[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 39, Number 40 (Monday, October 6, 2003)]
[Pages 1300-1304]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Reception Honoring Hispanic Heritage Month

October 2, 2003

    Thank you very much. Sientese. Sientese, Embajador. Thank you for 
coming. Bienvenidos. Mi casa es su casa. I want to thank you all for 
coming to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month.
    You know, this Nation is blessed by the talents and the hard work of 
Hispanic Americans, and we're really blessed by the values of familia y 
fe that strengthen our Nation on a daily basis. It is fitting we honor 
Hispanic Americans in our country. It's part of our country--an 
incredibly important part of our country. I also think it's fitting that 
the way to honor Hispanic Americans is to revel in the vitality of the 
Hispanic culture that was displayed today, the music that honors the 
roots, the rhythm, the life of the Latino.
    I appreciate my Ambassador to Mexico, Tony Garza. He's been a long-
time friend. He was the secretary of state in the State of Texas. It 
gave him a chance to learn diplomacy. [Laughter] He's a great man and a 
great friend.
    I have asked people from Hispanic heritage to join my 
administration: Hans Hertell,

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who is the Ambassador to the Dominican Republic, is with us. Hans 
brought his family with him. [Laughter]
    I've got a Cabinet Secretary de Cuba, who is Mel Martinez. I don't 
know if you know Mel's story. This speaks volumes about our Nation and 
about Mel's upbringing. In the early sixties, Cuban parents were worried 
about their sons growing, their daughters growing up in tyranny. They 
were afraid about what it would be like for a child to grow up in a 
world in which terror reigned and there was no freedom. And so Mel's 
parents put him on an airplane destined for the United States of 
America.
    Imagine the choice of a parent--I would daresay there's really only 
one country, though, that a parent would be feeling comfortable of 
sending their child to, and that's America, because of what we stand 
for. Mel is Pedro Pan. He is now in the Cabinet of the President of the 
United States, which speaks volumes about you, Mel, and volumes about 
our country as well.
    Hector Barreto is with us today, runs the SBA. Where are you, 
Hector? Donde esta? Thank you, Hector. Everybody needs to have a good 
abogado. [Laughter] I've got a really good one. [Laughter] Al Gonzales 
is my lawyer and close friend. Eduardo Aguirre is the Director of 
Citizenship and Immigration Services. Welcome, Eduardo. Gaddi Vazquez--
donde esta, Gaddi? Where is he? Peace Corps, running the Peace Corps. 
He's out recruiting new members. [Laughter] Adonde? Oh, yes, there he 
is. Gaddi got here a little late. [Laughter]
    I want to thank these folks for serving our administration so well. 
We've got ambassadors from around the world here with us today. I am 
honored that Embajador Jose--Juan Jose Bremer de Mexico esta aqui. Good 
to see you, Jose. Hugo Guiliani de el Dominican Republic. Senor 
Embajador. Luis Alberto Moreno Mejia de Colombia. Embajador Rene Leon 
from El Salvador, good to see you, sir. Francisco Javier Ruperez de 
Espana. Murilo Gabrielli, who is the Deputy Chief of Mission from 
Brazil, thank you for coming, Murilo.
    I'm so honored that Members of the United States Congress are here 
with us today. The Senator from the great State of Texas--I emphasize 
``the great State of Texas''--John Cornyn. The chairwoman of the 
Congressional Hispanic Conference, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen from Florida. 
Mario Diaz-Balart from Florida is with us. Devin Nunes from California--
donde esta Devin? It's an old trick here in Washington, get your name on 
the roster, but don't show up. [Laughter] At least you get mentioned. 
[Laughter] Bob Beauprez of Colorado is with us. Jon Porter is with us, 
from the great State of Nevada. Thank you, Jon. Jerry Weller is with us. 
From Arizona, Rick Renzi is with us. And finally, from New Mexico, Steve 
Pearce. Thank you for coming. I want to thank you all for being here. 
It's a good sign that Members of the Congress take an interest in the 
Hispanic Heritage Month. And I appreciate you coming.
    I also want to thank Brian Sandoval, who is the attorney general 
from the State of Nevada. It's awfully kind for him to come all the way 
over here. Brian, thank you, sir. I am so pleased that my friend Emilio 
Estefan is here. Emilio helps put this event on. Emilio puts this event 
on--or helps us put this event on every year. And it's awfully kind of 
you to do this. It's good to see you.
    I am also honored that Lisa Guerrero is with us. Lisa, thank you 
very much for serving as the emcee. I appreciate you being on TV on 
Monday nights too. [Laughter]
    Carlos Ponce--thank you for coming, Carlos. I appreciate you, 
Carlos. It's good to see you again. It's good to see you on Monday night 
as well.
    I'm so honored that Father Cutie is here. Thank you very much for 
leading us in the blessing.
    Bacilos, thank you, guys, for being the young stars. The Ambassador 
turned to me and said, ``These are the young dudes, the young stars of 
the music scene.'' [Laughter] I can see why. Congratulations. Thank you 
for your leadership.
    Alexandre, thank you very much. Fantastic. You know, Alexandre, I 
love your spirit. It's clear to see your heart and soul, and thank you 
very much. You were good tambien, mi amigo de Puerto Rico. What a voice. 
Thank you very much.
    I am--let me see. I'm probably going to leave somebody out here as 
we get moving

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through here. Victor, thank you. Awesome job. I appreciate you coming.
    Obviously, the person who invited the guest list here knows I love 
baseball. We've got a lot of the baseball stars here. I do love 
baseball. One of my favorite baseball players of all time is a person 
who's going to be in the Hall of Fame, and that's Rafael Palmeiro of the 
Texas Rangers. I want to thank you for coming. And Lynne is here. Thank 
you for coming, Lynne.
    I'm glad you brought your manager with you. He's not exactly a 
Latino ballplayer, but he's a fine guy, and that's Buck Showalter. Thank 
you for coming, Buck, and thank you for bringing your family. It's good 
to see you all.
    Magglio Ordonez of the Chicago White Sox is with us. Where are you, 
Magglio? Yes, thank you, buddy. Congratulations. Great season, yes. 
We're watching you. We've got the dish upstairs. [Laughter] Bartolo 
Colon--donde esta Bartolo? I can see why you can throw it hard. 
[Laughter] Fuerte.
    Carlos Beltran of the Kansas City Royals--Carlos, good job. Donde 
esta Jose Lima? There he is--Jose. Yes. You're back. [Laughter] 
Congratulations on having a great year. Tino Martinez, Saint Louis 
Cardinals; Nelson Figueroa of the Pirates. Where's Nelson? Yes, thank 
you, Nelson. Are you sure you're old enough to qualify? [Laughter] 
Vladimir Guerrero--yes, Vladimir. Glad you're here, Vladimir. Thanks for 
coming.
    I also know your general manager really well. He's a really good 
guy, isn't he? Omar Minaya, mi amigo. Thank you for coming, Omar. And 
congratulations. I knew you'd make it all along. You're probably 
wondering why I didn't make you general manager of the Rangers, but 
nevertheless--[laughter]--Omar is the general manager of the Montreal 
Expos. He really does a great job, and I've known Omar a long time. He's 
a great baseball guy. More important, he's a good person. I'm really 
proud to have you here.
    Just to show you that we're multisport people here, it is my honor 
to welcome Carlos Arroyo. Carlos, I want to thank you very much for 
coming. He's the basketball player for the Utah Jazz. Carlos.
    Katie, thank you very much for leading us in the anthem. You've got 
a beautiful voice. You've got a lot of poise and a lot of talent, and 
we're honored that you're here with us today. Thanks for coming. We're 
really glad you're here. And thanks for bringing your little brother. I 
hope he's nice to you all the time. [Laughter]
    The contributions of the Hispanic community have made this country 
stronger and better. Today we honor the contributions with the 
entertainment we had here in the East Room. I don't know if you know 
this, but this is a common occurrence for the Bush administration, to 
honor men and women of Hispanic descent, to honor their presence and 
listen to their talents. But this has happened throughout the years in 
the White House.
    There's been some interesting moments here. Pablo Casals was a 
Spanish-born cellist. He lived in Puerto Rico. He performed for two 
Presidents--catch this--the first was Theodore Roosevelt in 1904 and the 
second was John Kennedy in 1961--57 years in between his first and 
second visit. Nevertheless, he graced this room and this house.
    We've also had Jose Limon. He's a modern dancer--Edward Villella to 
my family's friend Gloria Estefan. You should have brought her. 
[Laughter]
    One Hispanic entertainer we remember in a special way today is the 
Queen of Salsa, Celia Cruz. She was an unforgettable performer who fled 
Cuba in 1960. She became a U.S. citizen and spent the rest of her life 
sharing the rhythms of her homeland with people all around the world. 
Celia Cruz passed away 3 months ago. We miss her, and we honor today to 
welcome her husband, Pedro. Bienvenidos.
    We are not only blessed with the culture of the Hispanic in America; 
we're also blessed by the fact that our country is strengthened because 
of the spirit of hard work and enterprise. It's part of the Latino 
culture. We see the spirit in thousands of small businesses and the 
careers of business people all across our country. One of the most 
vibrant parts of our economy is the small-business sector, and one of 
the vibrant parts of the small-business sector is the Latinos who own 
small businesses, really one of the great success stories of America.

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    Tell you a story about Lou Sobh, who is with us today. In 1960, he 
left Mexico, no money, and he couldn't speak the language. He came to 
America. He didn't--he couldn't speak the language at all, so he worked, 
and he taught himself English. He ended up becoming a janitor in a 
department store, a hard worker. He had a dream, and he was working 
toward his dream. He served in the United States Army. He got out of the 
Army, and he had a dream to open up his own car dealership. Today, he 
owns 14--not one car dealership but 14 car dealerships. He employs 800 
people. He's got three car franchises in Mexico. He's living proof of 
the American Dream--an incredibly important part of our Nation, the 
Latino spirit of hard work and drive and enterprise. And Lou, I want to 
congratulate you for being a success and setting an example. Thank you 
for coming, sir.
    Today, as we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, we also must take 
pride in the generations of Hispanic Americans who have served in 
America's Armed Forces, served to protect and defend a nation they love. 
Forty-two Hispanic Americans--42--quarenta y dos--have earned the 
highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor. That's a lot. Today, 
men and women of Hispanic heritage continue to serve and sacrifice in 
the defense of freedom. They have our respect, and they have our 
gratitude.
    Earlier this year, at the National Naval Medical Center, I had an 
amazing experience. Eduardo was there. I had the chance and privilege of 
meeting a patriot, Master Gunnery Sergeant Guadalupe Denogean. Sergeant 
Denogean is an immigrant from Mexico. He has served in the Marine Corps 
for 25 years. Last spring, he was wounded in combat in Basra, Iraq, and 
he was sent back for treatment. They asked Sergeant Denogean, did he 
have any requests? He said he had two. He wanted a promotion for the 
corporal who helped rescue him, and the second request is he wanted to 
be an American citizen.
    I was there the day Sergeant Denogean took his oath of citizenship. 
Eduardo administered the oath. In a hospital where he was recovering, 
this son of Mexico raised his right hand and pledged to support and 
defend the Constitution of the United States of America. What made that 
moment amazing to me is that he had kept that oath for decades before he 
took it. I'm proud of the sergeant. I'm proud to call him citizen. I'm 
proud to call him fellow citizen to America.
    Through the lives of people like Sergeant Denogean and Lou and Celia 
Cruz, it is clear that the American Dream belongs to todos. It's for 
everybody, not just a few. And that's the greatness of our country. It's 
the spirit of America. And it's important that this generation and 
future generations keep that dream alive.
    We've got to make sure that hard work is a place that is respected 
and rewarded. We must make sure that our entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs 
from all walks of life have the opportunity to dream and work hard and 
realize their ambitions. We must make sure that the dream of 
homeownership is available for every citizen in our country. We must 
make sure that every child gets educated, that the public schools 
educate every single child, those whose parents may speak English, those 
whose parents may not yet speak English. Education belongs to everybody. 
High standards belongs to everybody. We must challenge the soft bigotry 
of low expectations in American public schools.
    We're proud of our country. We're a strong country. We're militarily 
strong, and I'll keep us that way. But our wealth isn't really found in 
our military or our pocketbooks. The true strength of America is found 
in the character of the American people, in the courage of the people, 
the creativity of our people, and in the compassion of our people.
    As Governor, and now as President, I've seen the character of 
America and the character of millions of Hispanic Americans who make our 
Nation a better place. The warmth and the vitality of the Hispanic 
culture, the energy and faith of Hispanic men and women are great gifts 
to America.
    I want to thank you all for coming to celebrate those gifts. Que 
Dios los bendiga a todos, y que Dios bendiga a los Estados Unidos. Thank 
you for coming.

Note: The President spoke at 3:35 p.m. in the East Room at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Secretary Murilo Gabrielli, head

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of the Cultural and Public Affairs section, Brazilian Embassy in 
Washington, DC; Lisa Guerrero, FOX Sports broadcast journalist; Carlos 
Ponce, actor and television personality; Father Alberto Cutie, Telemundo 
network talk show host; Latin music group Bacilos; Brazilian musician 
Alexandre Pires; Lynne Palmeiro, wife of baseball player Rafael 
Palmeiro; Edward Villella, founding artistic director and chief 
executive officer, Miami City Ballet; and entertainer Gloria Estefan. 
The Office of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language 
transcript of these remarks.