Remarks Upon Arrival at San Pedro Sula, Honduras

President Lopez, President Mendez, ladies and gentlemen:

I am very happy to be in Honduras where friendship is an honored creed, and regional unity a historic legacy.

The great men of your history dedicated their lives to unity of the Americas. We profit from their teachings and experiences.

Del Valle said the effects of a "Great Federation" of American nations would be "impossible to imagine." We Presidents have met these last few days to improve your common market and to strengthen our interdependence--things that once seemed impossible.

We discussed our differences and our misunderstandings. But they seemed very small when compared with the benefits of our union.

As del Valle said: "One hundred thousand elements working at diverse moments have but the effectiveness of one." Your five nations--through unity--are five times stronger. Together, and with the help of your friends, you can defeat poverty, hunger, ignorance, and oppression in Central America.

During the past few days that I have spent with your distinguished President, President Lopez, he has told me of Honduras' achievements under the common market, the Alliance for Progress, and the Central American Bank for Economic Integration.

He has talked to me about your primary school enrollment and the fact--and it is an important fact--that it has doubled; that your Congress has passed a modern civil service law; that this fine airport has been constructed and added; and you are now getting a new pulp and papermill industry.

These great accomplishments must give us the courage to draw more closely together to challenge other impossibles.

We are taking important steps this weekend in our meetings and in our deliberations toward bringing a greater degree of unity to Central America, and a stronger tie of friendship among the neighbors here in Central America together, and their neighbor in the United States of America.

As we take these important steps toward unity, let us all resolve to push ahead.

We have so much to do and so little time to do it in.

When we travel across the countries that we have visited today, and we see the poverty, and we see the little children who are in need of education, and we see the fathers who are in need of jobs, and we see the transportation road networks that are yet to be built, and we see the educational facilities that have not yet been completed, we all wish that we had more time to do what is needed to be done.

So let us resolve here today to step up our timetable because we must never forget there is so much yet to be done for all of our people and there is so little time in which to do it.

Thank you very much.