Remarks

Well, thank you very much, Mr. President, for the warm welcome. I’m delighted to be back here in Lima.

I have been looking forward to tomorrow’s conference as we discuss ways to tap the potential of women and further social inclusion and economic progress here in Peru. I think it is very fitting that you are hosting this conference during Social Inclusion Week, because there is no doubt that providing more opportunities for people who historically have been left out of progress in our hemisphere will benefit all of us.

We applaud your government establishing the new Ministry of Development and Social Inclusion, and we want to work with you to give every child – every young boy and every young girl – the chance to fulfill his or her God-given potential. As you said, Mr. President, the United States and Peru work together on many shared challenges and priorities. We are working together to promote citizen security and to work against the drug traffickers. We are working to support you in your ongoing efforts against the terrorists who have for too long brought violence to too many people throughout Peru. We are working to protect Peru’s magnificent environment and cultural treasures. And we are working to support your efforts to spur broad-based development that is as important in the cities as it is in the rural areas. MORE.

Special Briefing

MODERATOR: Good morning, everyone. Just to take a few minutes of your time, we’ll do a backgrounder with two Senior Administration Officials. So you know who they are, we have [Senior Administration Official One], and we have [Senior Administration Official Two]. She’ll be giving you a good preview as well. So we’ll just, again, spend a few minutes. [Senior Administration Official One] will talk, then [Senior Administration Official Two], and then we’ll take any of your questions.

So with that, let me turn it over to the first Senior Administration Official.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL ONE: Good morning. Thanks for coming along today. We think this is a great opportunity to go down to Peru and see what is happening in that country. There’s a Social Inclusion Conference. President Humala has made it one of his trademarks to focus on socially inclusive growth. This is kind of the first fruits of that effort, this international conference, to sort of talk about the ways and means of going about that.

Humala has proven to be a good partner for us, both in this area, which is, of course, very important to us in the Administration, but also on the citizen security side. There are citizen security challenges which remain in Peru and President Humala is doing his best to address those, and we’re trying to be helpful in that regard. The big picture in the hemisphere, we have the four policy goals: socially inclusive growth, energy partnerships, citizen security, and working on the institutionality of democratic governance. So this sort of hits on all of those themes. MORE.

About the Author: Jeremy Peterson serves as the General Services Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Paramaribo, Suriname.

Earlier this month I had the opportunity to participate in the Peace Corps Legacy Project, which documents the sustainable projects people of Suriname have carried out with the help of Peace Corps volunteers during the organization’s 17 years in country.

The group I traveled with visited villages on the Upper Suriname River to see solar panel projects funded by the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas (ECPA) and put into place by Peace Corps volunteers and Suriname citizens. ECPA is a flexible, voluntary framework for countries to collaborate and cooperate on clean energy and climate change issues. Peace Corps Suriname’s ECPA initiative focuses on energy poverty and climate change efforts and is supported by an interagency agreement between Peace… more »

About the Author: Jeff Weinshenker serves as a Public Diplomacy Officer in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs.

It all starts with one. One idea. One individual. One community. And one vision for a better future.

It starts with Juan Pablo in Bolivia teaching at-risk youth how to express themselves through sports and culture, developing their own identity so others won’t define it for them.

It starts with Martha in Costa Rica or Yelitza in Panama, who found ways to reach the “unreachable” — gang members, drug users, and school dropouts in whom others had given up hope.

Sometimes it begins with an idea — teaching robotics to 10-year-olds in a drug-ravaged community in Costa Rica. Piece by piece, with the support of dedicated adults, these boys and girls learn to construct something bigger — engines, cars, complex systems — and along the way, they rebuild themselves and their neighborhoods.

These moments of inspiration exist across… more »

About the Author: Paula Uribe serves as a Senior Advisor in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs.

The International AIDS Conference, AIDS 2012, brought more than 23,000 medical professionals, advocates, policy makers, and people living with HIV/AIDS to Washington, D.C., from July 22-27 from more than 180 countries. The Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs organized a roundtable on the margins of the event with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) activists from the Western Hemisphere on July 23 to hear how AIDS is affecting LGBT persons in Latin America and the Caribbean. 

Activists noted the stigma, discrimination, and violence their communities face on a daily basis because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. According to participants, transgender individuals are especially at risk of violence and discrimination. In most cases identification documents do not reflect their gender identity, which can make voting a difficult or even dangerous… more »

About the Author: Kathleen Guerra serves as the Cultural Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala City, Guatemala.

One of the amazing yet frustrating things about working on the cultural side of public diplomacy is that the results of our programs are often not apparent until after months, years, or even decades have passed. We know our exchanges work; for example, there are many examples of International Visitor Leadership Program participants, identified for their leadership potential, who have become heads of state. But as a cultural affairs officer, you often leave a country still wondering what impact your programs will have in the long term.

That’s why a recent visit by Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roberta Jacobson to Guatemala, which highlighted the specific and immediate results… more »

About the Author: Michelle Cook serves at the U.S. Consulate in Calgary, Canada.

Every July for the last 100 years, Calgary, Alberta has hosted a boot-stompin’, bronco-bustin’, pancake-eatin’, chuckwagon-racin’ celebration of all things wild and western known as the Calgary Stampede. This ten-day extravaganza draws hundreds of thousands of would-be cowboys (and girls!) from around the world to experience the “Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth.” CNN named it one of the top 10 events in the world to attend this year, but few who pass through the gates of Stampede Park are aware of the deep American roots of this legendary Canadian event. 

Starting in the late 1890s, Americans from across the United States began arriving in Alberta looking for good, reliable crop and range land. They came by the thousands — in trains, in wagons, and on horseback — to settle here and begin new lives. In a few short years, the American population in the region… more »

Media Note
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
June 25, 2012

Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roberta S. Jacobson will travel to El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras June 26-29. Assistant Secretary Jacobson will meet with leaders from all sectors of Central American society to advance our regional partnership for a more secure and prosperous Central America.

In El Salvador, the Assistant Secretary will award scholarships to Salvadoran students for study in the United States, and will participate in an equipment donation ceremony for Salvadoran security and law enforcement. In El Salvador and Guatemala, she will meet with government, civil society, private sector leaders, and media opinion-makers to discuss citizen security. Also in Guatemala, she will meet with student participants in the English Access Microscholarship Program and will attend the closing ceremony of Beyond the Horizon, a U.S.-sponsored joint humanitarian assistance exercise in the city of Cobán.

In Honduras, the Assistant Secretary will participate in a meeting of the Central American Integration System (SICA) Heads of State and Government. In May 2012, the United States and SICA signed a Memorandum of Understanding granting the United States observer status in that organization. Assistant Secretary Jacobson will reiterate our strong commitment to a regional security partnership and will highlight our integrated approach to cooperation through the Central America Regional Security Initiative. She will also meet with Honduran officials and civil society representatives.

Trip Page | Interactive Travel Map

Secretary Clinton travels to the Dominican Republic for the fourth Pathways to Prosperity in the Americas ministerial on October 5, 2011. The government of the Dominican Republic will host the event, involving high-level government officials, policy makers, business leaders, academics, and representatives from international organizations from the Americas who will share best practices that promote inclusive economic growth and prosperity in the hemisphere.

During her visit to the Dominican Republic, Secretary Clinton will be accompanied by Under Secretary for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman, Assistant Secretary of State for Economic, Energy and Business… more »

About the Author: Zakiya Carr-Johnson serves as Senior Advisor to the Race, Ethnicity, and Social Inclusion Unit in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs.

A warm “Buiti achuluruni” was the Garifuna welcome for the more than 1,000 participants who traveled to La Ceiba, Honduras, to attend the first World Summit of African Descendants. The World Summit of African Descendants: Integral and Sustainable Development with Identity was organized by Organizacion de Desarrollo Etnico Comunitario and the International Civil Society Committee to commemorate the United Nations (UN) and Organization of American States (OAS) International Year for People of African Descent.

Summit participants included civil society, government, and international organizations from more than 30 countries. I headed the Department of State’s delegation. The U.S. delegation also included several staff from the Bureau of… more »