 Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States and Mrs. Reagan. Ladies and gentlemen, the national anthems of the Republic of Venezuela and the United States of America. Welcome you to the United States, Mr. President. President Lucinche of Venezuela has been one of the finest of friends of our country. We have worked together in Central America to bring about the birth of democracy in many countries where that had not been known, and it is an honor today to welcome one of this hemisphere's shining examples of freedom and democracy. President Jaime Lucinche of Venezuela. President Lucinche is a man dedicated to those principles of liberty that are held dear by the people of the United States. It's a pleasure for us to have as our guest an individual who played such an important role building freedom in his own country and who now, as a spokesman for his people, is such a force for good in this hemisphere. Venezuelans do not take freedom for granted. It was just a generation ago when President Lucinche and other brave Venezuelans, under the leadership of a great statesman and Democrat, Ramiro Betancourt, threw off dictatorship and began laying the foundation for a stable democratic society. Their struggle was not dissimilar to the one that's going on in Central America today. The fledgling Venezuelan democracy was immediately put to the test by Cuban-supported guerrillas and terrorists who would have turned Venezuela into a Marxist-Leninist dictatorship. Mr. President, your triumph in this 10-year struggle and the subsequent success of a freedom in your country should serve as a model for today, the Venezuelan model, if you will. Granting amnesty to those guerrillas willing to put down their weapons and participate in the electoral process, Venezuela's leaders held firm to the principles of democratic government and individual freedom and never gave in to the armed Marxist-Leninist minority. The peace, liberty, and seniority, or security, I should say, enjoyed in your country today is a result of that valor and determination. Nothing less should have been expected from the heirs of the great liberator, Simon Bolivar. He once said of Venezuela, By establishing a democratic republic, she has declared for the rights of man and freedom of action, thought, speech, and press. These eminently liberal acts will never cease to be admired. Venezuelans who understand that democracy is a path to peace and progress can be proud that their government is standing shoulder to shoulder with the forces of democracy in Central America today. All freedom-loving people should rejoice that El Salvador and other countries in the region like Venezuela before are maintaining or establishing democratic governments despite challenges of Soviet bloc sponsored subversion. The exception to this trend in Central America is Nicaragua, where a ruling clique of Sandinistas allied with Cuban and Soviet dictators have betrayed their citizens. Despite their assurances in 1979 to the people of Nicaragua and to the organization of American states that they would hold genuinely democratic elections, they have to the contrary persecuted the democratic opposition parties, trade unions, and civic and religious organizations. Instead of free elections, they chose to hold a communist-style sham election orderly informed but without the participation of the democratic opposition, because Sandinista controlled gangs of thugs beat down freedom of speech and assembly, wiping out any chance for genuine political competition. President Luzinci, I hope you will work with me to ensure that the pledges of free elections and real democracy made to the OAS and to the Nicaraguan people are carried out. Venezuela has been and continues to be a leading force in the Contadora process, which seeks peace in Central America based on democratic principles, and we applaud your efforts. The United States places great importance on all 21 objectives of the Contadora process, which include truly democratic elections as originally promised by the Sandinistas. The Contadora objectives, if put into practice simultaneously with effective verification, offer the best hope for peace in Central America. I can assure you that the diplomatic efforts of the United States are designed to attain these objectives. Two decades ago, the founder of modern Venezuelan democracy, President Ramiro Betancourt, visited here and said, if the United States and my country and Latin America can work together for democracy, we can increase and improve the conditions of life for all our people very rapidly. Well, his words rang true. In two decades, great things have been accomplished by the free people of Venezuela. The people of the United States are happy to have played a small role, offering a helping hand to people who have become close friends. Venezuela in turn has assisted those working to better themselves in the Caribbean and Central America, making substantial contributions to the well-being of others through the San Jose Accord. Our relationship of trust and cooperation is good for our own peoples and benefits the entire hemisphere. It's something to be cherished and we do not take it for granted. I'm sure, Mr. President, that you're also pleased by the restoration of democracy in Grenada. Yesterday's election marked the first time a Marxist-Leninist dictatorship has been succeeded by a government that receives its authority from free elections, and congratulations are due to the people of Grenada. Mr. President, we're keenly aware that Venezuela is now going through a period of economic adjustment. We support the responsible decisions that you are making to put your country back on the track to strong economic growth. We too have taken or undertaken some fundamental reforms in recent years, and more will be forthcoming. We continue to believe that strong economic growth is the foundation of social justice, the key being greater incentives, opportunity, and freedom for every person. Each year, in every corner of the globe, evidence continues to build. Today, no objective observer can deny that individual freedom, not government control, is the strongest spark for economic development and human progress. President Lucicci, you have the confidence of your people and of have our confidence as well. You also have our admiration. It's a pleasure to greet you on behalf of the people of the United States. Welcome. Mr. President Reagan, you were right to formulate me. I interpret this difference as a distinction in our country, and as a purpose of goodwill by the government of the United States. I represent Venezuela, but without a doubt, and in some way, I also represent Latin America in the measure of the identification of our people, of the community of our problems, and of the co-incidence of our aspirations. I am here, Mr. Reagan, to support you and the high officials of the government of the United States, a frank, sincere, friendly dialogue, and also generous. I represent one of the most solid democracies of Latin America, and I come from a country where the capitalist democratic system constitutes an irreversible experience. Our history was traumatic, and you know it. I am the sixth president of a process that, in the last 26 years, has demonstrated to the Venezuelans that democracy is a regime that allows them to progress in freedom. Our system is affirmed in the free and secret exercise of universal suffrage. The Republican alternative in a country essentially democratic like Venezuela guarantees us a future of progress. We believe in the need for social reforms and we accommodate them in the framework of the free game of ideas. This is part of our way of being and understanding our political responsibility. For the Venezuelans, there is no valid alternative to democracy. The experience has dictated it to us as an indivisible truth. We are a peaceful country and therefore believe in the peaceful solution of the controversies. We have a history of friendship and solidarity. We do not interfere in other matters and we are jealous of ours. We have fought and we will fight for equity in international economic relations. We believe that the unprecedented advance of science and technology allows all humanity to reach rational levels of well-being if the great contemporary estadists assume with good will their mission in a more and more interdependent world. Latin America advances towards democracy, Mr. President. Countless countries with great intellectual and historical tradition resume the path of freedom and the democratic order of which one day they were pioneers. It is time for us to stimulate with frankness without egoism and without fears that process of making freedom and the predominance of the fundamental values of the human being. At the same time, this process in South America, on the one side of our countries, in Central America, has a place, a conflict whose complexity is increasingly evident by the sum of new international factors to the very old problems of the region, traditionally dominated by unhuman dictators and insatiable oligarchies. The conflict of Central America demands of all of us an equilibrium, firmness, to cooperate in the search for compatible solutions with the essence and with the idiosyncrasy of those abated peoples. We firmly believe that the solution of the crisis is in the effective democratization of the region and in the exclusion of external factors, continental or extracontinental. We do not believe in military solutions or strength in the delicate and complex crisis of Central American countries, but on the contrary, we believe that the only viable path and the only lasting solution lies in the design and application of a democratic policy of pluralism, of social justice and economic development of all the countries of the region without exclusions and without impositions. As a country of the countergroup, Venezuela has made efforts for the peaceful solution of the Pacific in Central America. And despite our own problems, we maintain an energetic cooperation program with the region that translates the postulated facts of good will. Honest practitioners of democracy, none of us, neither you nor I, Mr. President, could really feel satisfied, even from the Canadian Arctic to the land of fire, the democratic system of living and practice and conviction in all our countries. Finally, I come, Mr. President of the United States, with the open mind and the open heart, disposed of old prejudices, persuaded of the solidarity and justice of our ideas, to establish with you a dialogue that I hope is effective for the consolidation of the traditionally friendly relations between Venezuela and the United States. I thank you, Mr. President, in my name and in the name of my companions, your cordial words of welcome, which augure a positive exchange of ideas and experiences between us. Those words of yours well correspond with the spirit of friendship and sympathy that throughout time has characterized the relations between the United States and Venezuela. Our two nations, Mr. President Reagan, share the common ideals of Bolívar and Washington and of the brave and forging in the American world of the principles of freedom, democracy, national independence and respect for the dignity of the human being. Thank you very much for your welcome, Mr. President. Mr. President, it is a great pleasure for me to be here in this beautiful city of Washington responding to the kind invitation you have extended to me, Mr. President. I interpret this deference as a distinction marking my country and as an expression of goodwill of the government of the United States. I represent Venezuela, but also in some way I represent undoubtedly Latin America as a whole in view of the identification of our populations, the community of our interests and the coincidence of our aspirations. I thus come, Mr. Reagan, to hold with you and the senior officials of the government of the United States a dialogue that is to be frank, sincere, amicable and thoughtful as well. I represent one of the soundest democracies of Latin America. I come from a country where pluralistic democracy constitutes an irreversible experience. Our history has been traumatic, you know it well. I am the sixth president of a process that throughout the last 26 years has shown Venezuelans that democracy enables them to progress in freedom. Our system rests on the free and secret practice of the universal right to vote. The concept of alternativeness of Republican governments in an intrinsically democratic country such as ours guarantees us a future of progress. We believe in the need for social reforms and embark on them in a frame of free expression of ideas. All this is inherent to our way of life and our way of understanding our political responsibility. For Venezuelans, there is no valid alternative to democracy. Experience has shown it to be an indivisible truth. We are a peaceful country and therefore believe in peaceful solutions to controversies. Our history has been one of friendship and solidarity. We do not interfere in the affairs of others and zealously watch over our own affairs. We have fought and shall continue to fight for the achievement of equity in international economic relations. We believe that the unprecedented advancement of science and technology enables all of mankind to reach rational levels of well-being if only the great statesmen of our times pursue in good will their mission in an ever more interdependent world. Latin America is moving forward on the road to democracy, Mr. President. Countries of the South Cone with their great tradition of intellect and historical achievement tread again the path of liberty and democratic order they themselves had once opened up and pioneered. Let us encourage them at this time openly, unselfishly and fearlessly in their process to freedom and enforcement of the fundamental values of the human spirit. Simultaneously with this development in South America contiguously to our countries in Central America conflicts are raging and their complexity ever more apparent are due to the summation of international factors to the already long-standing problems of the region traditionally ruled by inhuman dictatorships and insatiable oligarchies. The conflict of Central America demands of all of us ponderation, equilibrium and firmness if we are to cooperate in seeking solutions compatible with the essence and idiosyncrasy of those depressed nations. We firmly believe that the solution to the existing crisis rests on an effective democratization of the region and the exclusion of external factors be they continental or extra-continental. We do not believe that the solution to this delicate and complex crisis of the Central American countries can be one of force or military involvement rather to the contrary we believe that the only viable path and the only lasting solution rests on designing and implementing a policy of democratization, pluralism, social justice and a conflict of all our countries. Finally I come Mr. President of the United States with an open mind and an open heart free from all prejudices and convinced of the soundness and fairness of our views to engage with you in a dialogue, fruitful I hope for the consolidation of the relations traditionally friendly between Venezuela and the United States. I thank you Mr. President in my own name and on behalf of those who accompany me for your kind words of welcome which lead us to expect a positive exchange of ideas and mutual experiences. Your words correspond to the spirit of friendship and sympathy which through the passing of time has been characteristic of the relations between the United States and Venezuela. Both nations Mr. President share the common ideas of Bolivar and Washington and those of the standard bearers and shapers in the world of the Americas of the principles of liberty, democracy, national independence and respect for the dignity of man. Thank you very much for your welcome.