 Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States and Mrs. Raymond, ladies and gentlemen, the National Anthems of Mexico and the United States of America. Mr. President, it's an honor and a pleasure for Nancy and me to welcome you and Mrs. Delamadred to Washington. We welcome you with the respect and admiration due to the leader of a great nation. We welcome you also with the warmth and goodwill with which one greets a friend. A special relationship between the presidents of our countries is becoming somewhat of a tradition. The rapport we build as individuals is in keeping with the finest sense of that valuable tradition. Our ability to meet and face-to-face discuss the issues of the day honestly and without reservation is beneficial to both our countries. The trust between us is something of great value which should never be taken for granted. Mr. President, I well recall first making your acquaintance in June of 1981 at Camp David. And the next time we met, you were president-elect of Mexico, and we agreed then, even before you were sworn into office, to maintain a continuing dialogue and to meet and confer often. Your visit today builds upon the professional and personal bonds about which I'm speaking. We have much to discuss, that is, as one would expect, between the elected leaders of two countries whose people, by the millions, interact with each other on a daily basis. Not only are our destinies tied, but in ways too numerous to count, are present as well. Mr. President, we are fully aware of your commitment to overcoming Mexico's current economic difficulties. We applaud your dedication and wish you success in your drive to invigorate your economy and better the lives of your people. Our support represents the best wishes of a friend and more. Mexico is now the third-largest trading partner of the United States. We on the other hand are the world's largest market for Mexican goods. The prosperity and happiness of our peoples are inexorably linked by these bonds of commerce and friendship. I hope when you return home that you will bring the message to your citizens that the American people are on you at the people of Mexico's side. The United States and Mexico have a common border and a common American heritage as well. The people of our countries, Spanish and English-speaking alike, represent the values and culture of the New World, a bond shared by 650 million Americans from the North Slope of Alaska to the tip of Tierra del Fuego. It behooves all of us to work together to ensure the peace and stability of our hemisphere. That is especially true in regard to Central America. Mr. President, I understand your deep concerns about the turmoil plaguing that region. We do not agree on everything concerning this situation, yet the level of respect in our relationship remains high, and that is the way it should be between neighbors who trust each other. Where we do disagree is not on goals or principles. Instead, it is on the means by which to achieve our goals. The magnitude of our agreement, on the other hand, is substantial and should not be underestimated. Both the United States and Mexico are motivated by a love of liberty and independence inherent in our systems of government and embedded in the souls of our people. As you said in your book on constitutional law, while assessing Rousseau's influence, liberty and equality are values incompatible with despotism, and mankind will not benefit from them while there may be oppressors and oppressed. Our fundamental beliefs suggest that a lasting peace for Central America must be based on the principles of democracy, on economic development that expands opportunity for all people, on non-interventionism, and on the avoidance of military cooperation with communist and other aggressor regimes. We appreciate the creative and energetic efforts to bring peace to the region by the Contadora Group in which Mexico has participated. The Contadora's 21-point document of objectives enunciates the goals we both support. We pray that the consensus that produced the document of objectives can translate what has already been done into sound treaty provisions that can be monitored, verified, and enforced on a reciprocal basis. For the United States, the conflagration in Central America appears too close to ignore. Like a fire in one's neighborhood, this threat should be of concern to every nation in the hemisphere. We can and should work together to save lives and prevent further destruction. Complicating the situation and making it even more dangerous has been the intervention of a totalitarian coalition which has undermined what we had hoped would be a democratic revolution. These totalitarians have been pouring gasoline onto the fire by pumping massive supplies of weapons into Central America and encouraging tyranny and aggression. Thousands of Cubans and Soviet bloc military personnel have accompanied this flow of weapons and equipment into the region. Responsible governments of this hemisphere cannot afford to close their eyes to what is happening or to be lulled by unrealistic optimism. I look forward to discussing with you, Mr. President, this issue of utmost importance. President Della Madrid, early this year, you visited Buenos Aires where you said, we do not want new conflicts and wars in our vast territory. We need peace and well-being. We do not want martyrs from warlike confrontations. We are civilian heroes. Well, I agree with that sentiment completely. Let me reaffirm today that the United States will do what it can, it will go the extra mile to find peaceful solutions and to protect democracy and independence in the hemisphere. Cooperation and respect between the United States and Mexico will do much in our efforts to promote peace and improve the standard of living of our people. As adversaries, our horizons would be limited. His friends, equal in each other's eyes and drawing from each other's strength, a universe of opportunity awaits. Mr. President, I speak for all the citizens of my country. When I say, your friends, welcome you to the United States. Mr. President Reagan, I thank you and your distinguished wife, your cordial welcome. I come to continue a personal dialogue that we undertook in San Diego in 1982 and we continue in peace in 1983. La comunicación permanente nos ha permitido conocernos mejor y en el trato cordial y digno servir más eficazmente nuestra responsabilidad y resolver problemas y superar obstáculos en la amplia y compleja relación entre nuestros países. Yo con gusto el encargo de transmitir por el digno conducto de usted al gran pueblo de los Estados Unidos de América el saludo cordial del pueblo de México. Los mexicanos queremos seguir construyendo no solo una vecindad pacífica y digna, sino una amistad fructífera y positiva. Los vecinos y amigos confiables y sabemos conducir nuestras relaciones con ustedes en el respeto mutuo de nuestra independencia y de nuestras concepciones culturales y políticas. Mr. President, I thank you and your distinguished wife for your cordial welcome. I have come here to continue a personal dialogue that we began in San Diego in 1982 and continued in La Paz in 1983. Being constantly in touch has allowed us to become better acquainted and in our friendly and honorable dealings to more effectively meet our responsibility to solve the problems and overcome the obstacles in the wide ranging and complex relations between our two countries. It is with great pleasure that I transmit through you warm greetings from the people of Mexico to the great people of the United States of America. We Mexicans wish to continue building not only peaceful and dignified neighborly relations, but also a fruitful and positive friendship. Our two countries are reliable neighbors and friends, and we know how to conduct our relations in mutual respect for our independence and our cultural and political concepts. We have learned to solve our problems with serenity and realism. Two peoples with history and different cultures that live in asymmetry and disparities have found as a basis for their understanding the path of dialogue and communication. The amplitude and the diversity of our bilateral relations give fundamental relief to our dialogue, the trade and tourism, the financing and the investments. The intense relationship that is given in our borders, the human and labor phenomenon of the Mexican migrant workers in the United States, will be only to mention the most outstanding aspects of our conversations. We have learned to solve our problems with serenity and realism. Two peoples with different histories and cultures with imbalances and disparities have found the path of dialogue and communication to be the basis for their understanding. The wide range and diversity of our bilateral relations highlight our dialogue. Our talks will cover trade and tourism, financing and investment, the very close relationship between our border zones and human and labor aspects of the Mexican workers who migrate to the United States to name only some of the most important topics. In several of these aspects, there have been advances since the last time we met in La Paz. In others, there are pending solutions and areas of concern, as will always be in our dynamic relationship. What matters, Mr. President Reagan, is that we continue to address our problems with frankness and good faith and that we seek with imagination and will the best solutions in the benefit of our peoples. Progress has been made in several of these areas since the last time we spoke to each other. In others, solutions are pending, as will always be the case in our dynamic relations. The important thing, Mr. President, is that we must continue to tackle our problems frankly and in good faith and that we, with imagination and determination, seek the best possible solutions for the benefit of our countries. Debo reconocer, señor President Reagan, que esta disposición la he encontrado en usted y sus colaboradores. Su gobierno ha apoyado diversos programes financieros para la superación de nuestras dificultades económicas. Y ha estado abierto también a superar dificultades en nuestras relaciones comerciales. Debemos ampliar y enriquecer esta actitud abierta al diálogo y la negociación. I must acknowledge, Mr. President, that I have always found this to be your attitude and that of your associates. Your government has supported various financial programs for overcoming our economic problems, and it has also been willing to help surmount difficulties in our trade relations. We must broaden and enhance this open attitude to dialogue and negotiation. Nuestro intercambio de ideas rebasa el ámbito puramente bilateral. Ambos países somos miembros de la comunidad internacional y compartimos responsabilidades en el continente americano. A todos nos preocupan las amenazas para la paz, los problemas del armamentismo y la severa crisis económica que frustra los esfuerzos de los pueblos en desarrollo para proseguir el progreso económico y social con el fin de satisfacer la legítima ambición de sus pueblos, de desterrar el hambre, la insalubridad, la ignorancia y la miseria. Our exchange of ideas goes beyond solely bilateral matters. Both countries are members of the international community and we share responsibilities on the American continent. We are all concerned about threats to peace, the problem of the arms race, and the severe economic crisis that is hampering the efforts of developing countries to pursue their goal of economic and social progress in order to satisfy their people's legitimate ambitions and to banish hunger, unhealthy conditions, ignorance and poverty. A Estados Unidos y a México nos deben preocupar las dificultades especialmente graves que padecen las naciones latinoamericanas. La paz se ha roto en Centroamérica y crece el riesgo de un conflicto bélico generalizado cuya amplitud y duración nadie puede prever. Todos los países del continente debemos hacer el mayor esfuerzo posible para restaurar la paz y desterrar la guerra, respetando y apoyando el derecho soberano de sus pueblos a decidir su destino y rechazando las soluciones intervencionistas de cualquier origen. En la paz debemos apoyar también a los centroamericanos en sus programas de desarrollo económico y social y alentar sus esfuerzos para la construcción de la democracia y el respeto a los derechos humanos. Apliquemos para ello los principios y las normas del derecho internacional que hemos fraguado los países del continente americano, autodeterminación de los pueblos, no intervención, igualdad jurídica de los estados, solución pacífica de las controversias y cooperación internacional para el desarrollo. The United States and Mexico should be concerned as well about the specially serious difficulties that Latin American countries are experiencing. Peace has been disrupted in Central America and the risk of a generalized war, the scope and duration of which no one can foresee, is growing. Every continent, every country on the continent must do its utmost to restore peace and avoid war by respecting and upholding the sovereign right of its people to decide their own destiny and by rejecting interventionist solutions of any kind. In peacetime, we must also support the Central Americans in their social and economic development programs and encourage their efforts to build democracy and respect human rights. To that end, let us apply the principles and rules of international law established by the countries of the American continent, self-determination, non-intervention, equality of states before the law, peaceful solution of conflicts and international cooperation for development. Latin America suffers the most severe economic crisis of modern times. Its peoples and governments have forced us to implement severe economic adjustment programs to face the situation. Latin America is suffering the most severe economic crisis of modern times. Its peoples and governments have been obliged to implement harsh economic programs to cope with the situation. We are correcting the internal imbalances that come under our responsibility, the reduction of fiscal deficits and the imbalance in our commercial and financial accounts with foreign countries. The Mexican people are giving ample proof of their vigor and responsibility. Pero nuestro tenaz esfuerzo requiere de la comprensión y cooperación internacionales en el campo del comercio y de las finanzas para evitar que las condiciones internacionales frustren la acción interna. El punto crítico es el servicio de la deuda externa y el alto y creciente costo de la tasa de interés. A corto plazo es necesario actuar efectivamente sobre el costo del dinero. La solución más amplia y de fondo es la regeneración de nuestra capacidad de pago para cumplir las obligaciones de la deuda, recuperar nuestra capacidad de compra en el exterior y reanudar el proceso de crecimiento económico, la creación de empleos y así fortalecer las bases de la estabilidad. Nonetheless, our determined efforts require international understanding and cooperation in the field of trade and finance, so that international conditions do not frustrate domestic actions. The crucial point is external debt servicing and the high and rising interest rates. In the short term, it is necessary to take effective action on the cost of money. The broadest and most far-reaching solution is to recover our payment capacity so that we can meet our debt obligations, to regain our purchasing power abroad, to renew the process of economic growth and to generate employment, thereby strengthening the basis of stability. The solutions are not easy. The fundamental effort corresponds to us. We have already demonstrated that we want and we can do it. Now we need that the international community and fundamentally the industrialized countries accept that being the interdependence, an irreversible fact, the imperative of solidarity is not only the duty that derives from ethics, but from reciprocal convenience. Solutions are not easy. It is we who must make the basic effort. We have already shown that we are both willing and able to do so. Now we ask the international community and essentially the industrialized countries to accept that since interdependence is an irreversible fact, the imperative of solidarity is a duty based not only on ethics, but also on experience. No dudo, señor presidente Reagan, que en un clima de franqueza y cordialidad nuestras conversaciones ampliarán el examen de estos temas y que también seremos capaces de encontrar nuevas soluciones a los problemas que nos interesan. Mr. President, I have no doubt that in a climate of frankness and friendship, our talks will enhance our understanding of these topics, and we will be able to find new solutions to the problems that concern us. Mr. President, I thank you very much for your warm welcome. There's no need to Johnny, he's still walking around behind you. Manuel, Manuel, Manuel here. No, no, no, it's me. He's on the platform.