BRAZILIAN, ARGENTINIAN STOCK MARKETS STRICKEN BY TEQUILA EFFECT, MEXICAN CRISIS MAKE LATIN AMERICAN ECONOMY COLLAPSE
-Financial Times, January, 2 1995
The President’s main focus at the beginning of the 1995, besides the inauguration of the new Congress, was the creation of the WTO ; even if he was against free trade and for a more protectionist economy, he used to say Secretary of Commerce Rudman and Secretary of the Treasury Rohatyn that it was a necessary evil and another way to cooperate with the Third World.
I was with Ed Rollins drafting his State of the Union speech then Hill Harper, who was then a new staffer who had just entered my office, asked to the President :
-Do you plan to speak of a plan of relief to the Mexican economy ?
Ed Rollins rolled his eyes and sighed : knowing President Perot, he already knew that he could say nothing ; in fact, he haven’t said a thing for eighteen months, since he succeeded Tom Luce who could have a bit of influence of the President. On my part, I tried to make a sign to Harper, telling him not to infuriate the President. The latter looked Harper straight at the eyes, and said with a neutral voice :
-What is your name, young man ?
-Francis Harper, Sir. But you can call me Hill.
-How did you came here, Hill ? Here in the White House ?
-Well, after my studies, I wanted to help the Freedom Party, Sir, and I obtained a job of staffer in the White House.
-What studies have you done, and where ?
-Harvard Law School, Sir.
-So you didn’t studied international or trade relations, do you ?
Harper said nothing, waiting for the President’s reaction.
-How dare you tell me what I have to deal with ?
-« Well… » Harper was fearing for his job, I could say it. Ed Rollins said nothing at this point. « I was always told that the stability of Mexico was crucial to the United States, as his best ally in Latin America but also his immediate neighbour. If the Mexican economy collapse, the United States should be ready to everything to prevent it, shouldn’t they ? »
President Perot nodded, and stood up. Without looking at any moment at Harper, he began to walk around the Oval Office.
-Well, young man, it seems that you are still too idealistic to actually serve at this position, but you are here to learn, aren’t you ? Let’s take a look at what is occurring in Mexico. First : Mexico is our best neighbour, but it’s also the first place much of the hard drugs come from, the ones that corrupt our youth. When I was inaugurated, I came to Mexico and offered Salinas a fortune if he came into open conflict with the narco-traffickers. He told me to fuck off, and I know his successor is too much focused on political reforms to think to that matter. Second, this Colosio guy’s first declaration is to put the blame on the NAFTA dismantlement ! Did I said that it was his predecessor’s fault ? I ran the election on the issue of free trade, and now I have this Chicano criticizing me. And third, Colosio is the last scion of a so-called single-party democracy that has held Mexico for 74 years. If his term doesn’t go so well, and if it can help things to change, when we will help the cause of democracy. Fourth, if things go terribly awry in Mexico, we will still have our assets on oil there, and our boys ready to intervene. Fifth, it’s precisely because I already spent my money on Somalia and Rwanda, respectively because Bush wanted to and because I needed to, and that I am speaking with the Republicans to have my reforms passed, now I will not send US income to a corrupt country.
He finally sat down and said with a big laugh :
-And as a Texan, if he we get a 52nd state in Mexico, I wouldn’t be upset, to the contrary.
He then dismissed everybody in the room. Harper said nothing, he was too happy not to have been fired on the spot. The President asked me to stay, he sat to the Resolute Desk with his files and said privately to me :
-Tell the black guy to come more and more to the reunions. He’s idealistic, but he’s tough, he’s smart and he has the guts to speak loud before me. He must be the only one in this damned staff to do so. I like it. This dude will go far.
-From The President’s Son-in-Law : Memoirs from Washington, by former White House Counsel Clay Mulford
« President Perot was such a great President but yes, he had a terrible temper. It was not easy to deal with him, but I was not the only staffer who could claim good working relations with him. »
-Former Vice President of the United States Hill Harper (F-IA), interviewed on CNN, September, 8 2011
« You see, I was the Drug Czar for the late President Bush and I know that if President Perot appointed me to Mexico, it was because of the drugs problem. So, I’m sitting on this problem at any time.
-But do you think President Colosio will take on the narco-traffickers on the near future ?
-Frankly, I think not. First, he has his hands tied by his own party, and he has the internal reforms and the economic crisis to deal with, and there are rumours of popular uprising in the south. So the drugs problem is not his current main task. Second… Well, I’m disagreeing there with President Perot, but a war on drugs would be a disaster for Mexico. The Mexican drug-traffickers aren’t producers, but actually control the road to the United States and make everything to stand on it. They have enough manpower and money to counter all the official attempts, by deadly force or by corruption. A Mexican war on drugs would turn the country into another Colombia. »
-Former Governor of Florida and current US Ambassador to Mexico Bob Martinez at Politics with Chris Matthews, January, 13 1995
7.2 EARTHQUAKE HITS KOBE, JAPAN ; CITY DESTROYED
-Los Angeles Times, January, 17 1995
« I have been in politics for more than thirty years, and I have never seen such a level of incompetence in the Perot administration or the current Democratic Party. Why does the Dems keep losing each presidential election ? I will tell you why : because they refuse to deal with the real issues, the social ones, and because they have turned away from their faith and pride.
(applause) The politicos always said that I would never run than on a single issue, the pro-life one. But I’m running for President of the United States, and this, I will do on all this issues. And I’m gonna win. »
-Fmr. Gov. Robert P. Casey, Sr. (D-PA), at a meeting in Philadelphia, PA, January, 21 1995
« Now, speaking of the current crisis in Mexico : let it be clear, it’s not the task of the US Treasury to relieve the Mexican economy. I…
(shouts and boos from the Democratic bench) Let me finish ! I think we already have our own problems at home and that President Luis Donaldo Colosio, whom I had on the phone yesterday, prefers to take matters on his own hands. Plus, we should force this country to ponder on his current state of affairs, on his democracy. And I can already tell you that I will veto, without any negotiation, any proposal of relief package to Mexico.
(A Representative, later identified as Luis Gutierrez (D-IL-4) : « You crook ! ») WHAT ?!
(boos and shouts from the Freedomite bench) WHO SAID THAT ?! »
-
President Ross Perot’s Second State of the Union Address, January, 24 1995
SEC. TREAS. ROHATYN GOES TO MEXICO CITY
-Financial Times, January, 31 1995
« You know that they say : if it doesn’t work on the first time, when try it again, but do it straight. That’s why I can announce you that I’m running for President of the United States in 1996.
(applause from the audience)
-What do you have against the Perot administration ?
-Many things. But mostly its completely erratic foreign policies. Refusing to help Mexico, but playing the peacekeepers in Africa ? Urging the French to retaliate against Algeria while they don’t want to ? Pressuring Russia to disarm their nuclear programme while they have other problems to deal with ? Me, I’m someone coherent, and it’s not President Perot’s case.
-And will you stop to be a gaffe machine for a while ? (
laughs from the audience)
-Well, I promise not to steal a foreign Leader of the Opposition’s biography this time. I will take Jean Chrétien’s instead : he, at least, has won an election.
(laughs from the audience) »
-Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE), on The Tonight Show with David Letterman, February, 5 1995
COLOSIO ANNOUNCES NEW PESO DEVALUATION
-La Prensa, February, 11 1995
« I defeated the current Vice-President fourteen years ago, I have served on the same positions he had, and not only he has betrayed his own party, but he’s supporting a policy that is bringing the US budget and our political system to his knees. Now I’m taking the arms again against Jerry Brown. But not to become Vice President, but for the rank just above. And I will win and restore the pride of the American people. »
-Gov. Pete Wilson (R-CA) at a campaign meeting in New York City, NY, February, 12 1995
« 1996 was already important to me as I was leaving the Executive Mansion in Indianapolis, but now it will be as twice as important to me. This country needs a true change, with a new face, a younger leadership that could understand the current issues and deal with them, but also find out what our economy needs, instead of voodoo economics for on and on. That’s why I’m running for President of these great United States of America ! »
-Gov. Evan Bayh (D-IN), at a campaign rally in Indianapolis, IN, Feburary, 12 1995
« Not only I will be leaving Senate next year, but I’m also planning to make a run for President of the United States. The major problem of the Democratic Party these last dozen years was that they presented pacifist candidates, while the world we live in is far from being a peaceful place, where no one has to defend itself. I will be the Democratic candidate with teeth, and I will be the best qualified candidate to the White House. »
-Sen. Sam Nunn (D-GA), interviewed by Times Magazine, Feburary, 22 1995
« Many people elected Ross Perot on the economy issue two years ago, but not only he didn’t have a majority, but he just blew up the case, remaining stubborn on the Balanced Budget Amendment, crashing the free trade agreement this country needed and spending the budget instead for the Internet, for Rwanda or all these sort of things. Do you call that a good economist ? Oh, that, and the fact President Perot doesn’t have a clue on social issues. Or he goes against NAFTA, or he blows up the Second Amendment. I’m a Texan too, President Perot, and I’m from Dallas like you. But I’m the one who understands better the current issues, and I’m the one who is fit to serve in the Oval Office ! »
-Sen. Phil Gramm (R-TX) at a meeting in Houston, TX, Feburary, 24 1995
« Pemex always was, and still remains, the symbol of our independance, our national pride and our destiny, but in the current state of affairs, we cannot continue to have such a burden on our economy, even if oil remains one of our best assets here in Mexico. I have consulted with Secretary of Finance Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon so he could put in place the necessary process to privatise Pemex… »
-President Luis Donaldo Colosio’s televised address to the Mexican nation, February, 27 1995
« And then I wondered : why not me ? »
-Fmr. Gov. and Fmr. Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander (R-TN), on Meet the Press, Feburary, 28 1995
NEO-ZAPATISTA REBELS PEACEFULLY TAKE OVER MAJOR TOWNS IN CHIAPAS ; ASK FOR AGRARIAN REFORM AND EQUALITY FOR INDIAN PEASENTS
-Washington Post, March, 1 1995
IN SPITE OF ZAPATISTA UPRISING, WORLDWIDE OIL COMPAGNIES RUSH ON PEMEX SHARES
-Financial Times, March, 3 1995
Dallas, TX. Former Secretary of Defense and Halliburton CEO Richard Bruce « Dick » Cheney died last Friday of a heart attack in his home at Dallas, at 59, after a long story of heart problems.
Cheney began his political career as staffer in the Nixon administration, eventually rising to Chief of Staff under Ford, succeeding to Donald Rumsfeld. He then represented Wyoming’s At-Large District in the House of Representatives from 1979 to 1989, rising to the position of Minority Whip before being tipped to become Bush’s Secretary of Defense, in which he served during the whole administration, serving during events such as the First Gulf War or the dissolution of the Soviet Bloc.
Although he was for some time mentioned as a probable candidate for the 1996 Republican nomination, he turned instead to private sector, eventually becoming CEO of Halliburton ; his most prominent achievement was his massive buying of shares from the Mexican oil company Pemex, which was just in the privatization process. To this day, Halliburton remains the main controller of Mexican oil.
The Bush family, such as George W. Bush or Republican presidential candidate, Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida, have expressed their condoleances towards the Cheney family.
-Newsweek, November, 20 2000
