[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 41 (Monday, October 16, 1995)]
[Pages 1798-1804]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's News Conference With President Zedillo

October 10, 1995

    President Clinton. Let me say again how delighted I am to welcome 
President Zedillo to the White House and take this opportunity to say 
again, on behalf of the American people, how terribly sorry we are for 
the terrible earthquake in Mexico yesterday. Our thoughts and prayers 
are with the victims and with their families.
    My meeting with President Zedillo marks an extraordinary moment for 
relations between the United States and Mexico. Never has our 
partnership had so much potential. Never has it yielded such clear 
results.
    Each of us is uplifted by the strength of the other's economy, as we 
create good, high-paying jobs that benefit both our peoples. Each of us 
is made stronger by the support of the other in our common efforts to 
fight drugs, crime, and pollution. Each of us is enriched by the wealth 
of the other's heritage. We celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month this 
month, and we should honor the Mexican-American community that has 
contributed and continues to contribute so very much to the life of the 
United States.
    President Zedillo and I are joined in a common endeavor to advance 
the security and prosperity of both our nations. The events of the last 
year have demonstrated how crucial it is that we work together.
    When the peso collapsed just 10 months ago, America's deepest 
interests were affected. The crisis threatened 700,000 Americans whose 
jobs depend on exports to Mexico. It raised the specter of severe 
dislocation along our 2,000-mile border and in emerging markets 
throughout Latin America and, indeed, throughout the entire world. By 
making tough decisions together, we steered through those days of 
uncertainty and averted far graver consequences. The United States put 
together an international package of support to stabilize Mexico's 
economy. And President Zedillo showed tremendous

[[Page 1799]]

vision and courage implementing tough measures that laid the basis for 
recovery.
    To be sure, the road ahead will be difficult. But the Mexican 
people, with President Zedillo's leadership, are determined to hold onto 
reform, courageously accepting today's hardship for the sake of a better 
tomorrow. Already we see the results. When the financial crisis struck 
in 1982, it took 7 long years before Mexico could return to 
international capital markets. Under President Zedillo's skillful 
guidance, it took just 7 months this time. Interest rates have fallen by 
half. Monthly inflation is down, and the stock market is back up to pre-
crisis levels. Last Thursday, President Zedillo informed me that Mexico 
would repay $700 million of our financial support ahead of schedule.
    The North American Free Trade Agreement bolstered that recovery of 
confidence. Despite Mexico's economic downturn, American exports to 
Mexico still exceed their levels before NAFTA. And I want to emphasize 
that. The last time the Mexican economy was in crisis in 1982, there was 
a steep increase in tariffs, and Mexican exports were cut in half. It 
did not happen this time because of NAFTA. Therefore, if the NAFTA 
agreement had not been in place, the recent difficulties would have been 
far, far worse from the United States point of view. Our overall exports 
to NAFTA partners have grown by 25 percent since the agreement took 
effect, supporting about 340,000 good American jobs.
    Mexico is already one of our most important partners in the global 
fight against drugs, and we are determined to do more. Helping Mexico to 
fight crime before it crosses the border is an investment in America's 
security. We will do all we can to strengthen Mexico's ability to detect 
and to deter drug traffickers by providing 12 helicopters, helping 
Mexico obtain radars, intensifying our training to help fight money 
laundering. President Zedillo's major reform of Mexican law enforcement 
will make our cooperation even more effective.
    The United States is a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws. We 
must control our borders even as we work to protect the dignity and 
rights of individuals. Working with Mexico, we have made important 
strides to prevent illegal immigration and to promote public safety.
    By the end of 1996, the United States aims to increase our southwest 
border patrol personnel by 60 percent above its 1993 levels. The Mexican 
Government has taken concrete steps to fight border crime, prevent alien 
smuggling, and close illegal gateways to our country. I welcome 
President Zedillo's agreement to begin a pilot repatriation program in 
the San Diego region. Under this program, Mexicans who repeatedly cross 
our border illegally will be voluntarily returned to their hometowns 
instead of to the border area.
    President Zedillo and I also discussed the environment. Thanks to 
the efforts set in motion by NAFTA, our nations are working more closely 
than ever to solve pollution problems, protect public health, and deal 
with our long-term common environmental interests. Together, we are 
helping border communities find ways to improve sanitation and to ensure 
clean drinking water.
    The vitality of these relations between the United States and Mexico 
reflects and reinforces the new spirit of cooperation that, indeed, is 
sweeping our entire hemisphere. As we witnessed at the Summit of the 
Americas in Miami last December, our interests and our values 
increasingly coincide.
     Again, let me say how very much I appreciate the leadership and 
strength that President Zedillo has shown. We know that the core of our 
long-term future with our partnership in the Americas lies in a strong 
relationship and a strong working partnership between the United States 
and Mexico.
    Mr. President, welcome back.
    President Zedillo. Thank you, Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen. I 
would like to thank President Clinton for his kind words. In the 
conversations that we have held, we carried out a very complete analysis 
of the basic issues, the main issues, on our bilateral agenda.
    We have spoken of the relationship of the two economies. Especially 
we have spoken of the results offered by NAFTA and of its enormous 
potential. NAFTA is a reality, and it is yielding impressive results. 
Even in this difficult year, Mexico now purchases nearly 4 times more 
goods and services from the

[[Page 1800]]

United States than it did 10 years ago. And the United States is 
exporting to Mexico more than in the years prior to NAFTA. Trade between 
the two countries is in excess of $100 billion a year.
    We discussed some of the aspects of our bilateral relations, and we 
were pleased to find solutions in some of the cases. We also hope that 
very soon we will find a modification or amendment to the legislation 
which imposed the tuna embargo. This has been the result of 
acknowledging the great effort that Mexico has carried out in this 
field.
    We trust that the trade between the two nations will increase again 
as of 1996 when Mexico's economy will begin to recover significantly. 
The recovery in economic growth will prove that the economic program put 
in practice by Mexico and the decisions reached have been the 
appropriate decisions.
    The vigorous economic growth and the creation of more and better 
jobs will be the best response to the migration of Mexicans to the 
United States. We agree that our respective legislation must be 
respected, as well as the dignity and the rights of individuals must be 
respected. We have reached agreements for the orderly repatriation of 
undocumented Mexicans to different entry ports.
    Drug trafficking is our common enemy. It is the most threatening of 
all enemies because it brings corruption, corruption in health, in 
social living, and in institutions. We agree to fight firmly the war 
against drug trafficking in both nations and to severely punish money 
laundering. We have also agreed to intensify the efforts against drug 
use.
    Mexico is doing its share in this regard. Just a few days ago, as 
part of a new, stronger policy, we put in practice a national drug 
control program. The three basic avenues comprise an important social 
campaign against drug use. It is an unprecedented effort also to 
eradicate crops and to combat the trafficking of prohibited or forbidden 
drug substances and against money laundering.
    In our conversations we reaffirmed our mutual commitment to 
cooperate with the sovereignty of each nation in an unprecedented 
struggle against drug trafficking.
    We have spoken about our border, and we agreed to work to make it 
clean and safe and to make it an opportunity for productive activities 
and well-being. This is the intention of the Frontera Veinte-Uno program 
or the Border 21 program between our nations.
    At important times, at decisionmaking times, President Clinton has 
shown Mexico friendship and respect. He has shown vision, commitment, 
perseverance, and leadership. Because of all this, Mr. President, as 
Mexicans, we acknowledge your friendship, your commitment, and your 
respect to Mexico.
    In brief, ladies and gentlemen, in sum, this has been an opportunity 
which has allowed us to carry out a very constructive and detailed 
analysis of our bilateral agenda. And at the same time, it has allowed 
us to assert a new understanding that will ensure what is most 
important, that is, our will to hold a permanent dialog with mutual 
knowledge and friendship between our peoples.
    Thank you very much.
    President Clinton. Thank you.
    Helen [Helen Thomas, United Press International].

Divisive Domestic Issues

    Q. Mr. President, how concerned are you over the two social 
problems, one, the vengeful violence against law enforcement officers as 
manifested by Oklahoma City and the apparent sabotage of Amtrak, and of 
course, the racial divide as exposed by the Simpson trial? And what are 
you going to do about it?
    President Clinton.  Well, first, let me say I'm very concerned about 
it. I'm concerned about anything that makes the American people less 
secure or that divides them along racial or other lines. And it should 
be clear what we are trying to do about it.
    What we are trying to do on the law enforcement side, obviously, is 
to improve our capacity to enforce the law, which is why we have asked 
for the antiterrorism legislation from the Congress and why we have done 
the things that we have done in this administration which have averted 
several terrorist incidents against Americans and which have succeeded 
in bringing suspected criminals back to the United States and which have 
secured convictions. So we are working very hard there to bring down the 
crime rate and make the American people safer.

[[Page 1801]]

    With regard to the racial divisions, without commenting, again, on 
the trial itself, I think what has struck all American in the aftermath 
of the trial is the apparent differences of perception of the same set 
of facts based on the race of American citizens. And I have always 
believed that the best way to deal with that is to try to get us to 
identify common objectives and work toward them together and agree that 
we have achieved them together.
    That's why I've worked so hard, often in the face of intense 
criticism, to assure that we had both diversity and excellence in our 
administration, to promote affirmative action but to get rid of its 
abuses, and to do other things that would give all Americans a common 
stake in a common future.
    But I have been thinking about this a lot over the last several 
days. And you know, the whole issue of reconciling races in America has 
been a passion of my life, even before I was an elected official. The 
fact that we are still polarized in some ways is a source of great 
concern to me, not only as President but as an American, as a father, as 
someone who desperately wants his country to do very well for a long 
time.
    I have spoken about this elsewhere, but I may have some more to say 
about it in the next few days. I'm really going to think through this 
and talk to some people and try to absorb the impact of what I have been 
learning here. Because I must say that even I--I thought I knew a lot 
about how people of different races viewed things in America, but I have 
been surprised by the depth of the divergence in so many areas. And I do 
think we need to work on it, because we don't have a stake in drifting 
apart. We need to see--we can have differences of opinion, but at least 
we ought to be able to look at facts and reach some common judgment more 
frequently than apparently we're able to today.
    Mr. President, do you want to----

Drug Abuse and Trafficking

    Q. Yes, President Zedillo, at different times, on different 
occasions, you and other Latin American Presidents have spoken of the 
need for large countries--large drug consuming countries to take on the 
role of coresponsibility or shared responsibility with the countries 
where there is drug trafficking. I'd like to know if you discussed this 
with President Clinton and what he answered to you.
    President Zedillo. This vision regarding the drug trafficking 
problem is a concern that is shared by the two nations. This was 
expressed in the agreements in Miami at the summit meeting convened by 
President Clinton, in the Declaration of Principles and in the Program 
of Action. It was very clear that we must tackle the drug trafficking 
problem from a global perspective, in the supply, in the trafficking, 
and also in the demand for drugs or drug consumption.
    That is why this year the two Governments together have intensified 
our cooperation. It has always been in full respect of the sovereignty 
of the other nation, and we have acknowledged the importance of 
increasing our efforts to combat consumption in an integral fashion.
    President Clinton. I'd like to answer that.
    I think it is a legitimate thing for countries--other countries to 
ask the United States to do more to reduce its demand for drugs. We have 
roughly 5 percent of the world's population; we consume roughly half of 
the world's illegal drugs. So I think that's a legitimate thing.
    When we passed the crime bill last year through our Congress, there 
was a real commitment there to increase our investment in community-
based prevention programs and in drug treatment programs and in 
punishment programs. And I would like to point out that in the United 
States now we are first or second in the world in the percentage of our 
people that we have in prison, and half of them are there because of 
violating our drug laws. The crime rate is down in the United States in 
almost every major category. And drug use among adults is down in the 
United States, although casual drug use among teenagers seems to be 
creeping up a little. And we're intensely involved in discussions about 
how to drive that down.
    So I accept that responsibility. And we have to do more. We also 
have to do more to interdict drugs coming into our country. And we've 
tried to do more of that on our own and have made some major progress 
there. So we want to do our part in what will be a genuine partnership 
against the

[[Page 1802]]

scourge of drugs and the organizations that sell them and, therefore, 
threaten the vitality of democracy in our neighbors.
    Yes, Terry [Terence Hunt, Associated Press].

Budget Negotiations

    Q. Mr. President, in a speech last night, Speaker Gingrich 
challenged your administration to begin serious negotiations on the 
budget. He said, or else you'd face the loss of some government 
functions that you like. And he specifically mentioned that Labor 
Secretary Reich might be out of a job. What would it take to begin the 
serious negotiations that he's talking about? What will trigger these? 
And what will it take to break this impasse?
    President Clinton. Well, first of all, they--let me say, I don't 
want to get into a word war here. My door has been open to negotiations 
all along. I have made it clear what I would do, which is to support a 
balanced budget; that I would support and think it's important that we 
increase the life of the Medicare Trust Fund; and I would support a tax 
cut, properly targeted and affordable, for the American people. Those 
are the things that the Speaker says that he wants out of the budget. I 
will support those things.
    But I disagree with the magnitude and the pace of the cuts in the 
medical programs, Medicare and Medicaid. I disagree with the dramatic 
walking away of our responsibilities in education and in the areas of 
technology and research that are key to our economic future. I disagree 
with the significant erosion in our commitment to the environment and 
public health in the budget.
    And the options for achieving agreement are, I think, many and 
fairly clear. But this legislative process has to unfold. After all, we 
have some of the--it's not clear to me what is going on in the Congress. 
You know, last year, we passed all the appropriation bills before 
October 1st, and in 1993 when we passed our multiyear budget, the 
reconciliation bill, it passed in August. And so, I worked with the 
Congress on a regular schedule that I understood.
    I have--you know, if we're going to have an honest conversation 
about this which--and, by the way, we've had many conversations about 
it--I think that we have to say we have to find common ground here.
    But I want to balance the budget so we can grow the economy and 
strengthen the American people. They've offered the American people a 
budget which says, ``If you pass our budget with our tax cut, we will 
give you slower economic growth than you've had for 25 years.'' That's 
the message of their budget. I find that astonishing that they have no 
confidence in their own budget.
    We adopted very conservative economic projections and said we 
thought we would grow at least as fast as we had for the last 25 years 
with the very difficult years in the seventies and eighties. In fact, I 
think we'll grow more if we do it in the right way.
    So there are a lot of ways that we can meet and talk together. But 
we don't need to get into a fight about it; we need to work through it. 
And my door is open, and we'll work through it, and I think we'll get 
it.

Mexico-U.S. Relations

    Q. President Clinton, you took on the personal risk of this 
financial package, the largest financial package existing. I'd like to 
know why in policies it appears as if you never do anything for anyone. 
President Zedillo, is there something that people can come and ask you 
for accountability on later on?
    President Clinton. I'm not sure I understand the question.
    Q. Would you like me to repeat the question?
    President Clinton. Yes, please do.
    Q. What are you expecting in exchange for the credit package that 
you offered Mexico? What are you expecting? [Laughter]
    President Clinton. I see. All I want is for Mexico to stay on the 
path to democracy and prosperity through open markets. I seek no special 
favors for the United States, no special concessions. We share this 
great border together. Americans of Mexican heritage are one of our 
largest groups of Americans. Mexico is one of our largest trading 
partners in both directions. And our future is bound up together.
    What I want is for Mexico to be strong and healthy and free and 
successful. That means an America with a good partner, with a bright 
future, with a growing economy,

[[Page 1803]]

with stable borders, with the ability to fight the scourge of drugs and 
organized crime and raise the resources necessary to fight environmental 
pollution. And it means that there will be two countries, along with our 
friends in Canada, that can lead this hemispheric-wide partnership for 
the Americas into the 21st century. That's what I want out of this.
    And the flip side of it is that if Mexico's economy had been 
permitted to deteriorate further because of the speculation which was 
existing in the financial markets at that time, then one of modern 
history's great examples of democracy and economic reform would have 
been lost because of a short-term problem. It would have been a tragedy 
for the American people--I mean for the Mexican people--and for the 
American people. And we would have paid a much dearer price because then 
you would have had problems in Argentina, in Brazil, in other developing 
countries all over the world.
    So I did it because I wanted to stop bad things from happening. I 
did it because I have a vision of what our partnership will be in the 
future. But I seek no special advantage for the United States and 
certainly no influence over the internal affairs of Mexico.
    President Zedillo. There is nothing in what we have done this year 
to face the adverse situation that Mexico's economy is facing--there is 
nothing that we will regret in the future. Thus, all of the decisions 
that we have reached to tackle the crisis have been indispensable 
decisions, so that very soon the Mexican economy will be clearly on the 
path to recovery, to economic growth and the path to creating jobs.
    The agreements that we have reached with the Government of the 
United States of America, headed by President Clinton, have been 
agreements that have been in full respect of our national sovereignty. 
We have received a very understanding and supportive attitude from the 
Government of the United States. And we understand that this is in 
benefit of Mexico. But as President Clinton has already emphasized, 
these decisions and these agreements were reached in the interest of 
international coexistence, of the international financial system as 
well, to safeguard its stability, and also in the interest of the U.S. 
economy.
    Q. The Mexicans are very worried that Mexico will become an issue in 
the political campaign and Mexico-bashing has no political--[inaudible]. 
Have you given President Zedillo any assurances that every time that 
happens you will condemn that?
    And I would like a quick question for Mr. Zedillo in Spanish. Mr. 
President, how would you respond to the allegations that your campaign 
has received the money from the Cali cartel?
    President Clinton. First of all, I think I have established, beyond 
any question, my position on that issue. My view is that Mexico is our 
partner and that we have to work together. When we have honest 
differences, they should be honestly discussed. But to imagine a future 
for the United States that is successful into the 21st century without a 
successful partnership with Mexico is difficult indeed.
    So my answer is the way to avoid Mexico-bashing, first of all, is to 
deal with the facts. For example, the facts on NAFTA are that, sure, 
after Mexico had an economic downturn, our exports suffered. But they 
suffered so much less than they did just a little over a decade ago when 
there was no NAFTA. So we're better off.
    First, we must deal with facts, not emotions. Secondly, we have to 
be good partners in working on the real problems that give rise to 
emotional and anxiety-ridden responses. We have to work on the drug 
problem together. We have to work on immigration and the border problems 
together. We have to work on these things together in an open, honest 
way so that people on both sides of the border can see what we're doing 
and that we are laboring away to make the situations better. That is the 
answer.

Cali Cartel

    President Zedillo. That information is absolutely false, of unknown 
origin. It is information that appeared in a Colombian magazine, quoting 
supposed DEA sources. Yesterday the DEA issued a communique saying that 
they did not authorize that information. And as we said the first day 
that this information was published, we will begin legal actions against 
the Colombian magazine that published this information.

[[Page 1804]]

    The data having to do with the financing of all political federal 
campaigns in Mexico were delivered and analyzed by the electoral 
authorities. So we could say that that investigation has been done and 
completed.

Cuba

    Q. President Clinton, President Zedillo, apparently there are 
subjects in the foreign policy where you each maintain your own 
position. Today in your meeting, did you speak of Cuba? It appears that 
the United States has changed its position regarding Cuba. Was that 
subject discussed in your conversations, and will it have any effect on 
the bilateral relations?
    President Zedillo. The response, Mr. President, is very simple. We 
did not discuss that.
    Thank you very much.
    President Clinton. But it will not have any effect on our bilateral 
relations. [Laughter]
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President's 102d news conference began at 12:45 p.m. in Room 
450 of the Old Executive Office Building. President Zedillo spoke in 
Spanish, and his remarks were translated by an interpreter.