[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 41, Number 45 (Monday, November 14, 2005)]
[Pages 1660-1661]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks in a Discussion With Young Leaders in Brasilia, Brazil

November 6, 2005

    U.S. Ambassador to Brazil John J. Danilovich. Mr. President, 
Secretary Rice, fellow Brazilians, I'd like to thank you all for being 
here this morning. It's a pleasure for us to welcome you here on this 
beautiful Sunday morning in Brasilia.
    Brazil is a land of promise, of enormous potential, and of great 
possibilities. And the promise, potential, and possibilities of Brazil 
are perhaps no more visible than in yourselves. I want to thank you for 
the opportunity of the President and the Secretary, of meeting with you 
today. To a large extent, the future of your country lies in your hands, 
and the President looks forward to discussing things of relevance to 
Brazil and the United States and our important bilateral relationship. 
And with that being said----
    The President. John, let me say something--the Ambassador is trying 
to cull me out of the conversation early on. [Laughter] Listen, thank 
you for coming. First, I'm here because I want to send a very clear 
signal to the people of Brazil that the relationship between America and 
Brazil is an important relationship, that Brazil is a friend, and that 
Brazil has got an important part of working with America to bring 
prosperity to not only our own citizens but to help others as well and 
by doing so, kind of lay the--lay conditions for a peaceful continent.
    It's in our interests that our neighborhood be a prosperous 
neighborhood. It's in our interests that we work with the largest 
country in the neighborhood. And so I come to not only discuss 
philosophy and points of view with you but also to meet with President 
Lula, with whom I've got a good relationship.
    He is a person who had to make some tough decisions. That's what 
leaders have to do; you've got to make tough decisions. And he's made 
hard decisions for the people of Brazil. He is--the economy is going 
well here, which is good news. He also has got a good heart. And I share 
the same concern he has; I share a concern of making sure that the least 
fortunate among us has a chance to survive and succeed.
    And so this is going to be a good trip here, and I'm grateful for 
you all taking time to come by and visit. I look forward to having a 
fruitful discussion with you. And we'll start with Carlos.
    Participant. Thank you very much, Mr. President. Latin Americans for 
a long time have had a love-hatred relationship with the U.S. Latin 
Americans admire the military and economic power of the United States, 
its popular culture, and many values with which they share. But Latin 
Americans resist the somewhat missionary nature of U.S. when justifying 
its international actions. For instance, when the U.S. exports 
democracy, exports market economies, or even exports civil liberties. 
This has been really very much criticized or contested, even in this 
region of the world. The Mar del Plata incidents of a few days ago, 
during the Summit of the Americas, showed that the mood of the 
demonstrators may easily go beyond the acceptable limits in--
civilization.
    My question now: Is the U.S. able to pinpoint the causes for these 
disagreements that they have with the opinionmakers here in Latin 
America, and does the U.S. have a clear strategy to change this love and 
hatred relationship into one of cooperation and friendship?
    The President. Well, first of all, I--we met in a society which 
allows people to express their different points of view. In other 
words--which is positive--I expect there to be dissent. That's what 
freedom is all about. People should be allowed to express themselves. 
And so what happened in Argentina happens in America. That's positive. 
Can you imagine being in a society where people were not allowed to 
express their positions?
    Secondly, I fully understand there's, at times, a view of America 
that is, in my opinion, not an accurate view. I mean, you say, 
``missionary zeal to spread democracy''--I do have a deep desire to help 
others assume a democracy that is a democracy that conforms to their 
traditions and their customs. And the

[[Page 1661]]

reason why is because the world has seen that democracies do not fight 
each other.
    As an example, war broke out in Europe in the early 1900s, as well 
as the mid-1900s. And yet we've had no war in Europe since. And one of 
the reasons why is because the nations of Europe became democracies, not 
American democracy but democracies that reflected the values of the 
people in that country--in their countries.
    One of the stories I like to share with people--it's an interesting 
story, and I think an illustration of what I'm trying to do--is that 
Japan was the sworn enemy of the United States in the late 1940s. My dad 
was a soldier, Navy pilot, and fighting the Japanese. Today--I'm going 
to Japan in 2 weeks. I will be sitting down with one of the best friends 
that I have in the international arena, Koizumi. That's interesting, 
isn't it? What happened between the time when America was fighting Japan 
and when, now, Japan is an ally with the United States in dealing with a 
tyrant in North Korea, for example? And what happened was, Japan adopted 
a Japanese-style democracy.
    And so I am anxious to work with countries to help make sure that 
the institutions, universal institutions of democracy become entrenched 
in society, freedom to worship, freedom of the press, rule of law.
    I will also tell you, I firmly believe that a society which is 
democratic is one much more likely to be able to deal with the social 
ills of a society. I mean, a democracy is one in which minorities have 
rights and can express themselves through the legislative process. 
Tyrannies are such that minorities don't have rights, unless you happen 
to be aligned with the tyrant.
    And so, one, I don't think America, nor Brazil, should ever back 
down from believing in the universality of freedom and democracy. 
Secondly, I hope that I am able to do so in a way that explains our 
position, as opposed to alienating people. And one of the reasons I've 
come to Brazil is to make that eminently clear, that the United States 
is a friend of Brazil and that our values that we discuss are universal 
in nature. They apply to Brazil equally as they apply to America.
    So very good question, Carlos.

Note: The President spoke at 9:54 a.m. at the United States Embassy. In 
his remarks, he referred to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of 
Brazil; Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan; and Chairman Kim 
Chong-il of North Korea. The Office of the Press Secretary also released 
a Spanish language transcript of these remarks. A tape was not available 
for verification of the content of these remarks.