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Clinton hails democracy, free trade
The president speaks to Chile's National Congress
April 17, 1998
Web posted at: 4:59 p.m. EDT (2059 GMT)VALPARAISO, Chile (AllPolitics, April 17) -- President Bill Clinton declared "the day of the dictators is over" and hailed democracy and free trade in an address to the Chilean National Congress Friday.
In the speech during his tour of the South American nation, Clinton praised the Chilean people for shedding 17 years of military dictatorship and for becoming an economic success for the world to follow.
"Democracy is never perfect, but because it is open and free, it is always perfectible," Clinton said. "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."
Transcript: Bill Clinton addresses Chilean National Congress
Clinton encouraged the free press and the rights of workers, women and children, and stressed that education is crucial in promising a prosperous future.
The United States is Chile's largest trading partner, and trade between the nations has grown steadily since 1993, Clinton said.
The president said he would continue to actively pursue a free-trade zone of the Americas which would broaden trade between the two nations.
"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," he said.
"At different points in this century, many nations of the Americas lost their democracy," Clinton added. He did not mention Gen. Augusto Pinochet, nor the CIA-supported coup in 1973 which killed the leftist President Salvador Allende and brought Pinochet's 17 years of oppressive rule.
Presidential aides were relieved when Clinton was spared the awkwardness that Pinochet's attendance would have posed at the speech; the aging general was absent due to ill health.
A strong democracy "honors its soldiers for their commitment to defend the people, not to rule them," Clinton said.
Clinton will attend the 34-nation Summit of Americas over the weekend, then return to Washington, D.C., Sunday night.
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