio, Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, Edgar, and Foreign Minister Ramirez are signing a memorandum of understanding for the cooperation and the examination of protection requests.
05:29This memorandum will further our cooperation to deter the legal immigration and promote hemispheric security.
06:38Secretary Rubio, in this context of security, what implications do you have the desfile of the naval forces in the Caribe against the cartels of the ROGA?
06:52Well, the ROGA is a threat to the United States and the United States.
06:54And, of course, this is a group that is operating with impunity in international waters, simply exporting to the United States veneno, that they are matando, that they are destroying communities.
07:08So, it is a very serious issue.
07:10And we have many countries that cooperate with us in this effort.
07:14And some, unfortunately, that no.
07:15The question, if I may, in English is just asking about why the U.S. forces will be involved in the Western Hemisphere going after drug traffickers and drug trafficking networks.
07:45There are designated narco-terrorist groups operating in the region, some of them utilizing international airspace, international waters to transit poison into the United States.
07:56And those groups will be confronted.
07:58The president has made that clear from the time he operated.
08:00In specific, the question was about the cartel of the Sons, the cartel de los Solos, which is a criminal organization that happens to masquerade as a government.
08:08The Maduro regime is not a government.
08:09It's not a legitimate government.
08:11We've never recognized them as such.
08:12They are a criminal enterprise that basically has taken control of national territory of a country.
08:19And who, by the way, are also threatening U.S. oil companies that are operating lawfully in Guyana.
08:25So, the president has been very firm.
08:28Anything that's a threat to the national security of the United States, he's going to confront.
08:32But, obviously, I have nothing further to add to that at this point.
08:36Mr. Chair, if I may, how are the preparations for the Putin-Trump meeting going in Alaska?
08:42Mr. They're going very fast because this is put together very quickly.
08:46And it's in Alaska.
08:48So, we've got to get there.
08:50We'll see how tomorrow plays out.
08:52As the president said, his hope is to interact with tomorrow and sort of get a sense very quickly and early whether a peace is possible or not.
09:00The president has spoken to him, I believe, four times by phone.
09:03I felt it was important to now speak to him in person and look him in the eye and figure out what was possible and what isn't.
09:10This is the president of peace.
09:11He wants that war to end.
09:13He's going to do everything he possibly can.
09:15If he sees an opportunity to talk about achieving peace, he's going to pursue it.
09:19And we'll know tomorrow at some point, as the president said, probably very early in that meeting, whether something is possible or not.
09:25We hope it is.
09:26So, Mr. Chair, are you concerned about the violence of being buried in Colombia?
09:29No sé si le preocupa el aumento de la criminalidad o de la violencia política en este país, en Colombia.
09:35¿En Colombia?
09:36Sí.
09:36Bueno, es muy lamentable, como he visto con la muerte del senador Uribe, que es una cosa muy trágica.
09:43Y obviamente nos preocupa la violencia política en cualquier país.
09:46Pero un país como Colombia, que ha tenido que sobrevivir tantas épocas tan difíciles, que había progresado tanto, que se encuentra en un momento como este,
09:56obviamente nos unimos al pueblo de Colombia y a los esfuerzos de sus instituciones que tanto han hecho para lograr lo que se pudo lograr en Colombia y que lo que no se puede perder.
10:07I'm sorry.
10:07Secretary, do you think that Ukraine is prepared to see any land that are currently in control,
10:12or are we looking at more a return of potentially Russian forces from the current front line of war?
10:21Well, to achieve a peace, I think we all recognize that there'll have to be some conversation about security guarantees.
10:27There'll have to be some conversation about, you know, territorial disputes and claims and what they're fighting over.
10:33All these things will be part of a comprehensive thing.
10:35But I think the president's hope is to achieve some stoppage of fighting so that those conversations can happen.
10:41These are tiny technical things that take some time to work out.
10:44So what to have a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia, you will need agreement from both Ukraine and Russia.
10:51And this war has been going on for three and a half years now.
10:53It was a war that started under the previous administration.
10:56The president's inherited that and he's trying to do now what he can to bring it to an end.
11:00But obviously, the longer these wars go on, the harder they are to end.
11:03And even as I speak, even as we talk here now, there are changes happening in the battlefield which have an impact on what one side views as leverage or the other.
11:12So that's the reality of ongoing fighting, which is why a ceasefire is so critical.
11:15That's been our proposal from Jeddah when we left in Saudi Arabia.
11:19But we'll see what's possible tomorrow.
11:20Let's see how the talks go.
11:22We're hopeful.
11:23We want there to be a peace.
11:24We're going to do everything we can to achieve one.
11:26But ultimately, it'll be up to Ukraine and Russia to agree to win.
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