[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1999, Book I)]
[March 10, 1999]
[Pages 340-343]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
[[Page 340]]
Remarks in a Roundtable Discussion on Peace Efforts in Guatemala City
March 10, 1999
President Clinton. Thank you very much. Mr. President, first let me say how much I appreciate this
opportunity that has been provided for me to meet with citizens of your
country to hear about the progress of the peace process and the
challenges ahead. Because of the involvement of the United States, I
think it is imperative, as we begin, for me just to say a few words
about the report of the Historical Clarification Commission.
The commission's work and the support it has received from the
government shows how far Guatemala has traveled in overcoming that
painful period. I have profound respect for the victims and the families
who had courage to testify and for the courage of a nation for coming to
terms with its past and moving forward.
For the United States, it is important that I state clearly that
support for military forces or intelligence units which engage in
violent and widespread repression of the kind described in the report
was wrong, and the United States must not repeat that mistake. We must
and we will, instead, continue to support the peace and reconciliation
process in Guatemala. As many of you know, we provided $1\1/2\ million
in support for the commission. We declassified over 4,000 documents at
the commission's request. Now we will encourage the translation of the
report into indigenous languages and its wide dissemination. Consistent
with the commission's recommendations, we also will continue our support
of development programs in those communities which suffered most from
violence and repression. This year, we plan to provide an additional $25
million to support the peace accords through aid to the justice sector,
to education, to literary training, to the generation of income, and to
citizen participation in government.
You have come a long way, as President Arzu just said, in forging a
consensus in support of democracy and human rights and in finding a way
to discuss your differences openly and peaceably. I applaud the
difficult but essential effort you have undertaken.
Beyond the commission issues, I would also hope to discuss other
matters critical to peace and to development and reconciliation,
including economic liberalization, market-opening measures, increased
trade and investment, all of which are crucial to the overall well-being
of the people of Guatemala. Now that you have chosen democracy and
peace, it is imperative that the United States be a good partner in
making sure that it works for all your people.
And again, Mr. President, I'd like to thank
you and the Government and the people of Guatemala for the road you have
taken and for making me feel welcome today. Thank you, sir.
[At this point, the discussion proceeded.]
President Clinton. Well, first of all I would like to say how very
impressed I was by the presentations. And I would like to say a few
things at the end, but for now, I was asked a couple of questions, so I
would like to respond.
First, I was asked about possible opportunities, greater
opportunities, for women and young girls and children, generally. I
think that the model which has worked best throughout the world for
economic empowerment for women has been the whole--particularly rural
women and indigenous populations--has been the whole concept of
microcredit, as I'm sure my wife
talked about quite extensively when she was here.
But I think even more important is getting schooling going and
providing--you know, I'm involved in this effort to try to end child
labor that's abusive, worldwide. But it's not as--it's also important to
get the children into schools--all kinds of children--including the
children of indigenous people, and girls as well as boys, for a longer
period of time. This is a big problem not just in Latin America; it's a
huge problem in Asia; it's a huge problem in Africa. But I think the
United States should be heavily involved, particularly in light of our
past. We have a heavy responsibility to Guatemala and, indeed, to all of
Central America to do more in this area.
I have asked the Congress of the United States to pass an aid
package, tied to what happened in the hurricane, of something over $950
million. A lot of it is designed just to support the rebuilding that has
to be done, and that is important. But there is quite a lot of money
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for education and economic development and, to go to another point you
made, for the efforts to institutionalize the rule of law, both for
commercial and economic reasons and for human rights reasons.
This is an area in which I think those who have and those who have
not, in Guatemala and throughout Central America, have a common
interest, because the rule of law is essential to get more investment
and more economic opportunity and to protect the investments that exist.
It is also essential to establish, in an orderly way, human rights and
the institutions of justice.
So, Mr. Atwood, our AID Director, is
here, and he can talk more about that with you. But we have worked quite
hard to put together a package that I hope will be helpful. And I will
be prepared, over the next couple of years, to try to do more.
On the question of trade, I sent last Friday to the Congress another
bill to try to provide more parity between our trading relationships
with Mexico and Canada and our trading relationships with Central
America and the Caribbean. And I believe we have a reasonable chance to
pass that bill this year. And if we do, it obviously will lead to more
opportunities for the sale of Guatemalan products in the United States,
and more jobs, therefore, for the people here. I will work very hard to
pass it.
I was asked about the immigration issue, and I would like to speak
briefly about that. I gave a more extended statement today to the
National Assembly of El Salvador, but I will briefly say what I said
there.
I think it's important for every country to enforce its immigration
laws and try to protect its borders. We have very generous legal
immigration laws, and we have many, many immigrants from Central America
making a major contribution, positive contribution, to the United
States. On the other hand, most of the illegal immigrants from Guatemala
and other Central American countries are not lawbreakers by nature;
they're people who are seeking a better life. It's hard to leave your
family and your home and take the risks inherent in coming to a strange
land without the approval of the law. And people do it because they want
a better opportunity for themselves and their families.
I think there are two things that should be noted as we do try to
enforce our immigration laws. The first is that we have to be sensitive
and act with justice and understand the impact of recent events. The
second is that the present American law is completely unfair in that it
treats different--people from different countries in Central America
differently. And it is a vestige of our, sort of--kind of, our cold war
mentality and how we were involved here.
I can do two things about that. The first is to try to change the
law. And we will aggressively work to try to change the law to get
parity, equal treatment for all people from Central America, without
regard to the political past and whether the difficulties of the past
were seen as coming from the right or the left. I think that's
irrelevant. We should treat all countries the same.
The second is to use, to the maximum extent possible, whatever
flexibility I have under present law to achieve the same goal. I will do
that. But in the end, the problem cannot be fixed--the immigration
problem cannot be completely fixed until there is a change in the law so
that all countries would be treated the same under the law. And I will
actively seek that this year.
Anyway, I think that responds to the questions that were asked of
me. If I were to ask a question--if I could ask one question, I would
like to say that, one of you said that we needed a dignification
program, with priority given to the widows and orphans. And I would like
to know whether you have specific suggestions, over and above the
programs I have already mentioned, for what the United States could do
to be helpful to deal with the large number of orphaned children and
widows you have. What else could we do? What specific suggestions do you
have for me, over and above what has been mentioned?
[The discussion continued.]
President Clinton. Well, I think it is in the nature of such
meetings that you only scratch the surface of what needs to be done and
what the possibilities are. I will say again, I intend to go back home
and do my best to pass the aid package, to pass the trade parity bill,
and to get improvements in the immigration difficulties. Within the aid
package, we will be able to support education initiatives and economic
power initiatives like the women's credit program that President Arzu
mentioned.
I think it is important that, after I leave Central America, the
United States develop with
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every country the most specific possible plan for what it is you want to
achieve that we can help you achieve, whether it is in dealing with the
specific problems of the widows and orphans; the need for the education
of the children; the need for the economic empowerment of women; the
need for greater efforts with indigenous groups; the need to go further
in the search for human rights, the rule of law; how to come to terms
with the issues related in the commission report.
And I guess what I would like to leave you with is my commitment
that I am willing to continue to push, Mr. President, to have these
sorts of specific commitments on the part of the United States so we
know we have a good roadmap for where we're going into the future, and
you know what you can expect of our partnership. And of course,
tomorrow, we'll have a greater chance to talk about what we can do
regionally when you get all the Presidents together.
I would like to just leave you with this one thought. For all of
your terrible suffering and the continuing difficulties you face, please
do not underestimate how far you have come and what you have done. It is
my responsibility as President of the United States to travel the world
to deal with all of these problems that I see cropping up in other
places. You know this, but I would like to just say, the last few years
have brought a floodtide of changes in the way people work and live and
in the political and social and economic relationships of people--the
end of the cold war, the growth of the global market, the explosion in
information technology--it has changed everything. And all over the
world, people are searching for a new balance.
Most of these changes are good, but there are--not all of them are
good. And they all present people everywhere with dilemmas. There is the
question of integration versus disintegration. And I'll give you--you
have it in Guatemala. You want--how do you balance the need for the
nation to be sovereign with the legitimate rights of individuals and
groups? How do you balance the need for the nation to be sovereign with
the need to have greater cooperation with other countries? How do you
balance the need to develop your economy with the imperative of
preserving your natural resources? How do you balance the need for
security and order with the imperative of individual rights to privacy
and liberty and the rule of law, for both commercial and human reasons?
All of these challenges you face are being faced by other people
elsewhere. In South Africa, for example, to go back to what many of you
talked about, they had this Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which
perhaps went a little further than your report. And I thought that
they--we think they're making real progress there. But in the last week,
four different political leaders have been killed. In central Africa,
where there was tribal slaughter in Rwanda and Burundi, I met with
indigenous peoples. I met a woman whose husband and six children were
all killed, and she woke up and for some miracle reason she didn't die
from the wounds she sustained. And she, like the woman here, is devoting
her life to this reconciliation. And I thought we were making progress,
and just last week the majority tribe killed a bunch of Americans and
other people.
So I say, as awful as this is for you and as frustrating as it is,
it is astonishing how much has been done in Guatemala and in the other
countries of Central America, and the direction you have taken. For all
the economic frustrations you face, you're doing better than many much
larger countries in Asia and in Latin America, because you've shown
greater discipline and innovation.
So I urge you to not get discouraged, and I urge you to--I have
tried very hard to change the historic relationship between the United
States and Central America, to be a genuine partner and to think about
the future in different terms. And we won't solve all the problems today
or tomorrow, but I think we have to say we are on a different track. We
have turned a real corner. And I came here as much as anything else just
to express my respect for you and to ask you not to get too discouraged.
You think about Europe as being a very rich continent, but look at
these problems we're having in Kosovo and Bosnia, where they haven't
been able to, in Kosovo, do what you have decided to do. They still
think they can shoot their way out of their difficulties. And we're
hoping and praying they will take a different decision in the next few
days.
So I thank you for talking to me and, before me, to my wife when she came here and for all the work you
are doing. But I just want you to know that I am committed to changing
our relationship over the long run in all these
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areas we have mentioned. And I will do my best to make sure that we have
the kind of partnership that will make both our countries stronger and
address the specific concerns you have outlined today.
Thank you very much.
Note: The President spoke at 4:45 p.m. in the Reception Hall in the
National Palace of Culture. In his remarks, he referred to President
Alvaro Arzu of Guatemala.