Remarks to the Eighth Annual InterAmerican Conference of Mayors

Thank you, Commisioner, for that kind introduction. It’s a real pleasure to be with all of you today. Thank you for your participation in this important conference. National governments get most of the media coverage in the United States and around the world, but most of the services that citizens in this hemisphere rely on day to day… policing, sanitation, zoning, permitting, licensing, and many others that shape our lives… are administered by local leaders. I know from my own experience in local government that this is true.

I was the Coordinator of Community Development for the City of Miami from 1975 to 1976, a job I still recall with great satisfaction. Each of you, as local leaders, is on the frontlines in building more democratic, well-governed, prosperous and secure communities in this Hemisphere. I welcome this opportunity to speak to you about President Bush’s agenda for the Western Hemisphere.

As I can attest, President Bush has demonstrated a sincere enthusiasm for this part of the world and its people. I think it is fair to say that his interest in the Americas was shaped by his life and work in Texas. He knows that the people of the Americas are neighbors and partners. And he strongly believes that the destinies of the people of the Western Hemisphere are tied together.

Early in his campaign for the Presidency, he noted that many historians have called the 20th century "The American Century," referring to the rise of the United States in that time. And he declared his belief that the 21st century would be known as "The Century of the Americas." He recognizes the enormous potential of the people in our hemisphere.

President Bush knows that freedom is the key to unlocking this potential. Freedom allows the creativity that is the essence of human nature to express itself and be realized. Freedom is the best path for political, social, and economic progress. President Bush is idealistic in his vision, but his policies are pragmatic and comprehensive.

When I say comprehensive, I mean that real freedom does not exist in a vacuum. There is a dynamic relationship between personal freedom and security, prosperity, integrity, and democracy, those elements, which must be provided by government.

If a person cannot walk the streets of his community in safety, find work to feed his family, or choose those who govern over him and hold them to account for their actions, that person’s freedom is limited. 

Freedom advances and retreats in step with security, prosperity, integrity, and democracy. Our policies must encourage this advance throughout the Western Hemisphere. And we must address the real problems we face.

The Bush Administration’s agenda for our Hemisphere has four principal goals: to encourage good governance, stimulate development, promote democracy, and strengthen security. These goals are certainly not new in the policy dialogue in the U.S. or in Latin America. They reflect the broad consensus on values that has developed in this Hemisphere.

The first goal, good governance, is essential. Among the hazards we face on the path to freedom and prosperity, corruption is the most insidious. Corruption not only robs citizens of their money; it robs them of their confidence in the institutions of democracy.

The time is ripe now for dealing with this issue. In more and more Latin American countries, the fight against corruption has become a major political issue. A number of international instruments in the Hemisphere now promote cooperation in transparency and accountability, such as the Inter American Democratic Charter, the Anti-Corruption Convention and various mutual legal assistance and extradition treaties.

Just as importantly, many governments are taking action against corrupt officials. The U.S. is aggressively denying visas to public or private individuals who engage in illicit activities such as money laundering and narco-trafficking. The U.S. Congress has given the President new authorities, such as the Patriot Act, to pursue such actions. Let me announce here today that the State Department is expanding its exchange of information with other agencies of federal, state, and local governments to allow us to seize the ill-gotten property from corrupt individuals as we seize it from drug traffickers.

To encourage good governance, President Bush announced that the US will increase its core development assistance by 50% over the next three years, resulting in a $5 billion annual increase over current levels in FY 2006 and beyond. It was no accident that this was named the Millennium Challenge Account, because it challenges beneficiaries - and here I use the President’s own words - "to rule justly, invest in their people and advance economic freedom".

The importance of good governance cannot be overstated. Good governance and the integrity of public officials are absolutely vital to democratic government and economic growth. Power must be exercised in accordance with the rule of law. Justice must be impartial. Public resources must only be used for the public good.

As local leaders, you are on the frontline against corruption. You must be the example of integrity that those you lead will follow. We must not tolerate the policeman who takes $2 to throw out a traffic ticket or the cabinet official who takes $2 million to direct a contract to his friends. The people of this hemisphere deserve honest and fair government. It is incumbent upon all leaders to provide it. It is not an exaggeration to say that the future of the Western Hemisphere depends on it.

The World Bank has done some very careful studies on this issue, showing there is a strong cause and effect relationship between good governance and economic growth. For example, Chile - which has been ranked as the top country in Latin America in fighting corruption and in other indicators of good governance – is also the country with the fastest economic growth over the past decade.

Stimulating economic development and growth is the President’s second goal. In addition to good governance, President Bush believes that trade can be the best engine for growth and development in the Western Hemisphere.

After a long effort by the President and his Administration, we are now very close to congressional approval of Trade Promotion Authority legislation. This has been a top priority for the Administration.

We are working to lower barriers to trade globally, regionally and bilaterally:

Globally, we have launched a new round of negotiations (the Doha Development Agenda) in the World Trade Organization.

Regionally, we are moving to complete the negotiations of a Free Trade Area of the Americas by January 2005, as agreed by this hemisphere’s leaders at the Quebec Summit of the Americas.

While those negotiations continue, we are pressing ahead others within the region. We are in the final stages of negotiating a bilateral Free Trade Agreement with Chile, and have begun discussions with Central America on a possible Free Trade Agreement.

Additionally, renewal and enhancement of the Andean Trade Preference Act is attached to the Trade Promotion Authority legislation that we expect soon. By encouraging alternatives to illegal narcotics production in the Andes, this program offers people the opportunity to lift themselves out of poverty and leave the deadly narcotics trade.

We know from history that trade stimulates growth and strengthens democracy. The impact of NAFTA on Mexico is one such example. More than half of the 3.5 million new jobs created in Mexico since 1995 are connected to trade. And NAFTA continues as a major force in the political modernization that has been underway in Mexico over the past few years.

Brazil is another example. Brazil enjoys the benefit of $37.4 thousand million of direct investment from the United States, more dollars than the United States has invested in China, a nation with a population seven times the size of Brazil’s. Those dollars create jobs for Brazilians and contribute to the prosperity of that country and the hemisphere as a whole.

We know that trade is important to the future of the Western Hemisphere. That is why, when President Bush announced his policy on steel imports, we were very careful to consider the interests of our trading partners in the region.

We exempted Mexico and Canada because they are members of NAFTA. When we have a FTAA, we can expect other hemisphere exemptions. Two-thirds of Brazil’s steel exports to the United States are steel slab. Under the President’s policy, Brazil’s quota allows Brazilian slab producers to increase exports to United States by 26% this year, and the quota increases each year the policy is in effect.

President Bush is committed to expanding trade in this hemisphere. We believe FTAA will provide a powerful impetus to investment, innovation, efficiency and growth.

By 2005, this Hemisphere will represent a market of $13 or $14 thousand billion or trillion as we say in the US! That’s a huge market, and even a very small increase in growth (say one percent) would produce a lot of new income for the Hemisphere ($130 to 140 billion) each year.

These are our tools. They’re powerful. But I have no illusions about the state of the Hemisphere today; there have been setbacks. Some countries are struggling with serious challenges. And yet the trend lines overall are positive. The Hemisphere today is a region of both crisis and opportunity.

President’s agenda includes policies to promote security and democracy. Ten days ago, I was in Colombia, where a democratically elected government is threatened by three well-armed, independently financed and extremely violent terrorist organizations. Despite these threats, Colombians went to the polls last month and elected Alvaro Uribe as their new president.

We have an obligation to help the courageous Colombian people defend their democracy, security and prosperity from the narco-terrorists. I had the opportunity when I was in Colombia to discuss with President-elect Uribe his priorities and plans under his Administration for increasing Colombia’s efforts to confront these threats.

The Bush Administration has asked Congress for authority to make available U.S. assistance to support Colombia’s unified campaign against narcotics, terrorism and other threats to its national security.

Farther South, the Argentine people are now experiencing crisis unparalleled in their history. The Argentines are our friends, and we want them to prosper. We are urging the Argentine government to work with the International Monetary Fund to make reforms and develop a sustainable economic program. We are ready to work with the multilateral institutions to help Argentina implement such a program.

In Haiti, the political impasse continues with serious harm to that country’s desperately poor citizens. We are supporting the efforts of the Organization of American States to find a way to reach an accord between the government and the opposition. We will continue to provide aid to non-governmental institutions active in Haiti to mitigate human suffering. We hope to help the Haitian people create a democratic, competitive political environment that respects human and civil rights.

Venezuela is a country in crisis as well. The profound social and political polarization that produced the events of April 11-14 has not abated, and coup rumors persist.

We have a message for soldiers who contemplate overthrowing elected governments. The US opposes military coups in any country. As called for by U.S. law, we will apply sanctions to any country whose duly elected head of government is deposed by military coup.

I urge all Venezuelans of good faith to work together to strengthen democratic institutions. President Chavez is the democratically elected leader of Venezuela. And as such, he has the principal responsibility to implement a dialogue aimed at national reconciliation – an obligation he acknowledged upon returning to the Presidential Palace on April 14.

Finally, there’s Cuba, with a leader who was not democratically elected, and the only command economy in the hemisphere. Its current government is one of the last remaining examples of that discredited 20th century political experiment, the totalitarian state.

President Bush and Secretary Powell have a positive vision for the future of Cuba, a future where the Cuban people have all the opportunities that freedom offers. It is now up to the government of Cuba to make basic democratic reforms and demonstrate respect for the human rights of the Cuban people, so that Cuba might join the community of free nations in the Western Hemisphere.

Across the region, the people of the Western Hemisphere live under governments of their own choosing. When you consider how far we have come in the last twenty years, it is astonishing. Even so, it is only natural that there should be disappointments and discouraging reversals from time to time.

For example, the long-standing problem of poverty persists in varying degrees. Roughly a third of Latin America’s people are living on less than $2 per day – poorly fed, poorly housed, poorly educated. The region’s progress toward market economies and democratic political systems has been slow in producing the major improvements in the daily life of the poor that we all hope for.

Furthermore, economic and political reforms, like all fundamental and necessary changes, entail a certain amount of dislocation and hardship. Taking these facts into account, it is hardly surprising that popular support for the market-based economic model has declined recently.

I began this speech by noting your critical role as mayors in making democracy and market institutions a living every-day reality to the people of this Hemisphere. I would like to conclude with this message for the men and women of the communities that you lead. The destinies of the people of the Western Hemisphere are tied together. We must build on our successes over the last twenty years.

In the United States, we know from our own history that the path to democracy, freedom, prosperity, and security is a hard one. But it is the only path worth taking. The other paths lead nowhere. Look at Cuba, North Korea, the Soviet Union, or Nazi Germany. The history of the Twentieth Century provides many examples of states that rejected the difficult path of freedom and, therefore, failed.

We must go forward together in partnership. President Bush has an agenda to promote democracy, good governance, prosperity, and security in the Western Hemisphere. We have many friends throughout the Americas who share our hopes for the future. Our goal is to make the 21st century "the Century of the Americas." With your help, I know that we will succeed.

Thank you for your attention. I will be happy to take any question that you may have.