    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1998, Book I)]
    [April 17, 1998]
    [Pages 582-585]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks to the National Congress of Chile in Valparaiso
    April 17, 1998

        Thank you very much. To the President of the Senate, the President of the Chamber of Deputies, to the members of the Senate and the Chamber of
    Deputies, members of the Chilean Cabinet, members of the diplomatic
    corps, my fellow Americans, including members of our administration,
    Members of Congress, the Governor of Puerto Rico, ladies and gentlemen. First, let me thank you for the
    warm reception that Hillary and I, the Secretary of State, Secretary of Education, and our entire delegation has received not only here but
    by the people of Chile.
        We are honored to be in this great nation, a place of marvelous
    gifts and well-earned accomplishments. Visitors here marvel at the
    beauty and extraordinary contrast of your landscape, from the desert
    north to the towering ranges of the Andes, to the mysteries of Easter
    Island, to the southern beaches where penguins brave Antarctic winds.
        Your culture moves the world in poetry and prose and music and
    dance, in theater and films, haunted by the spirits of the past,
    enriched by dreams of the future. Your Nobel Prize-winning poets,
    Gabriela Mistral and Pablo Neruda, have moved readers everywhere.
    Neruda's words and rhythms still come alive on every continent; his echo
    still heard in internationally acclaimed Chilean works like the novels
    of Jose Donoso and Antonio Skarmeta.
        Your economic success is admired the world over. Indeed, more and
    more other nations, whether developed or developing, want to be able to
    learn from your example. But over and above all those gifts and
    achievements, Chile possesses something older than the achievements, and
    perhaps even more valuable than nature's gifts--your devotion to freedom
    and democracy, a long and proud tradition.
        Not so very long ago now, freedom-loving people everywhere in the
    world cheered and cheered when the people of Chile bravely reclaimed
    their democratic heritage. Our hemisphere's longing for democracy goes
    all the way back to George Washington and Simon Bolivar. Today, we work
    to claim its full blessings, for a strong democracy honors all its
    people, respecting their dignity and fundamental rights, giving them the
    responsibility to govern, demanding that they tolerate each other's
    differences in an honorable fashion. It honors its children, giving all
    of them the opportunity to learn so that they can live their dreams. It
    honors its poor, its ill, its elderly, offering them support, leaving no
    one without hope. It honors entrepreneurs with efficient and honest
    government, offering the chance to create prosperity. It honors its
    writers, its artists, and its press, ensuring freedom of expression, no
    matter, and perhaps especially, when it is painful to hear. It honors
    its soldiers for their commitment to defend the people, not to rule
    them. This principle was strongly championed by Diego Portales early in
    Chile's history.
        Democracy is never perfect, but because it is open and free, it is
    always perfectible. In the words of our President Franklin Roosevelt,
    who tried so hard to be a good neighbor to Latin America, democracy is a
    never-ending seeking for better things.
        At different points in this century, many nations of the Americas
    lost their democracy. Some of them lost it more than once. No one loves
    freedom more than those who have had it and lost it. No one prizes it
    more than those who have lost it and regained it. I know, here, I am in
    a room full of people who love freedom.
        Freedom's victory now has been won throughout the Americas. With a
    single exception, the day of the dictators is over. The 21st century
    will be a century of democracy. To those anywhere in the Americas who
    would seek to take away people's precious liberties once again, or rule
    through violence and terror once again, let

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    us reaffirm President Aylwin's historic
    words at Santiago Stadium, ``nunca mas.'' Never again.
        This commitment has now gone beyond those words; it is written into
    solemn compacts among the nations of our hemisphere. Here in Chile in
    1991, the members of the Organization of American States unanimously
    adopted a commitment that we will stand together to defend democracy
    wherever it is threatened. And last year the OAS amended its founding
    charter so that member nations may actually suspend any regime that
    overthrows a government elected by its people.
        We have backed our words with actions. In Haiti, nations from across
    the Americas, joined by others, participated in the United Nations'
    sponsored effort to restore a democracy that had been stolen by military
    force. Nations of this hemisphere stood with the people of Paraguay to
    preserve democracy when it was threatened there in 1996. A message
    should be clear to all: We have made a decision that in this
    hemisphere--the people govern.
        Now, having resolved to protect democracy, we must now do much, much
    more to perfect democracy. And we must do it throughout our hemisphere.
    Free elections are democracy's essential first step but not its last.
    And strong democracies deliver real benefits to their people. Across the
    Americas, there are still too many citizens who exercise their right to
    vote, but after the election is over, feel few benefits from the
    decisions made by their officials. This kind of popular frustration can
    fuel the ambitions of democracy's foes. As Chileans understand perhaps
    more clearly than any of their fellow Americans, there must be a second
    generation of reforms, beyond free elections and free markets, because
    for democracy to thrive, people must know that everyone who is willing
    to work will have a fair chance to share in the bounty of the nation.
        Leaders must ensure that the political system, the legal system, the
    economic system are not rigged to favor those who already have much but
    instead give everyone a stake in shaping the future. A strong and
    thriving democracy requires, therefore, strengthening the rule of law,
    the independence of judges, the professionalism of police, for justice
    must be honest.
        It requires a strong and independent legislature to represent all
    the people, even when on occasion, they do not do what the President
    would like them to do. It requires a constant campaign against
    corruption so that public contracts are awarded based on merit and not
    bribes. It requires bank and securities regulation to permit growth
    while guarding against cheaters and collapses. It requires a credit
    system not only for those who are obviously successful but for
    enterprising people no matter how poor or remote their conditions. It
    requires a robust, free press that can raise serious questions and
    publish without censorship or fear.
        A strong democracy also requires protecting the environment and
    attacking threats to it. It requires good schools and good health care.
    It requires protecting the rights of workers, standing up for the rights
    of women and children and minorities, fighting the drugs and crime and
    terrorism that eat away at democracy's foundations, reaching out across
    all sectors of society--from the corporate executive to the grassroots
    activists to the working family--again, to ensure that everyone has a
    stake in shaping the future.
        Tomorrow, democratically elected leaders will assemble in Santiago
    for the second Summit of the Americas, to launch the next steps in our
    united efforts to build strong democracies that deliver for all our
    peoples.
        Chile is a shining star in America's constellation, stable and
    resilient with budget surpluses, a high savings rate, a high growth
    rate, low unemployment, and low inflation. But Chile also is trying to
    do more to give everyone that precious stake in the future.
        In his first address after taking office, President Frei pledged to work for all of Chile's people, and he
    has. Poverty has been cut in half compared to 1990 levels. The quality
    of education has improved, especially in poorer areas. Yesterday
    President and Mrs. Frei took Hillary and I to a
    neighborhood in Santiago where we talked to ordinary citizens who had
    benefited from educational opportunities and business opportunities in
    ways that enabled them to change their lives. Your citizens are working
    hard to protect the environment, although just like those of us in my
    country, we've still got a ways to go.
        The success of this nation goes beyond your borders. As President
    Frei noted last year in Washington, Chile was
    once known as the ``end of the Earth.'' Now it is known as the forefront
    of progress, a leader for peace and justice and prosperity, a leader in
    this hemisphere and throughout the world.

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        I thank you for what democratic Chile has done to promote peace in
    El Salvador, Haiti, Bosnia, the Persian Gulf, between Peru and Ecuador.
    Your country served on the United Nations Security Council. You have
    taken the initiative to attack corruption and crime across the Americas.
    For all that, I thank you.
        In the future, we must work together as we have in the past--indeed,
    as we have from the beginning--to strengthen our democracies and
    brighten our people's lives and broaden our children's futures. The
    friendship between the United States and Chile goes back to 1810, when
    our still-young Nation recognized your independence. Our friendship was
    off to a good start, but in all the long years and ups and downs, it has
    never been stronger or broader than it is today.
        We are your largest trading partner, and trade between us has grown
    at an average of 13 percent a year since 1993. We want and will
    resolutely pursue a free-trade agreement that includes our two nations.
    And I will not be satisfied until we achieve that goal.
        Chile and the United States must be full partners in the 21st
    century. We must also be full partners with like-minded democracies
    throughout our region. Tomorrow we will take a big step toward that full
    partnership as we begin the historic effort envisioned 4 years ago at
    the first Summit of the Americas in Miami, to create a free-trade area
    of the Americas by 2005. Meanwhile, as all of us know, the private
    sector is visibly proceeding as if it had already happened--expanding
    trade and investment, building successful joint enterprises in
    everything from mining to insurance to retailing.
        We know that more trade and commerce will increase our collective
    prosperity. But we must resolve, again I say, to pursue that second
    level of reforms to ensure that prosperity is widely shared. As
    President Frei has repeatedly said, clearly, for every nation, education
    is the key. More than ever before as nations and as individuals, our
    destiny depends upon what we know and how quickly we can learn. In a
    world where the volume of knowledge is doubling every 5 years, strong
    schools can give children the skills they need; it can also encourage
    their dreams. It can give people the power to overcome the inequalities
    between rich and poor. It can give nations the opportunity to fulfill
    their destiny.
        President Frei and I have committed
    ourselves to work together and to learn from each other to improve the
    quality and the reach of education in both our nations. All of us--all
    of us--should apply our best efforts to that until we have done much
    better than we are doing now in every nation of the Americas.
        As we travel into the 21st century, Chile can continue to rely on
    the United States as a friend and an ally. We have a great stake in your
    continuing success. You make the hemisphere safer and more prosperous.
    You are a strong partner in meeting our common challenges in this
    hemisphere and throughout the world.
        Indeed, we welcome the growing strength of all nations that believe
    in freedom and human dignity and work for a brighter future for their
    people, so that the partnership between our two people, as we will see
    at the Summit of the Americas, is really part of a larger community of
    values sweeping across our hemisphere. As we all come together this
    weekend, we do so to make democracy work in ways that our people can
    feel, to advance the fight against common threats and for wider economic
    opportunity and deeper democracy. In the words of Neruda, our dreams
    become one.
        On this very day, a consortium of universities from Chile, the
    United States, and other nations starts work on a powerful new telescope
    in northern Chile. Their astronomers will look up to the heavens, gazing
    deep into outer space and, therefore, deep into the past, so that they
    can learn things which will help us all to build a brighter future.
        We must never forget our past, but we must use it. We must not use
    it to open old wounds or to rest on the laurels of escape from its worst
    moments but, instead, to quicken our imagination of a better tomorrow
    and to propel us toward it.
        Together, let us resolve that when this summit is done, the leaders
    of the United States and Chile will not rest until we have shined the
    light of freedom and lit the spark of hope in every corner of our
    nations, in every part of our hemisphere. That is a worthy mission for
    the new century in the new millennium for two peoples who have loved
    freedom for a long, long time.
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 12:05 p.m. in the National Congress
    Building. In his remarks, he referred to President of the Senate Andres
    Zaldivar; President of the Chamber of Deputies

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    Gutenberg Martinez; former President Patricio Aylwin of Chile; and Gov.
    Pedro Rossello of Puerto Rico.