    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book II)]
    [October 16, 1997]
    [Pages 1378-1387]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks in the Univision Townhall Meeting in Buenos Aires
    October 16, 1997

        The President. Thank you, Jorge and Maria Elena. And I thank
    Univision for giving us the chance to have this conversation. I want to
    thank all the young people here in Buenos Aires and joining us from
    Miami and Los Angeles for being a part of this.
        I am near the end of a remarkable trip which my wife, Hillary, and
    I, a distinguished group from our Cabinet and the United States
    Congress, have taken to Latin America to celebrate the changes that have
    taken place: the moves from dictatorship to democracy; the moves from
    closed economies, high inflation, and big debt to stability and growth;
    the moves that are bringing all of us closer together.
        I came here to talk about what we have to do to prepare for the 21st
    century, how we have to work together to seize the promise of education
    and technology, to shoulder the burdens of preserving our environment
    and dealing with new security threats from drugs and crime and
    terrorism. Most of all, I came to reaffirm the commitment of the United
    States to be a good partner with Latin America as we move ahead and
    especially to emphasize the fact that our fastest growing minority of
    Americans are Hispanic-Americans. We are growing together in more ways
    than one, and today I hope we'll talk about what we can do to build the
    kind of future we all want, together.
        Maria Elena Salinas. Thank you very much, Mr. President. I'd like to
    ask you for your permission to introduce your wife. Mrs. Hillary Clinton
    is here with us today. Mrs. Hillary Rodham Clinton, of course, has been
    accompanying Mr. Clinton throughout this Latin American tour, but she
    herself has traveled through several Latin American countries promoting
    programs to benefit women and also programs that alleviate poverty. So
    we want to welcome her especially. And many Latin Americans of course
    read your weekly column. Welcome.

    [At this point, moderator Jorge Ramos introduced a National University
    of Buenos Aires law student from Colombia.]

    Antidrug Efforts

        Q. Mr. President, can you show the world a reduction in drug
    consumption which is proportional to the reduction of production and
    cultivation of drugs?
        The President. I think the short answer to that question is yes, we
    can do that, we can show that a lot of our drug consumption is going
    down. Overall drug consumption has been going down in America for the
    last several years. But

    [[Page 1379]]

    to be fair, we have one big, troubling thing, which is that drug
    consumption among our younger people, people under 18, is still going
    up. And since in America children of school age now are the largest
    number they have ever been, that's a problem we have to continue to work
    on.
        So the answer is, we've made some progress; we have to do much more.
    I just secured from the Congress a program to dramatically increase our
    efforts to reduce drug demand at home, especially to reach out to our
    younger people with messages from people they respect telling them that
    drugs are wrong and illegal and that they can kill them. Now, in
    addition to that, of course, we are working more closely--we spend more
    money in Colombia than any other country working with the authorities
    there on antidrug campaigns. But this is an issue that will increasingly
    involve all the nations not only here on our own soil in the Americas
    but throughout the world, and there is no easy answer. You must fight
    all the chain of supply, and you must change the whole psychology of
    demand. And we have to give a lot of our young people hope so that they
    have something to live for, something to say yes to, some reason to do
    things that are constructive and good not only for society but for
    themselves as well.
        Mr. Ramos. Mr. President, a question related to this. As you
    yourself have recognized, the United States is a country that consumes
    more drugs in the world--one out of every three U.S. citizens, according
    to the polls--and many believe that the certification process is unfair.
    Is it true that at the Summit of the Americas in Chile next year you are
    going to announce the end of the certification process?
        The President. We have made no decision about that. Several years
    ago, our Congress passed a law which requires us every year to certify
    that the people in authority in countries are doing all they can to help
    us to fight the drug problem. The decertification process and some
    intermediate steps are extreme measures taken under unusual
    circumstances. But even in the case of Colombia where there was a
    decertification decision, we still continue to invest more money in
    Colombia than any other country in working with local authorities there
    and Federal authorities to fight the drug problem.
        So I think what we have to emphasize is that our approach is
    partnership. Whether it's Mexico, Colombia, any other country in the
    world, what we prefer is to work with people. And we recognize that in a
    lot of the producing countries, it requires enormous courage--enormous
    courage--and people putting their lives on the line to try to stand up
    to the narcotraffickers. And what we want is a world in which we work
    more closely with them and we reduce American demand. And as I said, we
    have now seen American demand go down, but our children are still using
    too many drugs.

    [Ms. Salinas introduced an employee of the Foreign Ministry in
    Argentina.]

        Q. Mr. President, good afternoon. Over the last few months there's
    been a lot discussed about the role of the armed forces in our region in
    the fight against drug trafficking. There are messages, although not all
    of them homogeneous, from your country that would seem to favor such a
    role. And specifically, in our country there are certain fears. And
    since you know the tragic history we've suffered here, I would ask for
    your personal opinion on this.
        The President. Well, first of all, let me say that one of the great
    things that should make all Argentineans proud is the changing nature of
    the role of the armed services in the last several years. Now Argentina
    is recognized--when people think of the Argentine military around the
    world now, they think of peacekeepers, from Bosnia to Cyprus to
    Mozambique to Haiti. This is very different than it was in former times.
    And I would say you wouldn't want to do anything to change that.
        Now, in different countries there will be different capacities for
    dealing with this issue. And different nations may want to find some
    role for the military; it may be necessary. In our country we use the
    National Guard, to some extent, to fight the drug problem. But I think
    we all recognize that it is a national security issue. We all recognize
    that these people are wealthy and powerful and well-armed and capable of
    killing large numbers of people in a short period of time. So the
    question each country will have to face is, how am I going to deal with
    this? How am I going to fight it? And if you use the military in a
    domestic situation, then there must be extraordinary precautions,
    obviously, taken to avoid the kinds of abuses which would be possible.
    In most cases in our country, such things are not legal anymore because
    we're so sensitive to it. But I wouldn't want to make a judgment for
    every nation. I

    [[Page 1380]]

    would just say every nation should do what is necessary to deal with the
    security threat but should do so in a way that protects the civil
    liberties and the human rights of the people and guarantees civilian
    control of the military, because that's one of the great triumphs of
    Latin America in the last 15 years or so, and it should not be
    sacrificed.
        Ms. Salinas. As we said earlier at the beginning of the program, we
    are not just going to have questions in Argentina. We're also going to
    have questions from Los Angeles and also Miami. We're now going to hear
    Teresa Rodriguez in Miami, a city that many times has been the
    northernmost Latin American city.

    [Miami, FL, moderator Teresa Rodriguez introduced a high school
    student.]

    Freedom of Information

        Q. Good day, Mr. President. Freedom of expression and access to
    information are two basic ideas for any democracy as an example of a
    hemispheric initiative to provide more information for North and South
    America. My question is, which of these events or which of these things
    do you think are necessary, or what should happen in order to increase
    access to information? And also, how we, as a hemispheric community, how
    can we incorporate countries like Cuba where actually there is no
    respect for freedom of expression?
        The President. Well, let me answer your bigger question first. I
    think it's very important not only that we have freedom of speech and
    freedom of the press, freedom of association in every country in the
    Americas but that we take the initiative to try to increase the
    information available to people. I just came from Brazil, for example,
    where I visited a school in a poor neighborhood in Rio. And they had
    computers there which were placed there through a joint operation of
    private companies and the government. And we spoke over the Internet to
    students in an American school just across the Potomac River from
    Washington, DC.
        One of the things that I have been trying to do on this trip is to
    get all the leaders of South America to work with me, especially in
    Argentina and Brazil, to dramatically increase the technology available
    to students and then the use of the Internet. In addition to that, the
    United States is trying to get all the countries in the world to promise
    not to overly regulate or tax or burden the Internet so that we can get
    more information out.
        The technology available today enables us to bring education to
    children who could never get it, enables us to bring information to
    people who want to make a living, who never would have been able to get
    that information. It can revolutionize the way we do business in a
    positive way if we do it. And eventually I think no society can remain
    closed to it. Cuba will inevitably get this information and respond to
    it, and it will lead to a rising democratic impulse, just as it did in
    the former Communist countries of Eastern Europe. So you should be
    optimistic about that. We just have to push this technology out there
    for education and for opportunity, to all people. It's one of the ways
    we're going to sort of close the gap between the haves and have-nots and
    not leave all the poor people that are still in Latin America behind--
    and still in our country, I might add.
        Mr. Ramos. We're jumping back and forth. We're going to jump from
    Cuba to other subjects. Let's go to one of the most multicultural and
    multiracial societies in the world, Los Angeles, with Maria Antonietta.
    Go ahead, please.

    [Los Angeles, CA, moderator Maria Antonietta Collins introduced an
    immigration lawyer.]

    Immigration

        Q. Mr. President, on behalf of--[inaudible]--in Los Angeles and the
    Central American community in the United States, I'd like to thank you
    for the leadership you have demonstrated through the initiative of the
    legislation presented to Congress several weeks ago. As you well know,
    last week two Republican Members of Congress announced an agreement
    which has not yet been finalized and a legislative proposal. My question
    is, what possibility is there to see legislation passed that is fair and
    just in the way that Salvadorans, Nicaraguans, and Guatemalans are
    treated, all of these people who are under special immigration programs?
        The President. Just very briefly, for the benefit of all the people
    here in Buenos Aires and who are listening to this who may not know what
    we're talking about, in the political upheavals of the eighties in
    Central America, the United States gave special permission to people who
    were affected by these troubles to come to the United States, in theory
    for a limited amount

    [[Page 1381]]

    of time until democracy or peace had been restored to their country;
    then they were to return home. By the time that happened, they had been
    here quite a long while, particularly Guatemalans, Salvadorans, and
    Nicaraguans. Under the law passed by our Congress last year, they would
    all have had to go home immediately. So our Attorney General, working
    with me, issued an order to stop that while we tried to fix it.
        I think the chances are excellent that we will be able to at least
    return to the former system, where we'll be able to leave people here on
    humanitarian grounds who have made marriages and made families, had
    children, and started their lives. And I'm encouraged that finally we
    have also gotten a positive response from some of the Republican
    Members. Some of that legislation, as you know, is directed to benefit
    only Nicaraguans. I think that we should help them, but I don't think we
    should forget about the Guatemalans and the Salvadorans either. I think
    the chances are excellent that we will have legislation which will
    enable us to do the humane, decent thing.
        Let me also say, if I could just make a point about Los Angeles.
    While Hispanic-Americans are the fastest growing group of Americans, Los
    Angeles County, our largest county, has people from at least 150
    different racial and ethnic groups--in one of our counties. So we are
    becoming a multiethnic democracy in ways that we never have been before,
    and if we do it properly, it will be a great thing for our future.

    [Ms. Salinas introduced a patent lawyer.]

    U.S. Trade Policy

        Q. Good afternoon, first of all, Mr. President. The United States on
    the one hand is promoting the establishment of the free trade area of
    the Americas, the FTAA, and has now embarked on its own regional
    integration project, which is NAFTA. On the other hand, it says that it
    would be against integration blocs in Latin America that would limit the
    exports or imports of third parties. Now, my question is this: How can
    you simultaneously hold both positions, which at first sight seem to be
    contradictory?
        The President. Well, first of all, let me tell you what my position
    is. I supported the establishment of NAFTA. I supported the
    strengthening of MERCOSUR. I support the Andean Pact. I support CARICOM.
    Why? Because when countries that are neighbors lower their barriers and
    trade with each other, they increase growth and wealth. They also
    acquire a political closeness that makes former conflicts unthinkable.
    And they begin to look to the future and to their children, instead of
    to their past prejudices or difficulties. They tend to work together to
    solve problems, the way we're working with Argentina and Brazil, for
    example, to help Peru and Ecuador resolve their problems on the border.
        Secondly, I believe that being for MERCOSUR, being for NAFTA, being
    for these other pacts is sort of a first step toward trying to have a
    larger hemispheric economic integration. If you imagine--all of you here
    are younger than I am--imagine what your life will be like 20 years from
    now. Imagine all the people who live in Argentina who couldn't come here
    wearing a coat and tie yet. How are they going to have opportunities in
    the future? How are they going to live out their dreams? If we can
    integrate the markets from the northern part of Alaska to the tip of
    Tierra del Fuego so that you have 800 million people who are, in a
    deliberate fashion, trying to work together and grow together, that will
    change the future of people that otherwise won't be touched. So to me, I
    say yes to hemispheric integration, but let's build on what's happening
    now that's working.

    1996 Campaign Financing

        Ms. Salinas. Mr. President, of course, you have tried to keep the
    focus throughout this tour on trade, which is one of the main points.
    But unfortunately, other subjects have come up that you would have
    preferred to leave at home. Some people in Latin America criticize
    Presidents because they use their position to benefit from power and
    from elections, and there are people who criticize you perhaps for the
    same thing, by making phone calls from the White House or perhaps
    holding coffees for people who could finance your campaign. Do you think
    there is anything valid in any of those criticisms?
        The President. No. [Laughter] But it's true that I tried to win
    reelection, and it's true that I asked people to support me, and it's
    true that from time to time I actually talked to my supporters. I think
    that's how democracy works.
        But on the other hand, I don't mind people saying that, well, in
    their opinion we should

    [[Page 1382]]

    have done it one way or the other. The fundamental problem in America is
    there is no effective limitation on spending. There is no access by
    national candidates or Federal candidates for our Congress to free or
    reduced air time, and so we have increasing costs of communication in
    campaigns. And one of our big problems--if we want to preserve our
    democracy in a way that has the trust of the people of our country and
    gets participation back up, people in public life and people who want
    office should be doing more things like this. And there should be strict
    limits on spending in return for access like this to the public, so that
    people feel that they're participating. That's the real problem. We
    ought to pass the finance reform legislation that I'm supporting or some
    other version of comprehensive campaign finance reform. Every nation
    should do that.

    [Mr. Ramos introduced an Argentine lawyer.]

    Domestic Violence

        Q. Mr. President, I'd like to ask you with regard to domestic
    violence, which recently has been publicly recognized by the nations of
    the world as a serious social problem that especially victimizes women
    and children, what are your policies--active policies to prevent it and
    eradicate it?
        The President. First of all, I think--I thank you for working in the
    field, and I think it's very important that domestic violence is being
    recognized as a human rights issue. My wife should be answering this
    question. She has done a lot more work on this than I have. She went to
    Beijing to the International Women's Conference to talk about this,
    among other things. She spoke with women from Argentina today, just
    today, about this and has talked about it all over Latin America.
        It is not a cultural issue; it's a human rights issue, and it is a
    crime. What we have done is we set up a special division in our Justice
    Department with an advocate on violence against women. We established a
    toll-free long distance phone line so that people could call us from all
    over the country to talk about instances of domestic violence, to ask
    for help, to get--for treatment for people, for law enforcement support,
    for whatever. And it has been very well used. And we have done a lot of
    work to increase the sensitivity of our local law enforcement officials
    and to train them better, so that they know it when they see it. I know
    that may sound funny, but a lot of people don't know it when they see
    it, don't know how to respond to it.
        And I think every country needs to do that. There needs to be an
    advocate; there needs to be a way ordinary people who aren't being heard
    in their neighborhoods or their communities can call and get help; and
    then there needs to be a comprehensive training program to change the
    priorities, the attitudes, the understandings of the people in law
    enforcement. It should be a priority in every nation of the Americas.
    And I would be the last to say we have solved the problem in America,
    but at least we are aggressively pursuing it. And I thank my wife for
    making sure we're trying to do the right thing anyway.

    [Mr. Ramos called on Ms. Rodriguez, who introduced a Costa Rican
    participant from Florida.]

    Human Rights

        Q. Good afternoon, Mr. President. For the first time since the
    Carter administration, the United States has decided to promote human
    rights in Latin America. Given the fact that in the past the United
    States has demonstrated its will to intervene or even invade on behalf
    of causes such as democracy or to take away from power supposed
    criminals, alleged criminals, what possibilities are there for the
    United States to do that today for human rights?
        The President. Well, the United States is being very aggressive in
    the support of human rights. It affects our other policies. It is a part
    of all of our dialog with countries where it's an issue. We are trying
    to move away from the period when the United States was eager to invade
    other countries in our hemisphere and our neighbors, toward a spirit of
    partnership and cooperation but a cooperation based not simply on common
    economic interests but most importantly on the shared values of freedom
    and democracy, of peace and prosperity, of cooperative efforts in
    environmental protection and education and other things. So you can't
    have a relationship like that if human rights is taken out of the
    equation.
        And I might say--you're Costa Rican; if you look at the experience
    of Costa Rica, if you look at how wonderfully they have done, part of it
    is because they have observed basic human rights and did not have
    institutions within the

    [[Page 1383]]

    society that had a vested interest in holding people down and denying
    their human potential. That's a lesson we all need to learn.
        So I wouldn't think that America would want to get into the invasion
    business. We did participate in the United Nations-sanctioned
    restoration of the elected Government of Haiti, but only after it became
    sanctioned by the international community, where there were serious
    human rights abuses but where an election had also been interrupted. But
    what we can do to have the most influence is just, day-in and day-out,
    find ways to work together to deal with it and hopefully in a
    multilateral situation. The OAS can do more, and we can do more
    bilaterally as well. But thank you for your question and for your
    concern.

    [Ms. Salinas called on Ms. Collins, who introduced the coordinator for
    inter-American affairs at the William C. Velasquez Institute.]

    Free Trade

        Q. Good afternoon, Mr. President. Hispanic Congressmen here in the
    United States are against fast track, as a result of certain lacks in
    certain NAFTA programs for retraining workers who have lost their jobs
    as a result of NAFTA and others to create jobs for those same workers.
    My question is, don't you think that we need to improve NAFTA before we
    expand it to South America or before we negotiate any other free-trade
    agreement, before we ask for fast-track authorization?
        The President. Absolutely not. Let's look at the economic facts
    here. First of all--and I would be happy to discuss this, but whether
    you believe NAFTA was a success or a failure--and I believe we are far
    better off economically and in our relationships with Mexico than we
    would have been had we not passed NAFTA--but we are the only developed
    country in the world with a 2,000-mile border with a country that is
    still developing. We have unique historical, cultural, economic,
    environmental, and other challenges in our relationship.
        Our trade with the Americas has grown enormously in the last few
    years. It has gone up 200 percent since 1990. It's now over $109
    billion. In the last year alone, 70 percent of America's trade growth
    has come from the Americas. So should we do something to trade more with
    Chile, with Argentina, with Brazil, with other countries? Yes, I believe
    we should. Should we wait while Europeans and others make agreements
    that help their workers? No, I don't believe we should. Are there
    political benefits as well as economic benefits to our cooperation?
    Absolutely.
        Now, in the case of NAFTA--let's go back to NAFTA. We had a couple
    of rough years with NAFTA because of the peso crisis in Mexico and the
    recession which followed. But they were not nearly as bad and Mexico
    bounced back much more quickly than they did when the same thing
    happened to Mexico in the early eighties and there was no NAFTA, there
    was no trade.
        We have not solved all the environmental problems along the border,
    but at least we have a financial mechanism and a testing mechanism now,
    and we have shown we have some examples of progress. I think you can
    rightly say that the North American Development Bank lost 2 years in the
    development, in '94 and '95. We've been working since early '96 to get
    it going. And just recently, I reached an agreement with the Hispanic
    caucus to dramatically increase the lending capacity of the North
    American Development Bank to help Americans displaced by NAFTA-related
    trade. We've already doubled worker retraining funds. I've reached an
    agreement with the Hispanic caucus to increase it another $450 million
    over the next 5 years.
        So I think that we do have to do more to help Americans who are
    disadvantaged by trade, but that is not an argument against fast track.
    Fast track is about the future of Latin America and its future economic
    relations with us, and I think we'd be making a terrible mistake to
    delay. We should speed up, not delay. The economy down here is on a fast
    track. I can see it all around me. They're not waiting for us to do
    this. We just should be a good partner and do it.

    [Mr. Ramos introduced an Argentine pediatrician.]

        Q. Good afternoon.
        The President. Good afternoon.

    Health Care

        Q. My question has to do with health, and it's this. Access to
    health care is a basic human right. The United States has many times
    helped to promote and defend human rights. How do you think the United
    States can help us now

    [[Page 1384]]

    to be able to gain access for the entire population to health care? And
    how does this work in the United States, immersed as you are in a free
    market economic system?
        The President. Well, you know, that's a problem that we haven't
    fully solved. Hillary and I tried in 1994 to devise a system where
    everyone who could afford it would pay something, according to their
    ability to pay, for themselves and their employees to buy health
    insurance so everyone would have access to health care. That plan did
    not pass.
        What have we done instead? We have tried to make it possible for
    health care to be more affordable. We've tried to protect people's
    health insurance when they have it so that they don't lose it. And we
    have a network of public health clinics throughout the United States
    that people can visit if they do not have access to health care. We just
    passed a law in our country with 24 billion U.S. dollars to provide
    health insurance to another 5 million children over the next 5 years. So
    we're trying.
        But I think that we should--from my own point of view, we should
    support programs through the international financial institutions that
    help you and through AID, the USAID programs that deal with basic health
    care. Access to health care is, in my view, right up there with
    education in terms of what it will take to give every single child in
    this country and on this continent a chance to participate in the future
    we're building. And I think the United States should continue to have a
    high priority on health care at home and health care abroad.
        And thank you for being a pediatrician.

    [Ms. Salinas introduced a Uruguayan English teacher.]

    Intercultural Education

        Q. Good afternoon, Mr. President. I spent some time studying in the
    United States. Your universities and your schools in the United States
    are full of foreign students who seem to have understood the need to
    culturally interact in this era of globalization. Don't you think that
    more U.S. young people should be going out to the world in order to get
    to know it and get to know people and get in touch and not be so unaware
    of the needs of globalization?
        The President. Yes, absolutely. You know, one of the reasons I have
    the attitudes that I have today is that when I was a young man I was
    given the opportunity to study in another country for 2 years and travel
    to other countries. I have strongly supported America maintaining the
    Fulbright scholarship program for that reason. And I believe that we
    should do all that we can to encourage more students from the United
    States to take a year or so and study abroad. I'm very glad that we have
    students from other countries in the U.S. I think there are now 2,000
    students from Argentina in the United States. Are there any American
    students here? Good for you. Well, we have a few here, beating the odds.
    But I think it's very important.
        Let me also say that there is a marked attitudinal change, though,
    now. Young Americans, Americans under 30, are far more likely to want to
    be involved with a foreign culture, to want to study overseas, to
    understand the importance of trade and political cooperation to their
    own future--far more likely. So I think that--I wouldn't be surprised if
    we don't see a big upsurge in the number of young Americans now who want
    to take at least a year and go overseas to learn about another culture,
    to master another language, to be a part of the world as it is
    developing. But you're absolutely right, we should do more of it.

    [Ms. Salinas called on Ms. Rodriguez, who introduced the president of
    the Puerto Rican Students Association at the University of Miami.]

    Puerto Rican Statehood

        Q. Thank you. Good afternoon to everyone and good afternoon to you,
    Mr. President. This is my question. If Puerto Rico were accepted as the
    51st State, what assurance could you give the Puerto Rican community
    that we would be able to keep our traditions, our culture, our language,
    and not lose our Puerto Rican identity?
        The President. Well, first, let me state what my position is. My
    position is that the status of Puerto Rico should be for the Puerto
    Rican people themselves to decide. Whether a commonwealth, independence,
    or statehood, it should be totally up to the people of Puerto Rico. If
    Puerto Rico were to become a State, among other things, under our laws
    the educational system of Puerto Rico would be primarily the
    constitutional responsibility of the State of Puerto Rico, so that to
    whatever extent the State wanted to have a cultural support for

    [[Page 1385]]

    the native culture and the native customs and the native language would
    be a decision for the State to pursue that the Federal Government should
    not try to undermine.
        So that's my position. I don't think you'd have to worry about that.
    There are complicating questions on both sides of that issue. But I
    think that the preservation of the unique and wonderful culture of
    Puerto Rico would not be a problem probably in either way, but there may
    be some specific problems I'm unaware of. But I would say that people
    should make their decisions about commonwealth and statehood probably
    based on what they think is best economically, rather than that. I
    believe that we'll be able to preserve the culture no matter what.
        As a matter of fact, if you look at what's happening in Miami,
    what's happening in Los Angeles, what's happening in Chicago, what's
    happening in the Fairfax County school district across the river from
    Washington, DC, where there are people from 180 different national
    groups in one school district, we're going to do a lot of cultural
    preservation in the years ahead.

    [Mr. Ramos called on Ms. Collins, who introduced the coordinator of a
    Los Angeles human rights organization.]

    Immigration

        Q. Yes, Mr. President. The new immigration law of 1996 has caused a
    major crisis for immigrant families. In the past, you have said that
    life was not going to be made more difficult for those immigrants who
    have complied with the law in this country and who are seeking the
    American dream. What I'd like to know is what do you plan to do so that
    the immigration laws are more humane for the people coming from those
    countries?
        The President. First of all, I think it's important that you look at
    the changes that we just put into the recently passed budget. As you
    know, I was bitterly opposed to the immigration law changes made by
    Congress last year, and I said I would do all I could to reverse the
    harshest aspects of them. Those laws were largely reversed in their
    impact in the budget that we just passed.
        Now, for people who are there without legal approval, they may be
    eligible to become legal immigrants and, if so, they should try to get
    legal status. For some legal immigrants that may still lose some public
    benefits, our information is that over 70 percent of them are eligible
    to become citizens. I would urge them to become citizens. We just had a
    big report from our immigration commission saying that we in the United
    States Government should do more to try to push citizenship and help new
    citizens to integrate more successfully into our society. So we're going
    to be looking at that to see if there are some people who have fallen
    between the cracks, that we can change their status so they won't be put
    in a perilous circumstance. But I'm confident that most of the people's
    problems were taken care of by the recent budget law. The others, I
    think, will have to work hard, particularly moving people into
    citizenship, because most of the people who don't have benefits now,
    because they're legal immigrants and not citizens, are old people who
    aren't in dire health conditions. But almost all of them are eligible to
    become citizens, and I think we have to move them through the system as
    quickly as we can.

    [Ms. Salinas introduced a Chilean computer company president.]

    Major Non-NATO Ally Status and Arms Sales

        Q. Mr. President, in the United States seeking MNNA status for
    Argentina, the armed forces of Argentina, no doubt, would also be given
    a new status by the U.S. Government. Don't you think that a rivalry can
    be generated between these neighboring countries in the south and also
    produce democratic instability in the region in an arms race that could
    be unleashed through this decision?
        The President. No, but let me explain why. Let me explain why. It's
    a fair question. And let me say if someone--an Argentine here might
    stand up and ask the following question: Mr. President, don't you think
    the fact that the United States is now willing to send--sell
    sophisticated jets to the Chilean Air Force could cause the same problem
    you just said? So let me answer both questions, if I might.
        We accorded the major non-NATO ally status to Argentina because of
    the truly extraordinary efforts that have happened just in the 1990's,
    where Argentina has gone with us to Bosnia, has gone into Haiti, is
    working with British soldiers in Cyprus, is working in Mozambique. There
    is hardly a country in the world that

    [[Page 1386]]

    has anything approaching the record of the Argentine military in being
    willing to stand up for the cause of peace. We believe that we should be
    sending a signal that this is the policy that other countries should
    follow. There is nothing here designed to upset the military balance in
    South America. We want Argentina to be working with Chile, to be working
    with Brazil. It would be the height of stupidity for these countries to
    go to war with each other.
        Now, why did we decide to say that we might sell aircraft to Chile?
    Because Chile was interested in our making a bid. We used to have--
    essentially, when the continent was governed by military dictators, we
    said we're not going to sell them planes because they'll use them to go
    to war with each other. Now that the continent is governed by stable
    democracies, I asked myself this question: Is there some reason I should
    continue to discriminate against Chile and treat them differently than I
    would France or Germany? And the answer was no.
        So what we're trying to do, so that no arms--so that we don't have a
    new arms race in Latin America and people don't get scared about this,
    whether--I mean, Chile may or may not buy American planes, for all I
    know. But what we think ought to be done is that all the OAS members
    ought to say, ``Look, we have militaries, we have to keep them properly
    equipped, but we're going to share information with each other about
    what we're buying and why.'' No more secrets, no surprises, no attempts
    to gain any advantage over one another; that's the answer there. So I
    think that we ought to just be very open and honest with each other
    about why we're doing these things, and if so, we won't be heightening
    the military tension.

    Malvinas-Falkland Islands

        Mr. Ramos. Mr. President, as a journalist, before going to the next
    question, I wanted to say this. Since Argentina is an ally of the United
    States, a non-NATO ally, what would happen if, for example, Argentina
    wanted to seek a diplomatic or military solution to the Malvinas-
    Falkland Islands? What would the United States do, ally itself with
    Great Britain or Argentina?
        The President. The United States would say--we tried that once; it
    didn't work out so well. And the United States would say, here are two
    great countries following, in every other respect, farsighted policies.
    Great Britain is enjoying enormous success now in Europe in economic
    recovery, showing real responsibility in international affairs, trying
    to deal with the question we must all deal with, which is how do you
    have a free market and preserve the social contract, treat the poor
    fairly, grow the middle class. This is not the time to be going to war.
    These are our friends. They should get together and work this out.
    That's what the United States would say. The United States would say,
    for goodness sakes, don't spoil a good thing. We have two good countries
    here with two--with strong leadership. They should get together and work
    this out. This is not a cause for war; this is a cause for negotiations.

    [Mr. Ramos introduced Mexico's special envoy for the United Nations
    Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization.]

    Youth Empowerment

        Q. Good afternoon, Mr. President. This is my question. We young
    people are concerned about solving the problems that affect our
    countries, but the only thing we can do is show up these concerns
    because we don't have the proper platform for decisionmaking. I'd like
    to know, do you have concrete policies designed for young people to
    become part of strategic decisionmaking processes? And could this policy
    be used as a tool for better intercontinental integration?
        The President. To be perfectly honest with you, I'd never thought of
    it in that way before. It's interesting; in the United States more and
    more of our school boards, for example, are having a student be a member
    of the board. More and more of our university boards of trustees are
    having a student be a member of the board, trying to actually share
    power with people who are even younger than you, to get young people
    into this. I haven't thought of this in the context you mention, but I
    would urge you and anyone else here who is interested in this, if you
    have any ideas, write to me about it. I will think about it, and I will
    see what can be done.
        But since you're from Mexico though, let me make a specific
    suggestion. I believe President Zedillo did a very brave and good thing
    in basically genuinely opening up the Mexican political system, knowing
    that it would cost his own party positions in the Mexican Congress in
    the short run. Now you have a much more competitive democracy in Mexico.
    As a result of that, all

    [[Page 1387]]

    these parties are going to be looking around now for young people like
    you, with ideas and energy and values, people who can command the
    support of other people. And I think this is a very good time for young
    people in Mexico to try to make their influence felt in the political
    system. Because the old--the PRI, they desperately need now young people
    to come in and say, ``No, we have new ideas. We have a future.'' The
    other parties that are competing are going to be open. And I think for
    young people who are of the age to be in politics, not just as elected
    officials but I mean as activists, there is an unprecedented opportunity
    in Mexico to affect policy now, because you've just opened up a new
    chapter in your political history.
        On the other question, think about it. If you have any ideas
    specifically, write to me. I'm intrigued by it. I hadn't thought of it
    before.
        Q. We'll ask for the address then.
        Ms. Salinas. Mr. President, we've run out of the time we had for
    questions. Of course, there are so many young people here and in Los
    Angeles and Miami as well who wanted to take advantage of this
    opportunity to ask you questions. Others have been able to do that, and
    they're very grateful. But now, please, you take the floor.
        The President. First, let me thank all of you for coming. Let me
    thank the people in Los Angeles and Miami. Let me congratulate the
    people in Miami. Their baseball team is going to the World Series faster
    than any new team has ever gone before. Let me thank the people of
    Venezuela and Brazil and Argentina for making us feel so welcome.
        And let me say again, I am convinced that the best years in all of
    human civilization can be ahead of us if we take advantage of the
    revolutions that are now in play and honestly face our problems
    together. And if we define the worth of our lives by what we can
    accomplish by helping each other to make the most of their lives, then I
    think you will have a very wonderful time in the 21st century.
        Thank you, and God bless you.

    [An additional question was asked in Spanish, but a translation was not
    provided.]

    Bilingual Education

        The President. Believe it or not, I lost my interpreter, but I know
    what we're talking about. [Laughter]
        Here's what I think about the whole bilingual education issue. Every
    country has a dominant language, and should. And the children in the
    schools should make every effort--should learn that dominant language
    and become proficient in it. I think more and more, our children in
    America will want to speak at least two languages and perhaps more.
        What I'd like to see is a situation where we say, however--we can't
    say we're not going to have any bilingual education, because then
    children would come here, not just from Spanish-speaking countries but
    from any number of Asian cultures, and not be able to learn in school
    for 2 or 3 years. And when children come to the United States and they
    don't speak English, but they're school age, I think they should start
    school immediately. They should be able to get whatever instruction they
    have to have in the language that they do speak, but then they should
    learn to speak English in an appropriate time, so that we're always
    encouraging bilingualism or multilingualism.
        Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 4:07 p.m. at the Univision Television
    Network Studio. In his remarks, he referred to Univision journalists
    Jorge Ramos and Maria Elena Salinas, who moderated the meeting in Buenos
    Aires; and President Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico. The President also
    referred to the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), Mexico's ruling
    political party.