EXCERPTED FROM FULL REMARKS:


THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary
(Miami Beach, Florida)

For Immediate Release
July 13, 1999


                        REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
                   AT FLORIDA DEMOCRATIC PARTY DINNER

                           Private Residence
                         Coral Gables, Florida


          Let me just say a few words -- Alfie asked me to talk about
the Cuban issue and the unfortunate incident with the people who are
trying to come here.  I'd like to put it into a larger context.  One of
the most frustrating things to me as President -- people say all the
time I'm a reasonably good communicator, but I don't think I've
succeeded in convincing the American people entirely that America is
living in a world that's increasingly interdependent and that our
prosperity and our security and the quality of our life is more and more
caught up with how we relate to other people throughout the world.

          I'm proud of the fact that we stopped the ethnic cleansing and
slaughter in Bosnia in 1995, and I'm proud of the fact that we didn't
let it go on for two and a half years before we stopped it in Kosovo.
And that's a long way away.  (Applause.)  And you may say, well, that's
a long way away.  I mean, it's amazing -- we lost no pilots in combat.
They had far fewer civilian casualties than we would have had if there
had been some massive invasion.  But over 650,000 of those people have
already gone home.

          Vaclav Havel, the great Czech President, great hero of liberty
and human rights, said it was the most moral, selfless war ever fought,
because the people who carried it forward, we didn't want anything -- we
didn't want territory, we didn't want power, we didn't want money.  All
we wanted was to create a world in which Europe could live without
people being killed because of the way they worship God or because of
their race or ethnic background.  We're trying to set up the same
systems that will prevent that from happening in Africa.  We're working
today to diffuse the conflict between India and Pakistan.

          We're looking forward -- I'm eager as a kid with a new toy for
the meeting I'm going to have with the new Israeli Prime Minister this
weekend in the hope that we can begin to energize the peace process in
the Middle East on terms that are just and fair and will guarantee
genuine security for Israel and a way of living for the Palestinians
that will bring reconciliation and a resolution of all these issues with
Syria so that there can be peace in the Middle East.  These are things I
believe in.  Just like I believe we were right to expand trade.

          I haven't convinced everybody in my party we were right about
that.  But if you think about it, we're four percent of the world's
people; we've got 22 percent of the world's income.  There's no way for
us to keep 22 percent of the world's income unless we sell something to
the other 96 percent of the world's people.  To me, it's not rocket
science, and I know there are difficulties, but we have to do it.

          Now, one of the things that I've tried to do as President is
to be more active with the Caribbean and with Latin America.  I'm trying
to pass a Caribbean Basin Initiative through the Congress that will
enable us to be better neighbors to our friends in the Caribbean.

          I have had now the opportunity to participate in two Summits
of the Americas.  Every country in the Caribbean and Latin America is a
democracy but Cuba, and it is a continuing frustration to us.  We have
an embargo, a tough embargo that's even tougher than it was before those
people were shot out of the sky.  And you remember that just a few years
ago, which led to the passage of the new legislation.  There is no
question that they were flat out killed illegally.  It was wrong.

          So what we have tried to do recently is to be firm with the
government of Cuba and make it clear that we can't be forthcoming until
they change, but that we want to help the people of Cuba and their
suffering and keep families here in communication one with another.  One
of the most difficult things has been how to handle the people that want
to get away -- particularly when you know, well, from time to time
they've been used as a political weapon.

          So a few years ago, we reached an understanding with Cuba and
we've tried to use the Coast Guard, as Alfie said, as a lifesaver.  We
have, completely independent of that -- and you should know this --
completely independent of what is happening with Cuba, the United States
has had more and more and more people come to this country, principally
in California and New York, under the control of alien smugglers, cruel
people who enslave people and bring them here.

          So the Coast Guard, in part, I think, has tried to react more
to try to cut down on alien smuggling.  But what happened with the way
those people were sprayed and all that, it was outrageous.  I want you
to know it was not an authorized policy, none of us knew anything about
it in Washington until we saw it on the news or read it in the
newspapers, just like you did.  We have taken vigorous steps to make
sure it does not happen again and the incident is being thoroughly
investigated.

          So now we have to look and see whether or not the policy we
have is manageable, given the problems that we're facing.  But we still
have to try to have a legal, orderly process by which people come from
Cuba to the United States.

          A few years ago, I expanded the number of people who could
legally get visas to come here to 20,000 a year, and we are reviewing
this whole situation now in light of what has happened.  But I do
believe that the general statements Alfie made at the beginning are the
correct ones.  We have to try to keep the movement here orderly, safe
and legal, and we have to look at the new challenges that have been
presented to us, but I want you to know that there will never be a time
when any of us will wilfully sanction the use of excessive or inhumane
tactics in dealing with anybody coming to this country.

          We have to try to enforce our laws, we have to try to protect
our borders, we have to try to deal with a situation which could, as you
well remember from times past, spiral out of hand, and I am reviewing
what the facts are and what our options are.  But I want you to know
that the values that will guide us, I think are the right ones.