 Thank you a little while ago listen I do appreciate you coming down appreciate all the help you've been ready in particular something I have your letter expressing your concern about whether it could possibly be our plan to lead to troops Why are you doing all right, mr. Chairman? We got a long agenda We just I just want to prepare you where we're going to quarantine the beaches You know Thank you. Thank you, sir. Thank you. I'm always a connector. Sure. Thank you, sir. That's your point. That's my point. I'm always present. I'll bring the tie. I'll bring the tie. All right. You get my message. Thank you. You're good. I figured you would. All right. Well, thank you first of all for coming down. I appreciate it very much. And I appreciate all the fact that most of you, almost all of you, have been the most supportive on the same subject, or had you guessed that we wanted to talk about the country. And I just wanted to, I know that Senator, you have some misgivings about the things that have happened. Our plan is one that we thought trying to break this deadlock with the Sandinistas. The support has been wonderful from the Contadora countries and from their neighbors down there, and President. As one-time members of the revolution, to get back to the original goals of the revolution, and lead the 70s to 70s. Now are you? It's good to see you. It's been a while. Nice to see you. Grab a couch. No, no, no. I must say that I'm greatly encouraged by the attitude of the Batman that we are going to try to make it very brief. I know that some of you have been one way or the other, and some of you are leaning and are disturbed about the situation. I would just say that I think that this plan that we've proposed should make it evident to everyone that we're not the big colossus that are looking for a military triumph down there. If this has enough leverage to get the Sandinistas to govern finally, and they are under pressure, the economic pressure as well as the threat of the Contras, get them to accept that offer that the Contras made a month ago about laying down their arms and being willing to come in and discuss a democratic negotiation. They have a democratic, formal government, and keep the promises that they made during the revolution that there is some chance, and this was why the $14 million, small as it is, that what we have said is okay, they'll do that. We will be willing to declare that money will be used for food, for those with the carities. All right, we'll use that money for guns and bullets. And all the Spain, I just received a verbal message brought back by someone from the Pope that he approves of what we're doing in Central America. But we think it's worthwhile, and we want to make it plain that no, we've never contemplated going down there, military force or anything like that. We would like nothing better than the re-institution of the revolution announced to some of us in the last few days that we've been here with. For being late, this always happens this way. You know, you might have some meetings with Congress, when I find up at this time of day, we'll be behind schedule. But I know that you've been briefed, and you've had a lot of briefing on the situation that we've faced in this program, and we've introduced about the Congress and the situation that we're out with. So I won't make the usual pitch on that, I think. I do want to ask some questions, and I'll just open it up for a minute. And why don't you fire away the questions? There's some quick energy here. Ladies and gentlemen, please say a few words here. First of all, welcome, my dear appreciation to all of you here. Your moral and active support of our policy is evidenced by your elegant petition to the Congress. It means a great deal to me, and I'm sure to the American people. Your recognition of our Central American problem is not merely a problem of this hemisphere, but it is a European problem as well, and reflects the foresight and the insight, which all of you, as rather rare this day, simply put, that we as a free world cannot and must not allow the iron curtain that we send around Central America. I know that you will be participating in a seminar this afternoon in the Dirksen Building, in a conference aptly titled, How to Prevent Democracy from Paris. Well, I think it is a worldwide task for all of us. Right at a time when democracy seems to be flourishing in so many places in the world, here in our own hemisphere, in Latin America, never has there been such a high proportion of Americans living in democracy or in countries that are tending very definitely to a roughly about 90% of all the people below our borders are in that situation. And this is so obvious, this thing going on in Nicaragua, as to what it is and where its source lies, that for you to do what you have done, I don't have the words to express my appreciation and understand that we have a lot. President, that of course is taken to the title of John Francois Ravel's book, How Democracy is Paris. He was going to be here, I guess on a flight to maybe the National Airport of Dallas, but he's not here, unfortunately, and so, free gentlemen, the concentration will strut you. He's leave on hostile with Germany from the Defense Minister. He's got one here with a familiar name, Winston Churchill, which is a documentation of a copy of the position that they sent out to the Congress of the United States. Sorry about Mr. Ravel, I stole that line, plagiarized it thinking he'd be here. Well, Mr. President, on behalf of all of the signatories, I have great pleasure in handing this petition to you, and we hope that that's a portion in your life resulting in the right place through your Congress. Well, I can't show you how great I am, and I have a good... I think the other gentleman's wife says, ladies and gentlemen, come up and shake hands with the President. First of all, thank you very much. Thank you. Very good to see you again. Good to see you. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. Mr. President, a pleasure to be here with you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Good bye to you all. And thank you all very much. What a beautiful weather they're living in. How are you doing? Good to see you. Good night, George. Good morning, Mr. President. Good morning, Mr. President. Thank you very much. This is a new copy of what's directed to you. All of these four representatives, Malcolm Frazier, the former Prime Minister of Australia, Winston Churchill, the third is in here. These are people from all over the world that have come here with this sign of petition to you, the Congress of the United States, for support of the Nicaraguan resistance. And they just presented me with my copy of it here, Opus with Democracy itself as a state in Nicaragua. And then it goes on, but you'll all be getting it. They want to have a picture taken themselves up and so on. I just thought I'd keep it here for a minute. I'll let you see it. Come in. Sit down. Well, now I assume you're all coming in. If not, well, I'll make a certain pitch to you. I do think that open line is the truth. I think what is at issue today is that we're voting for or against a plan we're really voting. Are we going to have another Cuba? A Marxist, Leninist, totalitarian country as we have no Nicaragua on the mainland of the Americas to hold out for people. I think the issue is as clear-cut as that. I know that they have got one of the biggest disinformation programs going in the country we've ever seen. And we brought up this plan, this idea, to refute the thought that we're somehow sneaking around here, hoping for a military overthrow of the government. All we're asking is a restoration of the revolution that overthrew Samoza. And on the countryside are people and leaders who participated in that revolution. Men who were imprisoned by the Sandinistas who got in and just did what Cuba, what Castro did in Cuba, many years ago. And that was had a revolution and then double-crossed his fellow revolutionaries in order to institute what he had always intended, this kind of a totalitarian government. And we think that this plan, which was born of the fact that the Contras themselves several weeks ago offered to lay down their arms if the Sandinistas would negotiate with them and let them come in and try for a peaceful reconciliation and a restoration of the aims of the revolution, which would give it to the Organization of American States during the revolution, appealing for them to persuade Samoza to step down, which he did. And on that basis the Sandinista government refused their offer and we picked it up. And we've gotten the leadership of the Contadoras, we've gotten the leadership, the presidents of the neighboring countries. All of them to worry said this is the right idea.