    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2005, Book II)]
    [November 6, 2005]
    [Pages 1654-1656]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks in a Discussion With Young Leaders in Brasilia, Brazil
    November 6, 2005

        U.S. Ambassador to Brazil John J. Danilovich. Mr. President, Secretary Rice, fellow Brazilians, I'd like
    to thank you all for being here this morning. It's a pleasure

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    for us to welcome you here on this beautiful Sunday morning in Brasilia.
        Brazil is a land of promise, of enormous potential, and of great
    possibilities. And the promise, potential, and possibilities of Brazil
    are perhaps no more visible than in yourselves. I want to thank you for
    the opportunity of the President and the Secretary, of meeting with you
    today. To a large extent, the future of your country lies in your hands,
    and the President looks forward to discussing things of relevance to
    Brazil and the United States and our important bilateral relationship.
    And with that being said, I'd like to turn the----
        The President. John, let me say
    something. The Ambassador is trying to cull me out of the conversation
    early on. [Laughter] Listen, thank you for coming. First, I am here
    because I want to send a very clear signal to the people of Brazil that
    the relationship between America and Brazil is an important
    relationship, that Brazil is a friend, and that Brazil has got an
    important part of working with America to bring prosperity to not only
    our own citizens but to help others as well and by doing so, kind of lay
    the--lay conditions for a peaceful continent.
        It's in our interests that our neighborhood be a prosperous
    neighborhood. It's in our interests that we work with the largest
    country in the neighborhood. And so I come to not only discuss
    philosophy and points of view with you but also to meet with President
    Lula, with whom I've got a good
    relationship.
        He is a person who had to make
    some tough decisions. That's what leaders have to do; you've got to make
    tough decisions. And he's made hard decisions for the people of Brazil.
    He is--the economy is going well here, which is good news. He also has
    got a good heart. And I share the same concern he has; I share a concern
    of making sure that the least fortunate among us has a chance to survive
    and succeed.
        And so this is going to be a good trip here, and I'm grateful for
    you all taking time to come by and visit. I look forward to having a
    fruitful discussion with you. And we'll start with Carlos.
        Participant. Thank you very much, Mr. President. Latin Americans for
    a long time have had a love-hatred relationship with the U.S. Latin
    Americans admire the military and economic power of the United States,
    its popular culture, and many values with which they share. But Latin
    Americans resist the somewhat missionary nature of U.S. when justifying
    its international actions--for instance, when the U.S. exports
    democracy, exports market economies, or even exports civil liberties.
    This has been really very much criticized or contested, even in this
    region of the world. The Mar del Plata incidents of a few days ago,
    during the Summit of the Americas, showed that the mood of the
    demonstrators may easily go beyond the acceptable limits in--
    civilization.
        My question now: Is the U.S. able to pinpoint the causes for these
    disagreements that they have with the opinionmakers here in Latin
    America, and does the U.S. have a clear strategy to change this love and
    hatred relationship into one of cooperation and friendship?
        The President. Well, first of all, I--we met in a society which
    allows people to express their different points of view. In other
    words--which is positive--I expect there to be dissent. That's what
    freedom is all about. People should be allowed to express themselves.
    And so what happened in Argentina happens in America. That's positive.
    Can you imagine being in a society where people were not allowed to
    express their positions?
        Secondly, I fully understand there's, at times, a view of America
    that is, in my opinion, not an accurate view. I mean, you say,
    ``missionary zeal to spread democracy''--I do have a deep desire to help
    others assume a democracy that is a democracy that conforms to their
    traditions and their customs. And the reason why is

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    because the world has seen that democracies do not fight each other.
        As an example, war broke out in Europe in the early 1900s, as well
    as the mid-1900s. And yet we've had no war in Europe since. And one of
    the reasons why is because the nations of Europe became democracies, not
    American democracy but democracies that reflected the values of the
    people in that country--in their countries.
        One of the stories I like to share with people--it's an interesting
    story, and I think an illustration of what I'm trying to do--is that
    Japan was the sworn enemy of the United States in the late 1940s. My
    dad was a soldier, Navy pilot, and fighting
    the Japanese. Today--I'm going to Japan in 2 weeks. I will be sitting
    down with one of the best friends that I have in the international
    arena, Koizumi. That's interesting, isn't
    it? What happened between the time when America was fighting Japan and
    when, now, Japan is an ally with the United States in dealing with a
    tyrant in North Korea, for example? And what
    happened was, Japan adopted a Japanese-style democracy.
        And so I am anxious to work with countries to help make sure that
    the institutions, universal institutions of democracy become entrenched
    in society: freedom to worship, freedom of the press, rule of law.
        I will also tell you, I firmly believe that a society which is
    democratic is one much more likely to be able to deal with the social
    ills of a society. I mean, a democracy is one in which minorities have
    rights and can express themselves through the legislative process.
    Tyrannies are such that minorities don't have rights, unless you happen
    to be aligned with the tyrant.
        And so, one, I don't think America, nor Brazil, should ever back
    down from believing in the universality of freedom and democracy.
    Secondly, I hope that I am able to do so in a way that explains our
    position, as opposed to alienating people. And one of the reasons I've
    come to Brazil is to make that eminently clear, that the United States
    is a friend of Brazil and that our values that we discuss are universal
    in nature. They apply to Brazil equally as they apply to America.
        So very good question, Carlos.

    Note: The President spoke at 9:54 a.m. at the U.S. Embassy. In his
    remarks, he referred to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil;
    Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan; and Chairman Kim Chong-il of
    North Korea. The participant spoke in Portuguese, and his remarks were
    translated by an interpreter. The Office of the Press Secretary also
    released a Spanish language transcript of these remarks. A portion of
    these remarks could not be verified because the tape was incomplete.