[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2008, Book II)]
[October 27, 2008]
[Pages 1341-1342]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks Following a Meeting With President Fernando Armindo Lugo 
Mendez of Paraguay
October 27, 2008

    President Bush. Bienvenidos, Senor Presidente, a la Casa Blanca. I 
am honored you are here to visit me in the White House. We have had a 
meaningful conversation, a conversation that you would expect among 
people who have a deep desire to serve their respective people.
    Mr. President, I've been impressed by un corazon grande. You care 
deeply about the people of your country, and I have felt that 
compassion.
    I told the President that the United States wants to help. We want 
to help with education and health care. We care deeply about people 
being able to work. Our--we believe in the social justice agenda. I 
believe that it's important that the United States be in a position to 
help influence the lives of citizens that simply want a more hopeful 
day. And, Mr. President, it gives me great comfort to know that you're 
the person with whom we can work.

[[Page 1342]]

    I'm impressed by the fact that you want to take a strong stand 
against corruption. There's nothing more discouraging than to have the 
government of a people steal their money.
    And so we stand with you. It's--you got a hard job. I understand 
that. But you bring the right spirit to the job. And so I want to 
welcome you to the White House and thank you for your conversation.
    President Lugo. First of all, thank you very much for the 
invitation. It is a commitment and a joy to be able to reinforce our 
historic relationship with the United States.
    Many people have asked, ``Why now?'' And I think that it's 
particularly important to visit President Bush in his last days in the 
White House because we think it's very important to impress upon the 
world the importance of democratic institutions.
    President Bush. Thank you.
    President Lugo. And also because we believe that we, as individual 
people, pass. We have written that our personal history is not as 
important as the history of our respective peoples.
    In Paraguay, I have entered politics in order to change the history 
of our country. We have not come into politics in order to get into the 
smokeless industry that is to steal from the people of the country. We 
came in as Christians, because our Christian duty is to serve the 
poorest and the neediest of our people. And today, as President of 
Paraguay, we're taking on all of the challenges with the greatest 
serenity possible so that we can help our people.
    We are profoundly hurt in our souls by poverty, by the exodus of our 
young people, by the lack of education, by people who don't have roofs 
over their heads. We are profoundly moved by those people. But that pain 
is also impregnated with courage and decisiveness. And we have said 
since the very beginning that if there was anything that was to 
distinguish our Government, it would be international solidarity.
    I'll never forget that when I talked to one of our agricultural 
people, one of the people out in the country, a farmer who said: ``What 
we need is bread. We don't care if it comes from the left hand or from 
the right hand. We just need somebody to give us food.'' And that's why 
we're here, because the Paraguayans have asked us to be here as 
President to try to recover Paraguay's dignity as a nation.
    And I told President Bush that we have a lot of dreams, collective 
dreams, but also my personal dream. And our dream is that Paraguay be 
known not for its corruption, but for its transparency and for its 
dignity as a people and as a country. And we believe, we're convinced, 
that we will be able to achieve that.
    Thank you.
    President Bush. Si. Gracias, senor. Thank you, sir. Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 11:55 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House. President Lugo spoke in Spanish, and his remarks were translated 
by an interpreter. The Office of the Press Secretary also released a 
Spanish language transcript of these remarks.