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Institute Celebrates 26th Anniversary with Dinner and Hemispheric Conferences in Beijing, U.S. and Latin America
BEIJING – The Institute of the Americas (IOA) has signed an agreement with the Institute of Latin American Studies (ILAS) of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences to hold a series of seminars and workshops in China, the United States and Latin America on the opportunities and challenges posed by the growing economic relationship between China and Latin America. During a Jan. 29 ceremony in the Beijing offices of ILAS, Institute of the Americas President Jeffrey Davidow called the agreement “an important opportunity to build stronger economic ties in China and Latin America by deepening the understanding between our regions.” Dr. Zheng Bingwen,executive director of ILAS, said the agreement marked the beginning of a long relationship with the IOA. He noted that the Institute’s location on the Pacific Coast, coupled with its location 30 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border offers a strategic advantage in forging new economic relationships between China and Latin America. The first IOA-ILAS conference will be held in the United States in May and will focus on several key issues in the maturing China-Latin America relationship. A second symposium on climate change and alternative energy will be hosted by the two organizations in Beijing in October. A representative of ILAS will also attend the Institute’s 19th annual La Jolla Energy Conference, which will include a special session on China-Latin America energy issues during the May 10-12 symposium. Institute of the Americas Launches
The Council is a multidisciplinary, inter-American group of highly regarded health professionals who will provide strategic guidance on key aspects of health challenges and innovation, and * Advise about creating a policy environment conducive for creating and adopting more rapidly health innovation in Latin America and the Caribbean; * Suggest initiatives and partnerships for the Institute to further the spread of health care innovations; and * Advise key potential change makers about these innovations, directly and through educational work with Latin American and Caribbean journalists. Read more CAF President Enrique Garcia receives Leadership in the Americas Award during IOA anniversary gathering
LA JOLLA – Enrique Garcia, president and CEO of the Andean Development Corporation, was honored on Nov. 19 with the Institute of the Americas’ Leadership in the Americas Award. “It has been our custom to select a president of a country to receive the honor. This year, we have chosen not an elected official, but a noted economist, banker, diplomat and spokesman for transparency in government and finance,” David Weaver, chairman of the board of the Institute of the Americas, said during the award ceremony at the Institute’s 26th anniversary dinner. The Andean Development Corp., whose member countries include Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Spain, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Dominican Republic, Trinidad & Tobago and Uruguay, as well as 14 private financial institutions, approves $10 billion each year for sustainable development and regional integration. New programs planned in border cities under Merida Initiative
LA JOLLA – U.S. and Mexican officials have agreed to implement new programs to combat the rise in drug violence in cities on the U.S.-Mexico border, leaders of the two governments said during a Dec. 4 news conference at the Institute of the Americas. Under the Merida Initiative, “there will be a greater involvement by both governments, with projects on both sides of the border,” Guillermo Valdes, director of Mexico’s Center of Investigation and National Security (CISEN), told reporters. Funded by a $1.3 billion congressional appropriation, the Merida Initiative is designed to help Mexico in its fight against drug cartels that has claimed more than 15,000 lives since Mexican President Felipe Calderon took office in December 2006. The initiative promised Mexico equipment ranging from Black Hawk helicopters to night-vision goggles to drug-sniffing dogs, as well as a closer working relationship between law enforcement in the United States and Mexico. Task Force calls for action on U.S.-Mexico border challenges
The task force, convened by the Pacific Council for International Policy and the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations, called on the U.S. and Mexican governments to “confront the challenges of border management directly and immediately.” In the 39-page report released in December 2009, the task force said, “We identify the policies they should adopt now to secure the border, expedite legitimate crossings, manage shared resources and foster economic development.” To read the report, click here. Zacatecas is a "binational state," Gov. Amalia Garcia says
Garcia, who noted that immigration has reduced the population of Zacatecas by nearly half, called Zacatecas a "binational state" and insisted that “migration is a topic that has to be analyzed in all its complexity, specifically, the causes for which Mexicans have to leave their homes and seek better labor conditions somewhere outside of Mexico." García was elected in 2004 on the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) ticket and is the first female governor of the state. In her previous position as a Federal Deputy, her legislative efforts focused on equal rights for women, human rights and the fight against corruption. García also served as a Senator and an Assembly woman in the Legislative Assembly of Mexico City. For Mexico’s Huichol Indians, art is life LA JOLLA – It has been said that art imitates life. For Mexico’s Huichol Indians art is the essence of life. With brightly colored yarn, beeswax and plywood, the Huichol Indians paint the story of their isolated and primitive life in the mountainous states of Jalisco and Nayarit. “Our art has tremendous symbolic content that shows the perception of our people and our place in the cosmos,” Maximino Gonzalez, a Huichol Indian who has lived in the U.S. for 22 years, told an audience gathered at the Institute of the Americas for a presentation and exhibition of Huichol art on Dec. 3. During the presentation, the Institute unveiled a magnificent yarn painting, entitled, “History, Gods, Myths, Rituals and Future of the Huichol Indians,” which is on indefinite loan from the collection of Eugene Garfield, the world’s foremost collector of Huichol art. The painting is on permanent display in the Weaver Conference Center. Political and economic reforms needed in Mexico, analyst Denise Dresser says at IOA Tequila Talk
Institute hosts Freedom of Expression workshop LA JOLLA –The Institute of the Americas hosted its first Freedom of Expression workshop Jan. 11-15, which was attended by journalists from Guatemala, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Bolivia and Venezuela. The workshop focused on three key areas of reporting: The obligation of democracies to provide information to their citizens through the media; the responsibility of the media to accurately report the information; and the political, physical and economic repression journalists face in some countries as they attempt to report on organized crime and corruption. The journalists heard a presentation from Sergio Sarmiento, president of Caminos de la Libertad (Roads to Freedom), a program he established to encourage journalists around the world to fight for freedom of expression. They heard from Marc Cooper, a former correspondent in Latin America and professor at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. And they participated in a spirited roundtable with Vicente Calderon, director of TijuanaPress.com; Dora Elena Cortes, founder of the news service Agencia Fronteriza de Noticias (AFN); and Elliot Spagat, director of the San Diego/Tijuana regional office of the Associated Press. Barro sin Plomo displayed at the Institute of
LA JOLLA – The Institute of the Americas hosted a Nov. 5 exhibit featuring Barro sin Plomo (BSP), a multinational organization that trains artisans to use lead-free glazes and business techniques and markets lead-free products worldwide. Surrounded by colorful pottery vases that illuminated the Institute’s Weaver Center, Victor Aguila Sanchez, founding director of Barro Sin Plomo, joined by Anna O’Leary, director of Barro Sin Plomo U.S.A., and Francisco Pinedo, CEO of Cisco Brothers, presented their pioneering lead-free glazing techniques that enable artisans to continue producing distinctive Mexican ceramic pottery without poisoning themselves or their children.
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IOA president Jeffrey Davidow joined 30 business and civic leaders and former government officials from the Mexico and the United States to devise ways to improve the management of the U.S.-Mexico border.
LA JOLLA - Amalia García, governor of the Mexican state of Zacatecas, spoke at a Nov. 9 Tequila Talk on immigration to the United States and the ways in which it affects the bi-lateral relationship between the U.S. and Mexico.
LA JOLLA – Political analyst and journalist Denise Dresser spoke at the Institute of the Americas on Jan. 20 about Mexico’s political and economic reforms to an audience of nearly 150 people who braved torrential rain to hear her remarks.
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