[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 43, Number 11 (Monday, March 19, 2007)]
[Pages 302-303]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's Radio Address

March 10, 2007

    Good morning. Today Laura and I are in Latin America, where we are 
visiting five countries: Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, Guatemala, and 
Mexico. These countries are part of a region that has made great strides 
toward freedom and prosperity in the past three decades. They have 
raised up new democracies, and they have undertaken fiscal policies that 
have brought stability to their economies.
    Yet despite the progress we have seen, many citizens in our 
hemisphere remain trapped in poverty and shut off from the promise of 
this new century. Nearly one out of every four people in Latin America 
lives on less than $2 a day. Many children never finish grade school. 
Many mothers never see a doctor. The fact is that tens of millions of 
our brothers and sisters to the south have yet to see improvements in 
their daily lives, and this has led some to question the value of 
democracy.
    Our Nation has a vital interest in helping the young democracies in 
our neighborhood succeed. When our neighbors prosper, they create more 
vibrant markets for our goods and services. When our neighbors have a 
hopeful future in their own countries, they can find work at home and 
are less likely to migrate to our country illegally. And when our 
neighbors feel the blessings of liberty in their daily lives, the appeal 
of radicalism declines and our hemisphere becomes more secure.
    The United States is doing its part to help our neighbors in Latin 
America build a better life for themselves and their families. We are 
helping these young democracies make their governments more fair, 
effective, and transparent. We are supporting their efforts to meet the 
basic needs of their citizens--like education, health care, and housing. 
And we are increasing opportunity for all by relieving debt, opening up 
trade, and encouraging reforms that will build market economies, where 
people can start from nothing and rise as far as their talents and hard 
work can take them.
    On Monday, I will meet a Guatemalan citizen who has experienced the 
power of open trade and free economies. His name is Mariano Canu. Twenty 
years ago, he was an indigenous farmer whose land provided barely enough 
corn and beans to feed his family. No one in his family had ever been to 
college, and most of the people in his village never got past the sixth 
grade. And his own children's prospects for prosperity looked just as 
bleak.
    Mariano was determined to do better for his family. So he organized 
an association of small farmers called Labradores Mayas. He persuaded 
his fellow farmers to switch their crops to vegetables they could sell 
overseas--high-value crops like lettuce, carrots, and celery. Soon they 
were selling to big companies like Wal-Mart Central America. Today, the 
business he helped establish is thriving, and it supports more than 
1,000 jobs. It also has supported something else, a college education 
for Mariano's son.
    Mariano is showing what the people of Latin America can accomplish 
when they are given a chance. We must help others like him gain the 
opportunity to build a better life for their families. The generosity of 
the American people is helping our neighbors in Latin America build free 
and vibrant economies. By doing so, we will increase living standards 
for all our citizens, strengthen democracy in our hemisphere, and 
advance the cause of peace.
    Thank you for listening.

[[Page 303]]

Note: The address was recorded at 7 a.m. on March 9 at the Hilton Sao 
Paulo for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on March 10. The transcript was made 
available by the Office of the Press Secretary on March 9 but was 
embargoed for release until the broadcast. The Office of the Press 
Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of this address.