    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2008, Book I)]
    [April 28, 2008]
    [Pages 585-587]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Following a Discussion With President Alvaro Colom
    Caballeros of Guatemala
    April 28, 2008

        President Bush. It's been my honor to welcome to the Oval Office the
    President and First Lady of a close
    friend of the United States. Mr. President, thank you for coming.
        We've had a good discussion about a variety of issues. We discussed
    bilateral relations between Guatemala and the United States, which are
    very strong. We are friends. We treat each other with respect. Our
    objective is--with U.S. foreign policy--is to have a neighborhood that
    is peaceful and prosperous, where social justice is important; want to
    achieve social justice through good health policy, good education
    policy, and good judicial policy. The United States is pleased to help
    this Government, as best as we possibly can, help the average citizen
    get a good education and have good health care.
        We talked about how CAFTA is working. Exports to the United States
    have increased; exports from the United States have increased. And
    that's good.
        We talked about security and the need for the region--Mexico, the
    United States,

    [[Page 586]]

    and the countries of Central America--to fight drug trafficking. I told
    the President that we are working hard to reduce demand for drugs here
    in America. And at the same time, we want to work in conjunction with
    strong leaders to make sure these drug traffickers don't get a
    stronghold. And that's why it's very important for Congress to fund the
    Merida project.
        We talked about the reforms that the Government is instituting
    inside of Guatemala, including tax reform and reform to make sure that
    people who break the law are held to account.
        I was particularly pleased to note that the Guatemalan Government
    and its leadership is promoting laws to make sure women are treated well
    and that violence against women is prosecuted.
        And so--and we're going to talk a little later on about the
    Millennium Challenge Account. And by the way, we were talking about
    blueberries, and--so that blueberries are able to come off-season here
    to the United States, which is a positive development for Guatemalan
    farmers.
        And finally of course, the President brought up the issue of
    immigration. And he wanted to urge me to think about TPS--TPS for
    citizens, as well as comprehensive immigration reform. I assured him
    that I will consider his request. And I assured him that I believe
    comprehensive immigration reform is in our Nation's best interests.
        And so we've had a good discussion, and right after this press
    availability, I'll be taking he and the First Lady to lunch. And I'm looking forward to serving them
    lunch, and I bet you're looking forward to eating lunch. [Laughter]
    Thanks for coming.
        President Colom Caballeros. I want to thank President Bush for his
    hospitality. We've spent a couple of days working here, and we are very
    happy to hold this meeting in which we have discussed strengthening our
    relationship with an--already a strong relationship, in fact.
        We discussed, as the President mentioned, the fight against drug
    trafficking. We are doing everything necessary to eliminate drug
    trafficking and drug traffickers from our territory.
        We discussed the issue of social investment. We have received
    support from USAID. We--our two countries have common aims in this
    regard.
        We also discussed the issue of our migrants. We brought up TPS with
    the President. We will be awaiting a response on that.
        We described our recent tax reform to the President. That is
    something we're starting in Guatemala because we need to ensure that we
    have the public funds to be able to carry out the reforms in the areas
    of social justice and others that we have discussed.
        We want to express our appreciation for the support that we have
    received from the United States to combat drug trafficking. Recently, we
    received four helicopters. This has been extremely helpful to us. We've
    also achieved good success on this front with the recent cocaine
    seizures. In fact, an operation was just carried out last night, a very
    large one, very successful. And on that, we are working not just with
    the United States but also with Mexico and the entire neighborhood in
    Central America, because all of us must be involved, as President Bush
    said, in order to combat that scourge at all levels.
        And so we are very happy to be here and very happy to be moving
    forward. Thank you.
        President Bush. Gracias, senor.
        President Colom Caballeros. Si. Gracias.

    Note: The President spoke at 11:41 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to Sandra Torres de Colom, wife of
    President Colom Caballeros. President Colom Caballeros spoke in Spanish,
    and his remarks were translated by an interpreter. The Office of the
    Press Secretary

    [[Page 587]]

    also released a Spanish language transcript of these remarks.