Statement by the President Upon His Departure From San Salvador.

I LEAVE this lovely land with real regret.

I leave behind my gratitude for your warm hospitality--my admiration for your impressive achievements--and the pride of 200 million of my fellow citizens, who share in the new strength and promise that we have here added to our partnership.

Much has happened in 7 years to encourage and enlarge the splendid purpose that binds us: to grow in freedom and prosperity as the family of the hemisphere, joined in search of a common destiny--the fulfillment of man's hope.

But what is destiny? How do nations shape it and possess it? How can a people control their fate and decide what their fulfillment is to be?

These are difficult questions. They are the cruelest questions when they are voiced by the millions among us who still see only misery as their destiny, only frustration forever cheating them of fulfillment.

I have met with the Presidents of Central America trying to find answers to these questions. The road that brought us here has no rainbow at its end--not yet. We have not journeyed to find fool's gold. Our meeting has been fruitful because it has been responsible:

--We have celebrated what there is to celebrate, and it is much.

--We have determined to master the challenges that remain, and they are many.

--We have tried to strike a true and constructive balance between our attainments and our aspirations; between the simple and the complex, the illusory and the real; between answers for the day and solutions that will endure for all tomorrow.

Our work of this brief moment has moved us miles along the road that brought us here. It is a road of new hope for this hemisphere. Let that be the final statement of our meeting and our purpose: We have found new cause to advance together, in good faith and good will, on the road of hope that leads to the fulfillment of our common destiny.

What is destiny?

I find it of happy and hopeful significance that the answer was given here in this very land not too many years ago, by a brave and good man of El Salvador who became a beloved hero of this hemisphere.

"Destiny," said Alberto Masferrer, "is nothing more than a force that we ourselves create... but which, after it has acted, dies unless we add to it new fuel that enables it to continue."

We have added that fuel here. It is our faith, our trust, our realism, and our optimism. It is our determination to walk the brightening road of hope.

And so, President Sanchez, we will continue. You and your people will accompany us in spirit. For we will not forget the inspiration we have found here, in the vigor of your people, the victories of your life, and the heart-warming beauty of your land. We say goodby with heartfelt thanks.

Hasta luego and viva San Salvador!