[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 19 (Monday, May 12, 1997)]
[Pages 665-666]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a State Dinner in Mexico City

May 6, 1997

    Mr. President, Mrs. Zedillo, members of the Mexican Cabinet and 
other distinguished public servants, citizens of Mexico, on behalf of 
Hillary, on all the members of our delegation, from the administration 
and the Congress, I, first, thank you for the graciousness and warmth 
with which you have welcomed us.
    We live side by side as neighbors. We work together day-in and day-
out as partners, but the warmth of your reception has reminded us today 
that we are also close friends.
    Just before the dinner began, President and Mrs. Zedillo took 
Hillary and me to see the magnificent murals of Diego Rivera that

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adorn this great palace. They are very moving works. Along with the 
paintings of Orozco and Siqueiros, they represent the peak of artistic 
achievement in this century and one of the many contributions of Mexico 
to the culture of the world. Anyone who has seen it knows that the power 
of Rivera's ``Epic of the Mexico People in Their Struggle for Freedom 
and Independence'' comes from more than mere technical skill. In this 
grand work we see the proud spirit of Mexico's revolution and Mexico's 
heart.
    Instantly, I saw Rivera's extraordinary love of the Mexican people, 
the same passion which then and now inspires Mexico's journey toward a 
better and freer society. Rivera never actually finished his epic, and 
perhaps that is fitting because the journey of every nation to increase 
the freedom of its people, the labor at the very heart of democracy, 
never ends.
    I am delighted to be in Mexico at another time when this struggle is 
making a dramatic stride forward. Mexico's leaders and political parties 
are opening the doors of democracy wider than ever. New citizen groups 
have sown the seeds of a vibrant civil society that promises to deliver 
to all Mexicans a better and freer future.
    Mr. President, you reminded us that it was in this palace where 
Benito Juarez corresponded with Abraham Lincoln. Our President, Mr. 
Lincoln, who many of us consider to be our greatest President, called in 
the United States in his time for a new birth of freedom. The murals 
here remind us here that the birth of freedom is more than a matter of 
improving our political systems. We must also strive to see that our 
citizens are free from want and hunger, free from the dangers our new 
age brings, and free to make the most of their own lives.
    The partnership we seek with Mexico is one that will advance that 
kind of freedom, here and throughout the Americas. We want to work 
together to lay the foundation of an enduring prosperity. We want to 
join together to improve the air and water we share. We want to work to 
turn our border into a region of growth, to defeat disease, to defeat 
the threat of drugs, organized crime, and corruption.
    Mr. President, we can succeed because we have forged a relationship 
as broad and deep as that which exists between any two nations. And 
today we have made important progress. We are answering the demands of 
our time, advancing the common goals of our people, serving a friendship 
that is at the heart of what we all want for our future. In so doing, we 
honor the legacy of Benito Juarez and Abraham Lincoln and the constant 
quest for a new birth of freedom.
    Ladies and gentlemen, I ask you now to join with me in toasting 
President and Mrs. Zedillo and their family, to partnership of our 
nations and the new day of freedom it will bring to the friends and 
neighbors of our shared continent.

Note: The President spoke at 10:09 p.m. at the Presidential Palace. A 
tape was not available for verification of the content of these remarks.