POSOLTEGA, Nicaragua -- (AP) -- At the foot of a volcano where mudslides
             buried 2,000 people, President Clinton knelt Monday on parched earth imprinted
             with the outline of a little girl who died. He told Nicaraguans, ``You deserve the
             world's support in this moment of need.''

             On a dusty, sweltering afternoon, Clinton opened a four-day trip to
             hurricane-ravaged Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. He
             promised an unprecedented amount of reconstruction aid -- $956 million -- and
             offered encouragement against any threat of political instability.

             ``Not so long ago, your country overcame a terrible war and emerged even
             stronger,'' the President said in a speech at a Posoltega school yard. ``You will
             overcome this adversity as well. And we will work with you every day until the
             task is done.''

             The farming communities around Posoltega were destroyed by Hurricane Mitch
             last October. A wall of mud from the swollen crater lake in Casitas Volcano
             roared down the mountain and left only one house standing in the village of El
             Porvenir.

             Across Central America, more than 9,000 people died -- more than 5,000 in
             Honduras alone. Thousands more remain missing. Crops and bridges were
             destroyed and the damage toll ranges up to $10 billion in the already impoverished
             countries.

             On a barren flat of dried mud and toppled trees, Clinton placed a wreath at a
             plaque embedded in a massive boulder. A hundred feet away, a simple wooden
             cross and a perimeter of rocks mark the site where a young, unknown girl was
             buried in mud and died. Her outline is clearly visible four months later.

             ``No picture can convey the feeling of seeing the outline of that small child's body
             by her grave, and seeing the remnants of her skeleton,'' Clinton said.

             The President stopped to leave flowers, stepping back with clasped hands to pray
             with Bishop Bosco Vivas, president of the Episcopal conference of Nicaragua,
             and Nicaraguan President Arnoldo Aleman.

             ``There are many bruises that we have to heal, many unpleasant memories to
             erase,'' Aleman said. ``But we trust in God, in our friends like you, and in our
             work and sacrifices. That is why we will come out stronger from this painful crisis.''

             Clinton's trip began just as the threat of deportation loomed for 3,000 immigrants
             from Guatemala and El Salvador. U.S. officials had delayed deportations so as not
             to burden those countries after the hurricane, but the stay expired Monday and the
             White House said it would not be extended.

             ``I will seek a fair solution to all the immigration issues this tragedy has
             heightened,'' Clinton promised without elaboration.

             Salvadoran President Armando Calderon Sol has warned that returning the
             immigrants now would cause ``tragic problems of stability.''

             While Clinton promised nearly $1 billion in aid, the money is tied up in partisan
             fights on Capitol Hill.

             Clinton brought an assortment of modest aid, in addition to the $956 million:

               $10.6 million from the Agency for International Development to repair, equip
             and staff health clinics, and $12.5 million for primary schools.

               Another $1.5 million for the International Red Cross to build 4,000 temporary
             homes starting this month.

               $1.8 million from the State Department to find and remove the civil-war-era
             land mines remaining in Nicaragua and Honduras. Mitch's floods and mudslides
             complicated the problem by shifting mapped areas of mine deployment.

               3,000 pounds of school supplies donated by U.S. organizations and White
             House staff.

             Similar packages for El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala would be announced
             later.
 

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