We gave refuge to all the damaged of the 80 War, Nicaraguans, Guatemalans, Salvadorians, and Haitians. We stood present to the Persian Gulf War. We helped in the restoration of the Democratic Order in Haiti. We have supported in politics to combat the illegal traffic of narcotics, money laundry, and terrorism. We still remember the acts of April '87, and as friends we have more than 200 North American enterprises operating in Honduran grounds.

The Cold war provoked our massive exodus, more than 200 Hondurans disappeared, mined camps in the Eastern Zone of the country, repetitive invasions of the F.M.L.N. of the El Salvador, and the F.S.L.N. of Nicaragua, assaults, robberies, kidnapping, assassinations, all contributed to destabilize the economy of our nation. e were accused before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the MAYA, by the Nicaraguan Government that the Contra-Revolution was operating in Honduran ground.

Congress members, the Immigration has played a fundamental role in the formation and development of this magnificent nation. Since 1901 to 1910, 8,795,386 immigrants entered to the US., and according to historical facts, from 1820 to 1952, 39,796,719 people entered to this territory.

This phenomenon comes since the year 1496, when John Cabot and his sons made their first trips.

Therefore, in 1562 came to North America, the first immigrants. And, in 1607 the first British Colony was established in Virginia.

This is not the first time that the Congress issues a legislation to help the Immigrants. The Congress helped in 1958 the Hungarians, the Europeans in 1960,
the Cubans in 1966, the Indonesian in 1977, the Chinese, Soviets and Indonesian in 1978, Again, the Cubans and Haitians in 1986, Chinese students in 1992, Polish and Hungarians in 1996, Nicaraguans, and Cubans in 1997.

Honduras, a neighbor nation, and allied to the US, is requesting for the first time an special treatment, which has been given to many other countries. It is not possible that such treatment could be denied because we have sufficient arguments of War, and of humanitarian level. We are human beings who have come here in search of freedom that only a country like the United States, first world powerful nation, director of the restoration and pacification of the world, could provide it to us.