[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 41, Number 23 (Monday, June 13, 2005)]
[Pages 946-948]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks to the Opening Session of the Organization of American States 
General Assembly in Fort Lauderdale, Florida

June 6, 2005

    Thank you all very much. Welcome to the United States. Thanks for 
having me. Madam Secretary, thank you for your service; thank you for 
your friendship; thank you for your short introduction. [Laughter]
    Ambassador Maisto, Members of the United States Congress--four 
Members, by the way, of the Florida delegation have joined us today, and 
I'm grateful that they have come. Secretary General Insulza, thank you; 
congratulations. Thank you for coming by the Oval Office the other day 
to give me a briefing. Assistant Secretary General, thank you, sir. It's 
good to see you again. Distinguished visitors and guests. I'm honored to 
be here at this meeting of the Organization of American States.
    The ties that bind the Americas are particularly vivid here in 
Florida. I mean, if you spend any time in this State, you'll find people 
from all over our hemisphere who live here. This State has benefited 
because immigrants from throughout the hemisphere have made their homes 
here. I know firsthand--I'm pretty familiar with the State's Governor. 
[Laughter] He keeps me abreast of what's taking place in this State.
    You know, our ties are represented in different ways. Perhaps you 
know this, but my brother was lucky enough to marry a fantastic woman 
from Mexico; the First Lady of Florida is Mexican-born. A United States 
Senator from Florida, Mel Martinez, was born in Cuba. No, the ties in 
our hemisphere between America and our hemisphere are particularly 
strong in Florida. It's a perfect place to have the meeting. Thank you 
for choosing Florida.
    As I look out at the distinguished foreign ministers, I find we have 
much in common. We're the children of the New World, founded in empire 
and fulfilled in independence. Our people are united by history and 
geography. And the United States shares a commitment with you to build 
an Americas that live in liberty, trades in freedom, and grows in 
prosperity.
    We come together at a great moment in history, when freedom is on 
the march around our world. In the last year-and-a-half--think about 
this--we've witnessed a Rose Revolution in Georgia, an Orange Revolution 
in Ukraine, a Purple Revolution in Iraq, a Tulip Revolution in 
Kyrgyzstan, a Cedar Revolution in Lebanon, and these are just the 
beginnings. Across Central Asia, hope is stirring at the prospect of 
change, and change will come. Across the broader Middle East, we are 
seeing the rise of a new generation whose hearts burn for freedom, and 
they will have it.
    This love of liberty has long roots in our own hemisphere. Not long 
after the United States won its independence from Britain, patriots 
throughout the Americas were inspired to take their own stand. One of 
them was an Argentine general named Jose de San Martin. During the 
struggle for independence from Spain, the general declared, ``In the 
last corner of the Earth that I might find myself, I will be ready to 
sacrifice my existence for liberty.''
    San Martin's dream of liberty has found a home in the Organization 
of American States. This organization's founding documents calls the 
Americas to its ``historic mission to offer to man a land of liberty and 
a favorable environment for the realization of his just aspirations.'' 
That mission was given its clear direction in the Inter-American 
Democratic Charter declaring that ``the peoples of the Americas have a 
right to democracy, and their governments have an obligation to promote 
it and defend it.'' And today, what was once a distant dream is now 
within our reach, an Americas wholly free and democratic and at peace 
with ourselves and our neighbors.
    In the new Americas of the 21st century, democracy is now the rule, 
rather than the exception. Think of the dramatic changes

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we've seen in our lifetime. In 1974, the last time the OAS General 
Assembly met in the United States, fewer than half its members had 
democratically elected governments. Today, all 34 countries 
participating in this General Assembly have democratic, constitutional 
governments.
    Only one country in this hemisphere sits outside this society of 
democratic nations, and one day the tide of freedom will reach Cuba's 
shores as well. The great Cuban patriot Jose Marti said it best,``La 
libertad no es negociable.''
    The dramatic gains for democracy we have witnessed in our hemisphere 
must not be taken for granted. Democratic change and free elections are 
exhilarating events. Yet we know from experience they can be followed by 
moments of uncertainty. When people risk everything to vote, it can 
raise expectations that their lives will improve immediately, but 
history teaches us that the path to a free and prosperous society is 
long and not always smooth. Each nation must follow its own course, 
according to its own history. Yet the old and new democracies of the 
Americas share a common interest in showing every citizen of our 
hemisphere that freedom brings not just peace; it brings a better life 
for themselves and their families.
    In the new Americas of the 21st century, bringing a better life to 
our people requires choosing between two competing visions. One offers a 
vision of hope. It is founded on representative government, integration 
into the world markets, and a faith in the transformative power of 
freedom in individual lives. The other seeks to roll back the democratic 
progress of the past two decades by playing to fear, pitting neighbor 
against neighbor, and blaming others for their own failures to provide 
for their people. The choices we make will determine which vision will 
define the Americas our children inherit. We must make wise decisions 
today to ensure a better tomorrow.
    To give our children a better tomorrow, our citizens must see that 
democracy delivers more than promises. They need to see in their daily 
lives that their hard work and enterprises are rewarded. They need to 
see that in a democratic society, people can walk in the streets safely, 
corruption is punished, and all citizens are equal before the law. And 
when the people of the Americas see that opportunity and social mobility 
are real, they will know that in a free and democratic society, the only 
limit to how far they can go is the size of their dreams.
    The United States believes it has an obligation to help build this 
better tomorrow for all the citizens. Working with our partners in the 
region, my Government has helped the leaders of this hemisphere meet our 
goal of delivering treatment to 600,000 HIV sufferers across the region. 
In 2002, the United States launched the Millennium Challenge Account to 
help poor nations and to revolutionize the concept of development aid. 
My administration's approach is based on this commonsense idea that 
development aid works best in countries that are proving their 
commitment to govern justly, to invest in their citizens, and to open up 
their economies. Under this program, aid will go to those who deliver 
results for their people.
    Next week, Honduras will become the second country to sign a 
Millennium Challenge compact--for a $215 million program that will help 
Honduran farmers grow better crops, as well as money to build highways 
that will open markets for them around the region and the world.
    To advance economic development in the Americas, the U.S. Government 
already makes about $5 billion in loans and grants to the region 
throughout [through] * the Ex-Im Bank, the Overseas Private Investment 
Corporation, and the Trade and Development Agency. In preparation for 
the Summit of the Americas later this year in Argentina, my 
administration will be looking for new ways to prime the real engines of 
hope in the Americas, its small businesses and private enterprises and 
entrepreneurs. When people throughout the Americas see their lives 
improve and opportunity more abundant, their faith in democracy will 
grow and our hemisphere will be more secure.
    * White House correction.
    In the new Americas of the 21st century, one of the surest ways to 
make opportunity real for all our citizens is by opening our doors to 
trade. My Government is pursuing this goal at all levels, at the global 
level

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through the Doha Round of the World Trade Organization, at the regional 
level through the Free Trade Area of the Americas, and at the bilateral 
level with free trade agreements with individual countries like Chile 
and Mexico and Canada. And the United States Congress is now considering 
the Central American and Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement, which 
offers an historic opportunity to bring prosperity to the citizens of 
our hemisphere who have not known it.
    For the young democracies of Central America, CAFTA would bring new 
investment, and that means good jobs and higher labor standards for 
their workers. In these nations, wealthier citizens already enjoy access 
to goods and services produced abroad. By reducing tariffs on U.S. 
goods, all consumers in these countries will enjoy better goods at lower 
prices. These lower prices will also give Central American small 
businesses and farmers and entrepreneurs less costly access to U.S. 
machinery and equipment, which will make them more competitive and help 
their economies grow. By bringing economic growth to Central America, 
CAFTA will contribute to the rise of a vibrant middle class. And that 
makes us reach--a step closer to our goal, a goal of the Americas where 
the opportunities in San Jose, Costa Rica, are as real as they are in 
San Jose, California.
    For U.S. farmers and businesses and workers, CAFTA would expand 
opportunity by creating a more level playing field for our goods and 
services. Under existing rules, most of Central America's exports 
already enter the United States duty free, but U.S. exports still face 
hefty tariffs. By passing CAFTA, the United States would open up a 
market of 44 million consumers for our farmers and small-business 
people. CAFTA will replace a system that is often arbitrary with one 
that is fair and transparent and based on common rules.
    For the Western Hemisphere, CAFTA would continue to advance the 
stability and security that come from freedom. An Americas linked by 
trade is less likely to be divided by resentment and false ideologies. 
An Americas where all our people live in prosperity will be more 
peaceful. And an Americas whose countries have reduced the barriers to 
trade among ourselves will be a more competitive region in a global 
economy.
    CAFTA is more than just a trade agreement; it is a signal of the 
U.S. commitment to democracy and prosperity for our neighbors, and I 
urge the United States Congress to pass it.
    In the last half-century, the nations of the Americas have overcome 
enormous challenges, colonialism and communism and military 
dictatorship. At the start of this new century, these divisions have 
fallen away, and now we have it within our means to eliminate the 
scourge of poverty from our hemisphere. In this room, we still represent 
many different countries with different traditions and different mother 
tongues, but today we can say with pride that we all speak the common 
language of liberty. And by making the blessings of freedom real in our 
hemisphere, we will set a shining example for the rest of the world.
    Thank you for letting me come by. Que Dios los bendiga. May God 
bless you all.

Note: The President spoke at 11:50 a.m. at the Greater Fort Lauderdale/
Broward County Convention Center. In his remarks, he referred to 
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who introduced the President; 
Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza and Assistant Secretary General 
Luigi R. Einaudi of the Organization of American States; and Gov. Jeb 
Bush of Florida and his wife, Columba. The Office of the Press Secretary 
also released a Spanish language transcript of these remarks.