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This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
Remarks by Andrew S. Natsios
Administrator, USAID
at Hispanic Heritage Month ceremony
September 24, 2002
Thank you very much and welcome. I want to especially thank Adolfo (Adolfo Franco is USAID's Assistant Administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean) for his remarks, but also for his leadership. Adolfo is my senior advisor on Latin American affairs. He keeps me out of trouble and tells me what I need to say and not say. You couldn't have a better advisor and a better leader and manager in the Latin American Bureau, which, of course, has panache in AID, as Otto (Otto Reich is Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs) knows that from having had that position at one point in the Reagan administration.
I also want to thank my friends, Otto and Roger (Roger Noriega is the U.S. Representative to the OAS) for being here with us today. Frank (Almagir), we're honored by your presence and your service as a career foreign service officer, one of our most senior officers who just has come back as ambassador to Honduras. I told him he cannot retire, and this is just a temporary thing. You can rest a little bit, and then we're going to call you back, okay?
We do know that the Latin American population within the United States is now 35 million people. It's a huge part of the diasporas in the United States. Having come from one much smaller ethnic diaspora -- we don't have a Greek American month; I'm waiting for one, there are four of us in AID; it would be a very small celebration ceremony -- but we all know who we are. No one else does. But, the Latin American community in the United States is very important. And it's not one community, of course. It's many communities, and there are differences in cultures between Peruvians and Colombians and El Salvadorans and Guatemalans and Mexicans and Puerto Ricans. We know that, but perhaps some people don't get the subtleties. I certainly, having just come back with Adolfo from Columbia and Peru, I did not realize how excellent Peruvian cuisine is, and I had always to invest in a Greek American restaurant. I have changed my mind slightly. If I ever get enough money, it will be in a Peruvian restaurant in the United States, particularly that serves fish. [Laughter.] It was very nice in Lima, very nice.
I have to tell you I am also very impressed with some of the heads of state that I have been meeting in Latin America. I don't want to mention some and not mention others, but we are going to meet very shortly -- Adolfo and I and probably Roger -- with the new president of Colombia at the Blair House, President Uribe, whom we met just prior to his inauguration. He is a person who could save Colombia. He is the most serious president in terms of dealing with the narco-traffic and what it's done to Colombian culture and Colombian society, an extraordinary society that's been through hell for a long time. He has the capacity because of his strength of leadership to change that and he's beginning to do it already and we are going to be there to support him.
We were supposed to meet for ten minutes with the president of El Salvador and we ended up talking for more than an hour. But it wasn't about development; it was about how he manages. He has management contracts with his ministries, and he's very interesting. It's a course in public administration just to listen to him. He is a very impressive man, and one of the President's favorite heads of state and the world, I might add, in the world. They get along famously together, and with people like that it's easy to work in Latin America.
I know a lot of things are happening in Nicaragua right now, and I have to say it's the Nicaraguans doing it themselves and that's very important. And it may be a watershed now for Nicaragua, given what's happened.
President Bush has appointed 160 Hispanic Americans to important positions within his administration. We know the HUD Secretary, Mel Martinez; White House Counsel, Roberto Gonzales; and Rosario Marin, Treasurer of the United States. And I mentioned earlier our distinguished guests in the Administration who were here today, who are from Latino backgrounds.
Most importantly, though, in terms of what the President has done that's going to make a difference in Latino lives in this hemisphere is the President's signing of the Trade Act of 2002 on August 6, which gives him fast-track authority and renews the Andean Trade Preference Act. By early 2005 we may complete a Free Trade Area for the Americas. And I say that for this reason. There is a lot of debate about what development is, and all that, and what it really boils down to is one thing. Without accelerated rates of economic growth that are equitably distributed in the society through increases in productivity, you don't eliminate poverty. I mean we can do all our work, but if we are not in some way contributing in a direct or indirect way to that goal, then we have problems. Health care improves the quality of the work force. Education improves the quality of the work force that can move in as workers into this expanding economic growth area.
Trade capacity building is one of the most important things AID does all over the world. We are going to be spending in the next fiscal year 53 million dollars in trade capacity building, and that's very important because it will make a profound difference in the capacity for Latin American countries to take advantage of this free trade zone. If you don't understand the phyto-sanitary code restrictions in the United States, and WTO accession, and the regulations that go along with that, the other complexities of trade, of macro-economic reforms, of micro-economic reforms, of the proper infrastructure, of market reviews of what you do that is value added in your country in terms of manufacturing, or production that can be exported -- all those things contribute to rapid rates of economic growth, which is how countries that are very poor become prosperous.
I would like to announce today that we have created the Spanish language section of our USAID web site. There are a lot of federal agencies that actually have something like this, so I'm particularly proud of our staff in AID. We have our web managers here. Where is Ed Fox? He's standing right here. And Joanne. Wesley. Joe, where's Joe? Joe runs this section over here. And they put this together, and if you want to see it, it's available right next to the food. And I would urge you to eat the food. I would still be there eating instead of speaking if I did not have a role here, because the food is quite good.
But you can see the web site; there are speeches on it by Colin Powell, by President Bush, and by myself, translated, of course, into Spanish. It also has links to web sites from our missions in Latin America and the Caribbean. That will help people in the Latin American community with the United States and in the developing world in Latin American to see the wonderful work that this agency does, which I have to say I'm very, very proud of. We just don't do enough to publicize what we do, which is something that all of the AA's (assistant administrators) are committed to changing. So, thank you very much for your leadership.
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Last Updated on: January 02, 2009 |
