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CNN Live Sunday

President Bush Wraps Up Tour of Central America

Aired March 24, 2002 - 17:08   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KATE SNOW, CNN ANCHOR: It's back to Washington for President Bush after a four-day goodwill tour through Central and South America. Mr. Bush is wrapping up his mission in El Salvador today. CNN's White House correspondent Major Garrett is traveling with the president and joins us with us a live report -- Major.

MAJOR GARRETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Kate. Senior White House officials rate the president's trip as a qualified success. Not as successful as it could have been. Why? White House officials argue it's because Senate Democrats blocked the president from bringing on this trip many things he wanted to bring to the region -- specifically, in Mexico immigration reform that stalled in the Senate; in the Andean region, a new -- re-extension of a free trade pact that's also stalled in the Senate. And because Congress gave the White House definitive signals not to push forward with formal talks here in Central America about a free trade pact linking all Central American nation with the United States, that was not announced here in San Salvador.

White House official have been sort of gritting their teeth throughout this trip because the Senate Democrats have not allowed these issues to go forward, but they were really incensed yesterday, when the Democratic Party used its weekly radio address to criticize the president's entire trip throughout Latin America, saying it was all about pandering for Hispanic and Latin American votes in America.

The president today said that was reminiscent of politics of a different era, one that he tried to transcend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I firmly believe that the best policy for the United States is to pay attention to our friends, is to promote trade. Trade produces liberty and freedom, and I, you know, sometimes in Washington, D.C., people cannot get rid of old habits, which is petty politics.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GARRETT: Petty politics indeed, Kate. While here, the president said it was great to see that El Salvador will continue to maintain its commitment to democracy. Democracy is spreading throughout this region. And it's worth pointing out, Kate, that that's in part because of the efforts undertaken by George W. Bush's father, George Herbert Walker Bush, who as president presided over negotiations that ended a civil war in Nicaragua and ended a war here in El Salvador to begin a democratic movement throughout this region -- Kate.

SNOW: Major Garrett live from El Salvador today. Thanks, Major.

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