President Bill Clinton Addresses Chilean National Congress
April 17, 1998
CLINTON: Thank you very much. To the president of the
senate, the president of the chamber of deputies, to the members
of the senate and the chamber of deputies, members of the
Chilean cabinet, members of the diplomatic corps, my fellow
Americans, including members of our administration, members of
Congress, the governor of Puerto Rico, ladies and gentlemen,
first, let me thank you for the warm reception that Hillary and
I and the secretary of state, secretary of education,
and our entire delegation has received not only here, but by the
people of Chile.
We are honored to be in this great nation, a place of
marvelous gifts and well-earned accomplishments. Visitors here
marvel at the beauty and extraordinary contrasts of your
landscape -- from the desert north, to the towering ranges of
the Andes to the mysteries of Easter Island, to the southern
beaches where penguins brave Antarctic winds.
Your culture moves the world in poetry and prose, in music
and dance, in theaters in films. Haunted by the spirits of the
past, enriched by dreams of the future. Your Nobel Prize
winning poets Gabriela Mistral and Pablo Neruda have moved
readers everywhere. Neruda's words and rhythms still come alive
on every continent. His echoes still heard in internationally
acclaimed Chilean works like the novels of Jose Donoso and
Antonio Scarmita (ph).
Your economic success is admired the world over. Indeed,
more and more other nations whether developed or developing,
want to be able to learn from your example.
But over and above all those gifts and
achievements, Chile possesses something older than the
achievements and perhaps even more valuable than nature's gifts
-- your devotion to freedom and democracy, a long and proud
tradition.
Not so very long ago now, freedom-loving people everywhere in
the world cheered and cheered when the people of Chile bravely
reclaimed their democratic heritage.
Our hemisphere's longing for democracy goes all the way back
to George Washington and Simon Bolivar. Today, we work to claim
its full blessings.
For a strong democracy honors all its people -- respecting
their dignity and fundamental rights, giving them the
responsibility to govern, demanding that they tolerate each
other's differences in an honorable fashion. It honors its
children -- giving all of them the opportunity to learn so that
they can live their dreams. It honors its poor, its ill, its
elderly -- offering them support, leaving no one without hope.
It honors entrepreneurs with efficient and honest government
-- offering the chance to create prosperity. It honors its
writers, its artists and its press -- ensuring freedom of
expressing no matter, and perhaps especially, when it is painful
to hear.
It honors its soldiers for their commitment to defend the
people, not to rule them.
This principle was strongly championed by Diego
Partallis (ph) early in Chile's history. Democracy is never
perfect, but because it is open and free, it is always
perfectible.
In the words of our President Franklin Roosevelt, who tried
so hard to be a good neighbor to Latin America, "Democracy is a
never- ending seeking for better things." At different points
in this century, many nations of the Americas lost their
democracy. Some of them lost it more than once. No one loves
freedom more than those who have had it and lost it.
No one prizes it more than those who have lost it and
regained it. I know here I am in a room full of people who love
freedom.
(APPLAUSE)
Freedom's victory now has been won throughout the Americas.
With a single exception, the day of the dictators is over. The
21st century will be a century of democracy.
To those anywhere in the Americas who would seek to take away
people's precious liberties once again or rule through violence
and terror once again, let us reaffirm President Aylwin's
historic words at Santiago Stadium: Nunca mas -- never again.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: This commitment has now gone beyond those words.
It is written into solemn compacts among the nations of our
hemisphere. Here in Chile in 1991, the members of the
Organization of American States unanimously adopted a commitment
that we will stand together to defend democracy wherever it is
threatened.
And last year, the OAS amended its founding charter so that
member nations may actually suspend any regime that overthrows a
government elected by its people.
We have backed our words with actions. In Haiti, nations
from across the Americas joined by others participated in the
United Nations-sponsored effort to restore a democracy that had
been stolen by military force.
Nations of this hemisphere stood with the people of Paraguay
to preserve democracy when it was threatened there in 1996.
The message should be clear to all -- we have made a decision
that in this hemisphere, the people govern.
Now, having resolved to protect democracy, we must now do
much, much more to perfect democracy. And we must do it
throughout our hemisphere. Free elections are democracy's
essential first step, but not its last. And strong democracies
deliver real benefits to their people.
Across the Americas, there are still too many citizens who
exercise their right to vote, but after the election is over
feel few benefits from the decisions made by their officials.
This kind of popular frustration can fuel the
ambitions of democracy's foes. As Chileans understand perhaps
more clearly than any of their fellow Americans, there must be a
second generation of reforms beyond free elections and free
markets. Because for democracy to thrive, people must know that
everyone who is willing to work will have a fair chance to share
in the bounty of the nation.
Leaders must ensure that the political system, the legal
system, the economic system are not rigged to favor those who
already have much, but instead give everyone a stake in shaping
the future.
A strong and thriving democracy requires, therefore,
strengthening the rule of law, the independence of judges, the
professionalism of police. For justice must be honest. It
requires a strong and independent legislature to represent all
the people, even when on occasion they do not do what the
president would like them to do.
It requires a constant campaign against corruption so that
public contracts are awarded based on merit and not bribes. It
requires bank and securities regulation to permit growth while
guarding against cheaters and collapses. It requires a credit
system, not only for those who are obviously successful, but for
enterprising people no matter how poor or remote their
conditions.
It requires a robust free press that can raise serious
questions, and publish without censorship or fear.
A strong democracy also requires protecting the environment
and attacking threats to it.
It requires good schools and good health care. It
requires protecting the rights of workers, standing up for the
rights of women and children and minorities, fighting the drugs
and crime and terrorism that eat away at democracy's
foundations, reaching out across all sectors of society from the
corporate executive to the grass roots activists, to the working
family -- again, to ensure that everyone has a stake in shaping
the future.
Tomorrow, democratically elected leaders will assembly in
Santiago for the second Summit of the Americas to launch the
next steps in our united efforts to build strong democracies
that deliver for all our peoples.
Chile is a shining star in America's constellation -- stable
and resilient with budget surpluses, a high savings rate, a high
growth rate, low unemployment and low inflation. But Chile also
is trying to do more to give everyone that precious stake in the
future.
In his first address after taking office, President Frei
pledged to work for all of Chile's people, and he has. Poverty
has been cut in half compared to 1990 levels. The quality of
education is improved, especially in poorer areas.
Yesterday, President and Mrs. Frei took Hillary and I to a
neighborhood in Santiago where we talked to ordinary citizens
who had benefited from educational opportunities and business
opportunities in ways that enabled them to change their lives.
Your citizens are working hard to protect the environment,
although just like those of us in my country, we've still got a
ways to go.
The success of this nation goes beyond your borders.
As President Frei noted last year in Washington,
Chile was once known as the end of the Earth. Now it is known
as the forefront of progress -- a leader for peace and justice
and prosperity; a leader in this hemisphere and throughout the
world.
I thank you for what democratic Chile has done to promote
peace in El Salvador, Haiti, Bosnia, the Persian Gulf, between
Peru and Ecuador. Your country served on the United Nation's
Security Council. You have taken the initiative to attack
corruption and crime across the Americas. For all that, I thank
you.
(APPLAUSE)
In the future we must work together as we have in the past,
indeed, as we have from the beginning to strengthen our
democracies and brighten our people's lives and broaden our
children's futures. The friendship between the United States and
Chile goes back to 1810, when our still young nation recognized
your independence.
Our friendship was off to a good start. But in all the long
years and ups and downs, it has never been stronger or broader
than it is today. We are your largest trading partner and trade
between us has grown at an average of 13 percent a year since
1993.
We want and will resolutely pursue a free trade agreement
that includes our two nations. And I will not be satisfied
until we achieve that goal.
(APPLAUSE)
Chile and the United States must be full partners in the 21st
century.
We must also be full partners with like-minded
democracies throughout our region.
Tomorrow we will take a big step toward that full partnership
as we begin the historic effort envisioned four years ago at the
first Summit of the Americas in Miami to create a free trade
area of the Americas by 2005. Meanwhile, as all of us know, the
private sector is busily proceeding as if it had already
happened -- expanding trade and investment, building successful
joint enterprises in everything from mining to insurance to
retailing.
We know that more trade and commerce will increase our
collective prosperity. But we must resolve, again I say, to
pursue that second level of reforms -- to ensure that prosperity
is widely shared.
As President Frei has repeatedly said, clearly for every
nation, education is the key. More than ever before as nations
and as individuals, our destiny depends upon what we know and
how quickly we can learn in a world where the volume of
knowledge is doubling every five years.
Strong schools can give children the skills they need. It
can also encourage their dreams. It could give people the power
to overcome the inequalities between rich and poor. It can give
nations the opportunity to fulfill their destiny.
President Frei and I have committed ourselves to work
together and to learn from each other to improve the quality and
the reach of education in both our nations.
All of us -- all of us -- should apply our best efforts to
that until we have done much better than we are doing now in
every nation of the Americas.
As we travel into the 21st century, Chile can
continue to rely on the United States as a friend and an ally.
We have a great stake in your continuing success. You make the
hemisphere safer and more prosperous. You are a strong partner
in meeting our common challenges in this hemisphere and
throughout the world.
Indeed, we welcome the growing strength of all nations that
believe in freedom and human dignity and work for a brighter
future for their people so that the partnership between our two
people, as we will see at the Summit of the Americas, is really
part of a larger community of values sweeping across our
hemisphere.
As we all come together this weekend, we do so to make
democracy work in ways that our people can feel; to advance the
fight against common threats and far wider economic opportunity
and deeper democracy. In the words of Neruda, "Our dreams
become one."
On this very day, a consortium of universities from Chile,
the United States and other nations starts work on a powerful
new telescope in northern Chile. There, astronomers will look
up to the heavens, gazing deep into outer space, and therefore,
deep into the past so that they can learn things which will help
us all to build a brighter future.
We must never forget past, but we must use it.
We must not use it to open old wounds or to rest on the
laurels of escape from its worst moments, but instead to quicken
our imagination of a better tomorrow and to propel us toward it.
Together let us resolve that when this summit is done, the
leaders of the United States and Chile will not rest until we
have shined the light of freedom and lit the spark of hope in
every corner of our nations, in every part of our hemisphere.
That is a worthy mission for the new century, in the new
millennium, for two people who have loved freedom for a long,
long time.
Thank you very much.
(APPLAUSE)
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