We have seen summits without substance, and reaction instead of action. And yet this administration failed to get it. We were promised a Free Trade Area of the Americas. Yet it never happened. And, in spite of real, even dramatic progress in some parts of Latin America, problems have grown into crises.
Narcotic traffickers seek to gain control of a government.
Many free nations still struggle to show economic results for all their citizens. And we can never forget the vast, urban slums where young children scramble for survival. Just as we ended the great divide between East and West, so today we can overcome the North-South divide. This begins with a renewed commitment to democracy and freedom in this hemisphere because human freedom, in the long run, is our best weapon against poverty, disease and tyranny. As I speak, we are celebrating the success of democracy in Mexico.