March 11, 1999
Web posted at: 11:33 a.m. EDT (1133 GMT)

ANTIGUA, Guatemala (CNN) -- U.S. President Bill Clinton and Central American leaders were meeting Thursday in a summit aimed at finding common ground on illegal immigration, trade and other issues.

The summit brings together Clinton and the leaders of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Belize and the Dominican Republic.

The summit will end Clinton's four-day tour of the region -- a trip that has been dominated by the region's attempt to recover from last year's devastating hurricane Mitch and Central America's efforts to sustain democracy after past civil wars.

The leaders were discussing how to control illegal immigration, encourage stable democracies and improve the region's economies in the wake of the hurricane that killed 9,000 people and left damages in the billions of dollars.

Part of Clinton's mission has been to repair the image of an American colossus to the north that spent billions of dollars during the 1980s to finance Cold War-era battles against leftist insurgents in Central America.

On Wednesday, Clinton recalled it as a time that provoked "bitter divisions about our role in your region."

But he expressed his hopes that Central America now would see the United States "in a new way, as a partner, a friend, a colleague."

"The wars are over," he said in San Salvador on Wednesday.

But Central America has still plenty of worries about the policies of its powerful neighbor.

Clinton has refused to budge from a decision to resume deportations from the United States of illegal immigrants from Guatemala and El Salvador who fled the aftermath of the hurricane.

And his proposal for $956 million in hurricane relief aid, including debt relief, is tied up in the Republican-led Congress.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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