[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 10 (Monday, March 15, 1999)]
[Pages 400-401]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Opening Remarks at the Central America Summit in Antigua, Guatemala

March 11, 1999

    President Arzu, President Aleman, President Flores, President 
Calderon Sol, President Rodriguez, President Fernandez, Prime Minister 
Musa. First, President Arzu, let me thank you, your government, and the 
people of Guatemala and especially the people of Antigua for the 
wonderful welcome and hospitality I have received here.
    When Hillary came back from her trip to Central America last 
November, she told me about the devastation she had seen in four 
nations, but she also said, ``At the end of the trip, you have to go to 
Antigua.''
    You know, this is the first time the President of the United States 
has been anywhere in Guatemala outside of the airport in Guatemala City. 
President Johnson visited there 30 years ago. This visit is long 
overdue. More importantly, this moment in history is long overdue.
    I came to the Presidency in 1993 determined to establish a new 
partnership with the peoples of Latin America and especially to reach 
out to our neighbors in Central America. At long last, Guatemala and all 
its neighbors have a chance to prosper in freedom and peace, in a 
hemisphere united by shared values.
    We have come together in this old capital to find new solutions. The 
damage the hurricanes left, some of which I have seen, of course, has 
increased the urgency of our deliberations and our action. We are 
determined to respond to this calamity so that what was destroyed will 
be built back better than ever. We commit today to build a common future 
here in Antigua, a city that knows a great deal about rebuilding.
    Our challenge is to consolidate the remarkable achievements of 
Central America in the last decade, to build on them, and to accelerate 
them. I am committed to lowering trade barriers between us, both to 
speed recovery and to build a free-trade area in this

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region that will benefit all the citizens of all the countries.
    I am committed to a common struggle against violence and drug 
trafficking and drug abuse, to shared responsibility for the care of our 
environment, for the education of our children, for the health of our 
people. I am committed to justice and to institutions which will 
maintain it. I am committed to fair immigration laws, fairly enforced, 
and especially to the principle that we should treat people from Central 
America equitably, whatever their country of origin, and recognize the 
special circumstances of those nations that Hurricane Mitch hit hardest.
    Our new partnership has made quite a bit of progress since our last 
summit in Costa Rica. We still face daunting challenges. But now we face 
them with a unique sense of solidarity and a common commitment to 
freedom, to democracy, to open markets, and to meeting the demands of 
our people for better schools, safer streets, wider opportunities.
    Even before the United States was created, a North American poet, 
Anne Bradstreet, complained about the harshness of our weather. But she 
added, ``If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant.'' 
Well, Central America has had a long and difficult season, aggravated by 
the recent hurricanes, but we can truly rejoice that the springtime of 
renewal and rebuilding is here. The Sun shines on us today, in Guatemala 
and throughout this region. For all the problems that people face, we 
must never forget how far they have traveled, and we must never lose 
sight of the path that leads to a brighter tomorrow. We must go on that 
path together, to build a new American century for all the people of the 
Americas.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 10:36 a.m. in the courtyard at the Casa 
Santo Domingo. In his remarks, he referred to summit participants 
President Alvaro Arzu of Guatemala, President Arnoldo Aleman of 
Nicaragua, President Carlos Roberto Flores of Honduras, President 
Armando Calderon Sol of El Salvador, President Miguel Angel Rodriguez of 
Costa Rica, President Leonel Fernandez of the Dominican Republic, and 
Prime Minister Said Musa of Belize.