PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: NEWS CONFERENCE OPENING STATEMENT TUESDAY, MAY 22, 1984

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88B00443R000100540011-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 1, 2007
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: May 22, 1984
• Content Type: REPORT

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(NSC/BE)
May 22, 1984
10 MAY 22 FIB I: 02 1:30 p.m.
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: NEWS CONFERENCE OPENING STATEMENT
TUESDAY, MAY 22, 1984
Good evening, I have a statement. We have an important
visitor in Washington -- Napoleon Duarte, the President-elect of
El Salvador. The President-elect and I yesterday issued a joint
statement in which we agreed on three major objectives for
Central America: the strengthening of democratic institutions,
the improvement of living standards, and increased levels of U.S.
security assistance to defend against violence from both the
extreme left and the extreme right.
The election of Napoleon Duarte is the latest chapter in a
trend toward democracy throughout Latin America.' In Central
America, El Salvador now joins Costa Rica and Honduras in having
a democratically-elected government. Democracy in Central
America is a fundamental goal of our policy in that region, but
continued progress toward that goal requires our assistance.
Most of our aid -- three-quarters of it -- is economic
assistance. But security assistance is essential to help all
those who must protect themselves against the expanded Soviet
bloc, Cuban, and Nicaraguan export of subversion.
Also, asI said in my speech to the Nation on May 9, we must
support the aspirations of democratic opposition groups in
Nicaragua who oppose the Sandinista aggression against their
neighbors and who are seeking genuinely democratic elections in
Nicaragua as the Sandinistas promised the OAS in 1979.
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 of democracy are st.r~ong. We. s1ror iy super = ,il tilateral
Peace- can onty be,`acha_olied _ n Cen+ra.l Amer.itea if the forces
f l ortss toward pace, especia:1ly the Contaclora process. However,
nn( .lasting. peace settl.erment thx:o:- h the Con-+ adora, process can be
abhi
2
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ved unless. -khere i
sire i1.taneous impkemenfation ,of all the
`Coin -adora objectt s --~ irci id:U.j genuinely de, cratic elections
In ` 1caragua. The -Freedom--ft hter.S in Nicara: ua have, promised to
Amex-,pa can, std i..j b counted upon to suppo t`I own ideals. The
pecop .e.- of El Sal_Vacior are wat:ch4_etg. The free: Oqt-fighters of
down their arms and to pay`?ici pat e III genuinely democratic
elE?r:tions if the Sandinistas i:Ll permit. fhe_m.!
Our Congress faces some hii, r-.o:ric dec:t.S is nS this wee'lc.. Those
who -struggle f0if - re dom everywwh,,_-.re are wacc_ irx3 to see whether
;zgna are?,intp, c i. I s chr ~a enecil neighbors, are
and A15 well. _ Our
and +ht end es o '... _.: . pit. a r~ e a~ eln t_ r
bat to ed policy an SjCC :.rt ConCjrLes._: 'F:';hides the
rep .. vicesor:l1. elements
bipr? isan
ecor mt- lons of
.t policy, ass outlined i:,a the
Kissinger Conrnissio . But if
Digress of f e v3 too Uppd ; it wilt be worse than
doi c nothing kk a:. L The o l_` comtntu1 sm in Central
eople from Pai;ama to
I ;e 'i,C"a poses the -hreat that. P) pillion
p
the rep border Ot't. e) south c4;,,11 1.d come u.nd.err Ehe control of
arc ;; -_et re g.3
?'ce CongrE , _? the oi'L c= t a t1:'_Y`. to :re_arfvm our commitment
e people ri'SY r their 11.Vte.S for t} Cause. of liberty and
cy in Cen+v-a_.l Amer s_ca, 11 e~ Cnr yre`: ,_ dl5c) has the
, tunity to r e -(- v oar ttradJ_-H 0r1, which .sill tell
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the world we are united when our vital interests are at stake. I
am asking the Members of the Congress to make that commitment.
Now, tonight's first question will be from Maureen Santini.
Incidentally, this is a double first for Maureen -- her first
first question in her new role as the AP's Chief White House
Correspondent. Maureen?
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