Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Statement by Secretary Clinton on OAS Resolution Regarding Cuba

Washington, D.C., June 3, 2009.  Statement by Secretary Clinton on the OAS Resolution.  The member nations of the OAS showed flexibility and openness today, and as a result we reached a consensus that focuses on the future instead of the past: Cuba can come back into the OAS in the future if the OAS decides that its participation meets the purposes and principles of the organization, including democracy and human rights.  Many member countries originally sought to lift the 1962 suspension and allow Cuba to return immediately. (more)

Ambassador Llorens with the  Honduran Dream 2008 winners in San Pedro Sula.

Honduran Dream 2008 has a Winner!

San Pedro Sula.  The closing of the second edition of the “Honduran Dream” contest was honored with the presence of the Minister of Education, Marlon Breve, and U.S. Ambassador, Hugo Llorens.  The Honduran Dream contest is an outreach partnership project between the U.S. Embassy in Honduras with the Covelo Foundation, Redmicroh, the Ministry of Education, and the University of San Pedro Sula.  For 2008, students from 14 public high schools were invited to compete for a $5,000 prize startup fund to create their own small business.  Six schools presented their business projects to a panel of five judges.  The competition was fierce, and the winner was Instituto Tecnico Santa Cruz with a project to produce organic fertilizer.  “This is the best thing that has ever happened to us. We will be able to start our own business”, said one of the members of the winning team.  “The Honduran Dream Contest is an example of what public and private partnerships can accomplish to promote the creation of opportunities here in Honduras, as an alternative to immigration to the United States”, said Ambassador Llorens.

Mechanical Cow to produce soy milk from soybeans.

Economic Counselor Visits Feeding Center in San Pedro Sula

San Pedro Sula. January 2009.  The U.S. Embassy Economic Counselor, Robert Armstrong, visited a feeding center in the North Coast.  The project is run as a collaboration among the local government, the Spanish Catholic charity Caritas, Rotary clubs in Honduras (with help from Rotary clubs abroad, primarily U.S.) and the Honduran NGO CEPUDO (which gets help from U.S. and European based NGOs) to provide nutrition to poor children in marginal areas surrounding San Pedro Sula.  The American Soybean Association, through the World Initiative for Soy in Human Health (WISHH), donated 6,000 tons of soybeans to the project.  They use the soybeans to produce not just the soy milk but also bread and cheese from the residue.  The 6,000 tons are enough to provide breakfast and lunch to 40,000 children for a year.  The project is an excellent example of a public-private partnership to address the needs of the most vulnerable populations in and around San Pedro Sula.

Ambassador Llorens with IPC Director Colin McIernon.

Ambassador Llorens Visits IPC

San Pedro Sula.  Ambassador Llorens visited the Instituto Politécnico Centroamericano.  This vocational school hopes to be the leading educational facility for the textile and manufacturing sector in Central America and the Caribbean Basin by 2010.  The profiles of entering students are designed to match the profiles of industry which is in alignment with industry’s needs and recruitment process.  IPC is non-profit, dedicated to the formation of competent technical personnel to compete in the global market.  USAID is processing a grant in the amount of $100,000 for a pilot activity with IPC to work with two other training centers, built and equipped with USAID funding in the 1980s, to help these centers update their technical and basic education curricula.  During the visit, the Ambassador had the pleasure of meeting the students and breaking ground for new dormitories to be built at the school.  He was also given a tour by the center’s director, Colin McIernon.