SECRETARY RICE: Well, the --

QUESTION: These are a strong opposition -- what was your reaction?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, it's clearly not a serious comment. The United States has a policy that I think has been good for this hemisphere, from free trade to efforts to improve the health and well-being of the people of the region. But that really wasn't the point today. The point was that you can hear criticism of the policies of President George Bush or any other American President on CNN or on ABC or CBS, and Americans can listen to those criticisms and they don't have to worry that their government is going to shut down a station because it criticizes the United States Government.

RCTV in Venezuela has been shut down for criticizing the Government of Venezuela. And so my point to my colleagues in the OAS is that this is an issue of democracy and press freedom. This is not an issue of whether you like the policies of the United States or like the policies of Venezuela. It is a very basic right of democracy -- in fact a very practical necessity of democracy that you have a free press that is able to criticize the government without fear of reprisal.

QUESTION: What happened in Venezuela is an assault on democracy?

SECRETARY RICE: What happened in Venezuela is a sad day for democracy. And I think you see Venezuelans who are protesting what their government has done. The Inter-American Democratic Charter is very clear that freedom of expression, freedom of the press, are important elements of democratic development. And therefore, today we have asked that the Secretary General, invoking Article 18 of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, go to Venezuela to talk to all sides and to report back to the General Assembly. We will see if the Government of Venezuela is prepared to accept his position.

But again, this isn't about the policies of Venezuela or the policies of the United States. It is about the basic right of the democratic free press to report on a government as it sees fit.

QUESTION: Madame Secretary, how is the United States going to effectively help the thousands of students who are demonstrating in Caracas or the thousands of people who are criticizing this closing down of the TV station effectively? How can it help?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, the most important thing is to speak in favor of democracy and to say that people have this right. But this is not an issue between the United States and Venezuela. This is an issue that has been raised by the European parliament, by governments around the world. I was just in Spain and with my Spanish colleague called for the reinstatement of RCTV. The Secretary General of the OAS, Jose Miguel Insulza, has raised this issue. And so I think the best thing is that it is understood that this is not an issue between the United States and Venezuela. This is an issue between Venezuela and its claims to be a democratic government.

QUESTION: Do you foresee any scenario where Venezuela could be expelled from the OAS, like Cuba?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, I'm not going to try to speculate on what might happen here. I just think that it is a sad day for democratic development in Venezuela when you start shutting down TV stations clearly because they don't agree with the government. So the most basic freedom, the most basic right, is freedom of speech, and how can you carry it out if you do not have a free press?

QUESTION: Allow me to jump to Cuba. When Fidel Castro dies, would you extend an olive branch to Raul Castro and see if he is able to bring about a change in Cuba?

SECRETARY RICE: Look, we will do in this transition period and when the transition happens post-Fidel Castro, is to make very clear that as a matter of principle for the United States the people of Cuba deserve to have a democratic life. That means that there has to be a democratic transition. There will have to be free and fair elections. It means that you cannot transfer power from one dictatorship to another. And it means that the United States, perhaps more than any other country in the region, has to say to the Cuban people this will be a decision for Cubans to make -- Cubans on the island.

The fate of Cuba will not rest in the hands of the United States. It will not rest in the hands of the region. It will rest in the hands of Cubans. But what we must do is stand for the principle that Cubans deserve to have a democratic future.

QUESTION: We just saw more video of Castro recently. He looks better. When you see him looking better, what do you think? Well, how do you feel?

SECRETARY RICE: For me, the issue is that the transition has clearly begun in Cuba and sooner or later the Cuban people are going to get their chance at freedom. And that is going to be a great day for this nation. I look forward to the day when either I or some future Secretary of State will be able to sit in the Organization of American States with Cuba present, taking its rightful place alongside democracies.

Because the Cuban people deserve that in a hemisphere where freedom has been so precious, where so many have suffered from tyranny, where the hemisphere is still trying to recover from those years of denial of basic human freedoms, and yet where there is such great possibility for democracy and prosperity to go together. I really, really hope and look forward to the day when the Cuban people are a part of that great movement toward democracy and freedom.

QUESTION: Madame Secretary, if you'll allow me to jump to another subject: Latin America and Hezbollah. Some experts say that, outside of Lebanon, the most important place for Hezbollah is in triangle area between Argentina, Paraguay and [inaudible]. I know that the U.S. has been accusing this area of collecting money for people in order to send to Hezbollah. The governments in the area denied it.

We went there and we went to mosques. People told us directly that it is their obligation to send money to Hezbollah. The mosques that we interviewed, people on camera, that they said that they're only waiting for an order to put bombs on their body and attack the United States. How is this possible? What is the U.S. Government doing? And are the governments in the region doing enough?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, we have very excellent cooperation, counterterrorism cooperation with Brazil and Argentina and Paraguay. We all have to be vigilant. It's not just the tri-border area. The terrorists will use any opportunity and any place to try and raise funds. It will use any opportunity and any place to try and train. That's why the counterterrorism efforts have to be worldwide.

But I can say very clearly that we appreciate the cooperation of those governments. There is still a lot of work to do. And our own country did not understand the full extent, I think, of terrorists operating in different parts of the world until we began to put together an international coalition to fight terrorism. So we all have to be vigilant. There are places across the globe where terrorists are trying to train and raise funds. But we are very, very pleased with the counterterrorism cooperation that we've had with Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.

QUESTION: But at the same time, if you will allow, this latest terrorist plot against JFK, with a Latin American connection also, and you have people from Hezbollah saying on camera that they're only waiting for an order, and the governments in the area say that they are investigating but these guys talk to us on camera. How is that possible?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, that is why we have to work every day, 24 hours a day, to shut down activities that can lead to terrorism. We were I will say fortunate in the JFK case. One thing that we have to realize is that we have to be right 100 percent of the time; the terrorists only have to be right once. That is in some ways an unfair fight because the terrorists get up every day trying to decide how they will attack not just the United States but countries around the world.

The best thing that we can do as governments is to have extensive counterterrorism cooperation, share information, share intelligence, arrest people when necessary, and remain absolutely vigilant. And one of the reasons that we from time to time uncover one of these plots that become public is because of excellent counterterrorism cooperation. We wouldn't uncover them were it not for the cooperation that we have with governments in the region.

QUESTION: But are you surprised that Hezbollah people on camera --

SECRETARY RICE: Well, I hear people say all kinds of things. I can tell you that we are actively pursuing terrorists, we are actively pursuing their funding, and we have very good partners in this hemisphere in doing so.

QUESTION: Appreciate it.

SECRETARY RICE: Thank you. Thank you very much.

2007/T10-5