[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 19 (Monday, May 12, 1997)]
[Pages 673-674]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at the Welcoming Ceremony at the Central American Summit in San 
Jose, Costa Rica

May 8, 1997

    Thank you very much. President Figueres, thank you for bringing us 
all together. And to my fellow leaders from Central America and the 
Dominican Republic, thank you for coming. To all of you, to our 
distinguished guests, to all Ticos and all the people of Central 
America, let me say, Es realmente un nuevo dia.
    Less than a decade ago, much of the Americas was still dominated by 
civil war, repression, and hopeless poverty. Today, we celebrate the 
advance of peace, growing prosperity, and freedom across our hemisphere. 
And we honor the remarkable men and women of Central America who helped 
to lead the way.
    When the history of our region and our time is written, it will 
record your courage and your strength in ending four decades of 
conflict, braving the threat of bombs and bullets to cast ballots, 
embracing the challenge of economic reform, and opening the door to a 
new era of partnership among all our nations.
    President Figueres, in that epic struggle, Costa Rica, this nation 
of brothers, has been a wise leader and set a powerful example. Waging 
peace as tenaciously as others have waged war, Costa Rica has shown that 
a country does not need an army to be strong. We thank Costa Rica and 
its leaders for building a vibrant democracy that takes care of its 
citizens and shoulders its responsibilities in the world.
    Three years ago, our hemisphere's 34 democracies met in Miami at the 
historic Summit of the Americas to secure the hard-won gains our nations 
have made and to make them work for all our people. Today in San Jose, 
in the first summit between the leaders of the United States, Central 
America, and the Dominican Republic in almost three decades, we stand 
before you united in our course determined to advance together to help 
the daily lives of our people in better jobs, safer streets, cleaner 
air, brighter hopes for our children and their future.
    We are here to help our economies grow and to grow closer by opening 
our markets, protecting our workers, and sharing more fairly the 
benefits of prosperity. We are here to give all our people the tools to 
succeed in the global economy by making good education the birthright of 
every citizen of every country here.
    We are here to strengthen our democracies by standing against the 
criminals, the drug traffickers, the smugglers who exploit open borders 
to threaten open societies, and we are here to protect our future by 
launch

[[Page 674]]

ing new efforts to prevent pollution and protect our precious natural 
environment.
    When President Kennedy came to Costa Rica more than three decades 
ago, he said, ``Every generation of the Americas has shaped new goals 
for democracy to suit the demands of a new age. Our generation must meet 
that challenge, and we must do it together. We know that we must not be 
just neighbors but real partners, working together in a spirit of 
friendship, equality, and mutual respect.''
    My fellow citizens of the Americas, that is the partnership we have 
come here to build. Here in the heart of our hemisphere, let us go 
forward into a bright new century full of unlimited possibilities for 
our young, knowing that to realize those possibilities, we must go 
forward together.
    Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 10:27 a.m. at the National Theater Plaza. 
In his remarks, he referred to the following Summit of Central America 
participants: President Jose Maria Figueres of Costa Rica; Prime 
Minister Manuel Esquivel of Belize; President Leonel Fernandez of the 
Dominican Republic; President Alvaro Arzu of Guatemala; President Carlos 
Roberto Reina of Honduras; President Arnoldo Aleman of Nicaragua; and 
President Armando Calderon of El Salvador. A tape was not available for 
verification of the content of these remarks.