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Remarks at Maiquetia Airport Upon Leaving for Colombia.
December 17, 1961

Mr. President:

I want to express, on behalf of Mrs. Kennedy and myself, our great appreciation to you, sir, and Madame Betancourt, and also to the people of Venezuela and especially to the people of this city, who have made us most welcome.

I think this visit—I hope—has pleased our friends—confounded our enemies; and I think that it has brought our two countries, whose fate has been so interwoven from our earliest days, closer together.

So, Mr. President, I don’t think that we will travel any place where our welcome will be more heart-warming, and where we will leave with greater appreciation. And I hope in this way to give some slight indication of how grateful I am to all of you for making us feel so much at home.