







Also on the schedule, at 10:00 a.m. Secretary Clinton swore in Eric Schwartz, Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration, at the State Department.
At 11:30 a.m. Secretary Clinton attended an Expanded Bilateral Meeting, Press Availability, and Lunch with President Obama and the 81-year-old President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, at the White House. If you are interested, read the full remarks of President Obama and President Murbarak here!
At about 1:30 p.m. this afternoon Secretary Clinton met with President Obama at the White House to brief him on the details of her trip to Africa. I wish I could find some extra juicy details on these conversations but nothing to report from the press briefings and so far no other leaks... Everyone keep your eyes and ears open and be sure to let ATHC know if you get any further info on this meeting.
Also note that not only did Hillary have a meeting with President Obama, but Bill did too! The ex-president was scheduled to return to his former residence to debrief President Barack Obama on his talks and meetings with North Korean President Kim Jong Il. Ah but don't get too excited, their paths did not cross in the halls surrounding the Oval Office, talk about déjà vu! Read more on that meeting in the upcoming post!
Instead of attending the meeting with President Obama and Bill, Hillary held a bilateral meeting with Dr. Jaime Bermudez Merizalde, Foreign Minister of the Republic of Colombia, at the State Department.




Primary topics for discussion between the two of them included the conclusion of the U.S.-Colombia Defense Cooperation Agreement and, of course, the ongoing situation in Honduras.
Part of the importance of this meeting was for the Secretary to clear up a new U.S.-Colombia security pact that has angered some South American nations. The pact is aimed at fighting drug trafficking and terrorism and will not create U.S. bases in the Andean nation the Secretary assured.
"The United States does not have and does not seek bases inside Colombia."






One huge critic of this deal is Hugo Chavez. Chavez says the U.S. plan risks sparking war in the region and has vowed to reduce trade with Colombia as a reprisal.
He has said his country needs to be prepared for an attack and plans to beef up Venezuela's army by buying tanks and other weapons from Russia. But Clinton urged critics of the deal to look at it closely.
"I would also ask that ...more countries, you know, actually help us, help us in this fight. Don't just stand on the sidelines, and certainly don't contribute to the problems by doing and saying things that undermine the efforts that our governments are taking to try to protect the entire region from the scourge of narco-traffickers."Read the full text here or watch below (At about 5:40 into the video, Merizalde knocks the microphone off of the stand. Apparently Hillary later teased him saying something like, "I just can't take you anywhere!):
2 comments:
Your updates made my day. It's always so wonderful to see Hillary in action.
so glad to hear that!! Thanks for the comment :D
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