{"id":41352,"date":"2021-10-21T16:12:33","date_gmt":"2021-10-21T23:12:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=41352"},"modified":"2021-10-21T16:12:33","modified_gmt":"2021-10-21T23:12:33","slug":"secretary-antony-j-blinken-conversation-with-colombian-youth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=41352","title":{"rendered":"Secretary Antony J. Blinken Conversation with Colombian Youth"},"content":{"rendered":"
10\/21\/2021 05:15 PM EDT<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State<\/p>\n

Bogot\u00e1, Colombia<\/p>\n

Grand Hyatt Hotel<\/p>\n

MR GALLO:<\/b>\u00a0 Good morning, everyone.\u00a0\u00a0Buenos dias casi tardes<\/i>.\u00a0 We are live from Bogot\u00e1, Colombia.\u00a0 We are here with Mr. Antony Blinken, the Secretary of State of the United States of America.\u00a0 My name is Luis Gallo.\u00a0 I\u2019m a Colombian American journalist.\u00a0 It\u2019s an honor to be here with all of y\u2019all.\u00a0 Hello, Mr. Secretary.\u00a0 Welcome to Colombia today.<\/p>\n

SECRETARY BLINKEN:<\/b>\u00a0 Thank you.<\/p>\n

MR GALLO:<\/b>\u00a0 It\u2019s even sunny for you in Bogot\u00e1.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t happen very often.\u00a0 Might rain, might change in the morning, we\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n

So you\u2019re the United States\u2019 top foreign policy advisor and in many cases the voice of the United States of America to the world.\u00a0 You\u2019re actually on your first official trip to South America as the Secretary.<\/p>\n

SECRETARY BLINKEN:<\/b>\u00a0 That\u2019s right.<\/p>\n

MR GALLO:<\/b>\u00a0 Where you met Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso in Quito, and Iv\u00e1n Duque, President Iv\u00e1n Duque here in Bogot\u00e1.\u00a0 And today we\u2019re going to be talking about different topics, like migration and democracy, work with disadvantaged populations, and climate change.\u00a0 To engage with the conversation, we have 20 amazing young leaders from all over Colombia we invited to have this discussion with you.\u00a0 So we picked a few questions from them.<\/p>\n

SECRETARY BLINKEN:<\/b>\u00a0 Great.<\/p>\n

MR GALLO:<\/b>\u00a0 And I met them yesterday; they\u2019re just brilliant.\u00a0 And also we have some questions that we\u2019re going to be taking from our virtual audience.<\/p>\n

SECRETARY BLINKEN:<\/b>\u00a0 I see we have some friends behind us, yes.<\/p>\n

MR GALLO:<\/b>\u00a0 Exactly.\u00a0 Because as a reminder, we are broadcasting live this session on all the U.S. embassy\u2019s channels and also\u00a0El Espectador<\/i>\u00a0newspaper here in Colombia, and we also have hundreds of young leaders watching from Colombo Americano spaces all over Colombia.<\/p>\n

SECRETARY BLINKEN:<\/b>\u00a0 Great.<\/p>\n

MR GALLO:<\/b>\u00a0 So we wanted to give you a warm welcome from Colombia.<\/p>\n

SECRETARY BLINKEN:<\/b>\u00a0 Thank you.<\/p>\n

MR GALLO:<\/b>\u00a0 And again, I know you\u2019ve been to Colombia before, but it\u2019s \u2013 I know this \u2013 sorry, I know you\u2019ve been \u2013 this is your first trip to Colombia as the Secretary \u2013<\/p>\n

SECRETARY BLINKEN:<\/b>\u00a0 But I have been here before.\u00a0 I have, yes.\u00a0 And I was really, really looking forward to coming back, and even in the short time that we\u2019ve been here, it\u2019s \u2013 I was right to want to come back.<\/p>\n

MR GALLO:<\/b>\u00a0 Excellent.\u00a0 Well, welcome again, and do some remarks as well.<\/p>\n

SECRETARY BLINKEN:<\/b>\u00a0 Thank you.\u00a0 Well, hello to everyone.\u00a0\u00a0Buenos dias a todos<\/i>.\u00a0 Thank you for being here today, and thanks to our friends who are joining us online.\u00a0 And Luis, thank you very much for doing this, for being with us.<\/p>\n

I really wanted an opportunity to come together with a younger generation of leaders, of activists, to talk about some of the issues that are shaping your lives but also shaping our futures and the futures of both of our countries, the United States and Colombia.\u00a0 We both have a need and a stake to build a strong and durable democracy, and to make sure that we continue to defend it.\u00a0 We both want to make sure that we are doing everything we can to create the conditions for peace and justice across our populations.\u00a0 And these are challenges, issues that Colombians and Americans in different ways are grappling with.<\/p>\n

And mostly I wanted to come to try to, in the brief time we have together, learn a little bit from you and listen to you.\u00a0 I looked at the list of people who are with us today, and the diversity is really extraordinary in so many ways.\u00a0 So we have, I know, among you a lawyer and organizer helping at-risk youth; we have an indigenous leader, preserving ancestral traditions; we have an LGBTQI rights activist, providing support for refugees and migrants; we have a talented musician \u2013 I\u2019m a musician; the word \u201ctalented\u201d does usually not apply to me \u2013 but we have a talented musician; an anti-racism advocate; and so many other inspiring leaders among you here today.<\/p>\n

And each of you are already playing an important part in the future of your country.\u00a0 And that is an incredibly exciting thing.\u00a0 And I really want to get a chance to listen a little bit to your experiences and your ideas.<\/p>\n

Let me just say quickly, before we get into it, I believe strongly that our countries \u2013 and especially our young people \u2013 can learn from each other.\u00a0 There\u2019s so much that you\u2019re doing, that you\u2019re experiencing, that you\u2019re seeing, that is relevant and will resonate with Americans.<\/p>\n

And similarly, we face some very big common challenges.\u00a0 COVID-19 \u2013 we have to face that together.\u00a0 Climate \u2013 we have to face that together.\u00a0 I just came from the Botanical Gardens here in Bogot\u00e1, which are beautiful, but a reminder of the incredible heritage of this country that has to be a living heritage.<\/p>\n

We have to deal with the inequities in our societies.\u00a0 One of the things that we\u2019ve seen is growth is very important, but it has to be equitable and better shared.\u00a0 And of course, we have challenges of systemic racism, we have challenges of injustice that, again, I think we can learn from each other as we engage them<\/p>\n

My conviction, my strong conviction, is that democracy at its best is the best way to solve these problems together. Governments, citizens, groups can make our democracies actually deliver results and make progress.\u00a0 That\u2019s what this is all about.<\/p>\n

So thank you again for being here, and mostly I hope to hear from you and answer whatever questions I can.\u00a0 Thank you.<\/p>\n

MR GALLO:<\/b>\u00a0 Thank you, Mr. Secretary.\u00a0 Okay.\u00a0 So let\u2019s jump into it.\u00a0 And for that, our first topic today will focus on migration.\u00a0 And first we have a question from Coralia V\u00e1squez, who is a women\u2019s rights activist from Venezuela.<\/p>\n

QUESTION:<\/b>\u00a0 (Via interpreter)\u00a0 Hello.\u00a0 Good morning, Mr. Secretary, and everybody else who is here.\u00a0 I\u2019m Coralia V\u00e1squez, and I\u2019m from the island of Margarita, Venezuela.\u00a0 And my compatriots from Venezuela want to thank you profoundly and give you a hug full of solidarity with a great deal of respect towards the U.S. embassy and everything that you\u2019re doing for us, the migrants.\u00a0 I\u2019m here in name of all my compatriots who had \u2013 were forced to leave our country because the issue of the humanitarian crisis that we\u2019re going through.<\/p>\n

My question would be:\u00a0 What hypothetical alternative do you have for us to change or look at migration from a different point of view?\u00a0 And what are the benefits that my compatriots who are undocumented in the United States \u2013 how can they get any benefits?\u00a0 Thank you.<\/p>\n

SECRETARY BLINKEN:<\/b>\u00a0 Thank you very much.\u00a0 I have to start with the generosity of Colombia and the Colombian people.\u00a0 The action that President Duque has taken as well to grant temporary protected status to so many Venezuelan guests here in Colombia is remarkable, and I think Colombia set a very powerful example for many of us around the world.\u00a0 So thank you to Colombia for that.<\/p>\n

As you know better than anyone, the story of migration and irregular migration is an incredibly complicated one.\u00a0 And in this moment in our own hemisphere, we\u2019re seeing unprecedented migration.\u00a0 We have many Venezuelans because of the very difficult and in many ways tragic situation in Venezuela who have left, and many are here, but many are in other parts of our hemisphere.\u00a0 We have friends and neighbors from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, who also \u2013 have also been on the move.\u00a0 We have Haitian brothers and sisters who \u2013 some having been resident in Chile or Brazil for many years are on the move, or from Haiti itself.<\/p>\n

And as you know, there are a complex series of things that \u2013 and maybe I\u2019d be curious to hear about if you\u2019re \u2013 if you are willing to share your case.\u00a0 But what is it that causes someone to one day say I\u2019m going to give up everything I know; I\u2019m going to give up my country, my community, maybe my family, my friends, maybe my language, my culture, and make a very hazardous journey somewhere else?\u00a0 There has to be something very powerful that\u2019s driving that.\u00a0 And in some cases, it\u2019s conflict, repression, violence.\u00a0 In other cases, it\u2019s a lack of basic economic opportunity.\u00a0 If there\u2019s no prospect of having a job or putting food on the table or caring for your family, you\u2019re going to try to do something else.\u00a0 Sometimes it\u2019s corruption and bad governance.\u00a0 There are a whole host of things.<\/p>\n

So the reason I say all this is I think we have two challenges, and we\u2019ve been talking about this a lot the last couple of days, including at a migration meeting that we had with all of the foreign ministers in the region taking part, hosted by Colombia.\u00a0 We have to deal with the immediate challenge; we have to do it in a humane, caring way that protects people.\u00a0 But also, we have to find \u2013 we have to do it in a way that preserves law and order, that preserves the sanctity of our borders.\u00a0 And that\u2019s complicated, but we\u2019re working on it, and we\u2019re working on it together.<\/p>\n

But even if we do that, it doesn\u2019t answer the underlying problem.\u00a0 So what we have I think is increasingly a sense of shared responsibility in our region among all of the countries that are affected \u2013 the countries that are seeing an exodus of people, the countries that are receiving people, the countries through which people are transiting \u2013 to try to work more closely together, both to deal with the immediate challenge, but also to deal with some of the underlying challenges.<\/p>\n

So for example, we have to do more and we have to do better in creating a genuine opportunity for people in the countries that they originally come from.\u00a0 One of our colleagues said that there should be a right to remain; but for that right to be real, there has to be opportunity.\u00a0 And so there\u2019s a lot that we\u2019re doing now to try to build some of that opportunity to create opportunities for jobs, people who put money in their pockets to provide for their families.\u00a0 It takes time, it takes investment, but \u2013 and by the way, one important way this happens is through small businesses, medium-size businesses.\u00a0 We\u2019re doing a lot.\u00a0 Colombia is also doing a lot to try to support those.\u00a0 But we also need to see \u2013 and this is hard, too \u2013 better governance, better security in some places, dealing with corruption, which corrodes everything.\u00a0 So all of this is a long-term project, but one that we\u2019re now engaged in.<\/p>\n

Let me just say one more quick thing because it will tie a couple of things together.\u00a0 We are facing a climate crisis, and we have to adapt our economies, we have to adapt our countries to deal with it.\u00a0 Well, as we\u2019re doing that, there is a tremendous opportunity to find new jobs in these new areas \u2013 of green technology, of building new infrastructure that\u2019s environmentally sustainable, of working with indigenous communities in ways that both preserve the climate and create opportunity, and as a result, a desire to build the future where you\u2019re from.\u00a0 So all of that is important.<\/p>\n

One last thing I\u2019ll say, too:\u00a0 We in the United States, maybe more than any country I can think of, have been the beneficiaries of immigration throughout our history.\u00a0 It\u2019s our secret to success.\u00a0 Wave after wave of people from all over the world at different points in our history have come to the United States from Ireland, from Italy, from Asia, from Latin America.\u00a0 And every generation has brought something new to the story that is our country and has helped move it forward.<\/p>\n

So we also want to make sure that we are creating more legal pathways to migration, even as we\u2019re dealing with the challenges posed by irregular migration, and we will always look for ways to support communities already in the United States who need it.\u00a0 So thank you.<\/p>\n

But \u2013 and I\u2019m \u2013 I don\u2019t know, and I don\u2019t want to put you on the spot, but if there\u2019s anything you\u2019d like to share about what actually brought you from Venezuela to Colombia?<\/p>\n

QUESTION:<\/b>\u00a0 (Via interpreter) Yes.\u00a0 Thank you for this opportunity.\u00a0 Thank you for answering me.\u00a0 Thank you for everything that you\u2019re doing for all Venezuelans, from the embassy here in Colombia and the presidency of Colombia, and also directly from the United States, because I know there\u2019s also a big wave of Venezuelan immigration there.<\/p>\n

I came for many reasons.\u00a0 Unfortunately, yes, when you leave, you leave your friends, your projects, your career, your family.\u00a0 The major reason that I came here:\u00a0 Because there were no opportunities at home, and also because of political persecution because I was a leader of an anti-government movement because the dictatorship was stealing my future and the future of all youth in Venezuela.<\/p>\n

We need to resolve all of the needs and the lack of opportunities for my family and all my friends.\u00a0 I can tell you that 100 percent of my friends, 80 percent of us are migrants now.\u00a0 It has been a very difficult decision to take, but sometimes we have to be a little bit selfish and put ourselves first.\u00a0 But I hope that there\u2019ll be \u2013 that our country will be what it was at some point, and we can go back.\u00a0 Thank you.\u00a0 (Applause.)<\/p>\n

SECRETARY BLINKEN:<\/b>\u00a0 Thank you.\u00a0\u00a0Gracias.<\/i><\/p>\n

MR GALLO:<\/b>\u00a0 (Via interpreter)\u00a0 Thanks.\u00a0 Thank you, Coralia.\u00a0 Thank you, Mr. Secretary.<\/p>\n

We have Juan \u2013 oh, no, we have Juli\u00e1n S\u00e1nchez Gonz\u00e1lez.\u00a0 He\u2019s a Fulbright alumni and art history doctoral candidate from Bogot\u00e1.\u00a0 Juli\u00e1n.<\/p>\n

QUESTION:<\/b>\u00a0 Hello, Secretary Blinken.\u00a0 It\u2019s a pleasure to meet you.\u00a0 My name is Juli\u00e1n S\u00e1nchez.\u00a0 I\u2019m a Fulbright alumni.\u00a0 I did a master\u2019s in art history at New York University and I\u2019m currently pursuing a doctorate program in art history at Colombia University.<\/p>\n

So my question to you is:\u00a0 You have traditionally been portrayed by the media as someone who is in favor of military and armed interventions abroad.\u00a0 The recent pullout from Afghanistan, although chaotic, signaled an important shift in this step, perhaps calling attention to the need for further diplomatic efforts in the fields of culture and education.\u00a0 Colombia, much like Afghanistan, has suffered the human and financial costs of a protracted armed conflict, and it seems that the current government is not entirely keen on respecting and honoring the historic peace agreement reached with guerrilla groups.\u00a0 How is the U.S. Government thinking about addressing the resurgence of violence in Colombia\u2019s urban centers and rural areas?\u00a0 Could we think of a higher investment in culture and education as a long-term solution, rather than increased budgets \u2013 budgets for armed forces?\u00a0 Thank you.<\/p>\n

SECRETARY BLINKEN:<\/b>\u00a0 Thank you very much.\u00a0 The United States has a long partnership with Colombia in many different areas, including, of course, going back to dealing with the terrible problem that still exists but in a different way of drugs and narcotrafficking through Plan Colombia, but critically as well through the peace accord.\u00a0 We were, when the accord was being developed, strong supporters, and we tried to be helpful in bringing it to conclusion.\u00a0 And since its conclusion, we strongly support its implementation.<\/p>\n

And I think it\u2019s a very complicated story because, first, when you make \u2013 when you actually make peace, and then you start to do the hard work of implementing an agreement and all of its components and all of its complexities and changing something, doing something different than what\u2019s been done for the last 10, 15, 20, 25 years, it\u2019s hard.\u00a0 And then it\u2019s sometimes easy to forget what life was like before you reached the agreement, and then all you focus on is the difficulties in implementing it and the frustrations that come with that.<\/p>\n

So the first thing I\u2019d say is it\u2019s important to remember how far Colombia has come and what things were like before to maybe give further energy and inspiration to keep moving forward with the work.\u00a0 But I think there have been tremendous successes already, dramatic demilitarization of the communities that were involved, the beginnings of political integration of the communities.\u00a0 I think we\u2019re seeing important steps taken on accountability for grievous abuses of human rights, a truth commission that will soon issue its report, work that we\u2019re doing together to try to find missing persons as a result of the conflict.\u00a0 All of that\u2019s real and it\u2019s important.\u00a0 Not \u2013 it\u2019s never perfect, but it\u2019s real.<\/p>\n

At the same time, I think we know that there is a lot of work that remains to be done on, for example, having a greater state presence in some of the rural communities that were most affected by the violence, but especially as well the ability to create greater opportunity for people.\u00a0 So \u2013 and this goes back to what we were talking about.\u00a0 Because if people don\u2019t have an opportunity, if there is no ability for them to have a meaningful livelihood, to provide for their families, to have the dignity that comes with doing a job and doing it well, then it will be easy to be attracted to and feel you have no choice but to engage in some kind of illicit activity.<\/p>\n

Also, if the state, if the government, is not seen as delivering some of these opportunities, well, those who say we should go against the state, they\u2019ll find new adherents.\u00a0 So there is a lot of work that remains to be done there, but I think it takes constant re-energization.\u00a0 It\u2019s also so important throughout this process that those who are standing up and pointing out problems, pointing out continued abuses, pointing out deficiencies are protected, that their voices are not only heard but protected.\u00a0 And we know human rights defenders and others, they have to be protected.\u00a0 That\u2019s the responsibility of the state.<\/p>\n

I will tell you that in my conversations yesterday with President Duque and with other senior leaders in the government, I heard a commitment to implementation of the peace accord.\u00a0 I heard of some of the progress that actually has been made, and I heard a commitment to continue to move forward to implement it.<\/p>\n

I do \u2013 I\u2019m a very strong believer, though, in something that you referenced, and that is the ability of arts, of culture to bring people together, to create bonds, and to be part of what has to be, for lack of a better word, a holistic approach to these problems.\u00a0 We may come to it, but when we\u2019re talking about citizens\u2019 security, for example, yes, law enforcement is important, it has to be done right, it has to be done effectively.\u00a0 But unless you\u2019re looking at the challenge comprehensively, unless you\u2019re dealing with the needs of the people, unless you are creating real opportunity, it will never suffice.\u00a0 And again, in the conversations that I had yesterday, that \u2013 I heard a conviction that that\u2019s the right approach.<\/p>\n

So all of this is a work in progress, and I hope that all of you and any of you who may be involved in it will continue to energize your leaders and encourage them, push them to continue to move forward.\u00a0 Because again, remember the alternative.\u00a0 It\u2019s not good.<\/p>\n

MR GALLO:<\/b>\u00a0 All right.\u00a0 Thank you for that.\u00a0 And I know you mentioned before about the importance of youth involvement.<\/p>\n

SECRETARY BLINKEN:<\/b>\u00a0 Yeah.<\/p>\n

MR GALLO:<\/b>\u00a0 And a follow-up question comes from our virtual audience, and I\u2019m going to read it to you, and it is from Kewin Obando, another MLK Scholar, and he asks:\u00a0 \u201cWhat are the most viable ways to achieve youth engagement in the process of creating public policies that affect them directly?\u00a0 And how can they participate in policies focused on education or employment which they are often unable to impact?\u201d<\/p>\n

SECRETARY BLINKEN:<\/b>\u00a0 So I think this starts in so many different ways.\u00a0 It can start at a very, very local level, getting involved in trying to solve one particular problem \u2013 joining a group, working with others, speaking out.\u00a0 And sometimes it\u2019s just one seemingly small problem that\u2019s affecting a community, but that is one way to get involved.<\/p>\n

I have to say \u2013 we\u2019ll see what happens, but I think what Colombia is doing now with this experiment with the youth councils and the first elections that will take place in just a month or so, I believe \u2013 that\u2019s, I think, a fascinating and maybe very important experiment.\u00a0 As I understand it, there are something like 46,000 candidates across the country for these youth council positions.\u00a0 And if the government\u2019s commitment to this carries forward, the young people who are elected \u2013 I think it\u2019s 18 to about 24, 25 \u2013 that will be a possibly important vehicle for making sure that the voice of young people in Colombia is heard in the political system, and not just heard \u2013 is part of the political system.<\/p>\n

The other thing I\u2019d just say more generally is we need you.\u00a0 We need you to be involved and engaged in whatever way you choose to be and find to be, because \u2013 we were talking about this a little bit yesterday in Ecuador \u2013 those of us who have been doing this for a while, especially those of us who have been in government for a while, as much as we try to keep open minds and try to constantly look for new and fresh ideas, the older you get, the harder it gets.\u00a0 You get set in your ways sometimes.<\/p>\n

And what we see again and again in country after country around the world, where progress is made, it\u2019s often because young people have been a driving force in that progress, because new generations feel almost intuitively that just because something has been done one way for 25 or 50 or a hundred years doesn\u2019t mean it has to be done the same way the next 25, 50, or a hundred years.\u00a0 That if there are persistent problems that we\u2019ve not been able to solve, well, maybe we should try something different.\u00a0 And if that\u2019s done within the framework of a truly participatory democracy where voices are able to be heard and, as I said, protected, then that\u2019s really how you make progress.\u00a0 And it starts with, I think, rising generations, and I see a lot of their representatives right here.<\/p>\n

MR GALLO:<\/b>\u00a0 Thank you.\u00a0 For those who are joining us online, we are here live with United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken.<\/p>\n

And Mr. Secretary, now we\u2019re going to transition to a new category regarding vulnerable and disadvantaged populations, and our first question comes from Juan Carlos Mindinero, who is a musician like yourself, and \u2014<\/p>\n

SECRETARY BLINKEN:<\/b>\u00a0 This is the talented musician?<\/p>\n

MR GALLO:<\/b>\u00a0 Yeah, this is the talented musician \u2013 (laughter) \u2013 and anti-racism advocate from Tumaco on the Pacific coast of Colombia.\u00a0 Juan Carlos.<\/p>\n

QUESTION:<\/b>\u00a0 (Via interpreter) Hello. Good morning.\u00a0 I\u2019m Juan Carlos Mindinero, more known as Canquita on the Pacific coast.\u00a0 I\u2019m a traditional musician.\u00a0 I compose and arrange music in urban areas.<\/p>\n

Mr. Secretary, I\u2019m convinced that culture is a very strong instrument to fight against racism, to promote peace, and to give economic opportunities to communities, especially to young people.\u00a0 So my question would be:\u00a0 How can United States promote culture in order to take advantage of the country and opportunities, especially in marginated areas of the country?\u00a0 Thank you.<\/p>\n

SECRETARY BLINKEN:<\/b>\u00a0 Thank you.\u00a0 And I don\u2019t see if you brought an instrument with you; maybe we can hear a demonstration.\u00a0 But next time.<\/p>\n

First, I very much agree with your premise, with your argument.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think there is anything that has a greater ability, a more powerful ability, to break down barriers between people, between countries, between communities, than arts and culture.\u00a0 We see it every single day.\u00a0 We see how people are moved by music and it creates a common bond that transcends everything.\u00a0 It transcends race.\u00a0 It transcends gender.\u00a0 It transcends ethnicity.\u00a0 It transcends nationality.\u00a0 It brings people together.\u00a0 It unites the world.\u00a0 And a young person or a not-so-young person will be affected by that expression of human creativity.\u00a0 And then we start to see the people behind the creativity.\u00a0 And you\u2019re a representative, too, of a community.\u00a0 We start to see the community, and we start to see it in very different ways.\u00a0 So I couldn\u2019t agree more.<\/p>\n

And look, we know this in our own country.\u00a0 There was a soundtrack to the civil rights movement that had a powerful impact across communities in the United States.\u00a0 So one of the things that I believe very strongly in is the United States doing what it can to promote arts and culture in different countries; to create exchanges between musicians, artists, and all of those engaged in creative enterprises; and to expose our own young people to creativity in one place, and to expose creative people, like yourself, to the United States.<\/p>\n

And we have, I\u2019m proud to say, programs that, as you know, do just that.\u00a0 Our embassy works on these here in Colombia, but especially we want to put a focus on underserved communities, indigenous communities, Afro-Colombian communities, that don\u2019t necessarily benefit from the same resources that others do.\u00a0 And that\u2019s a part of the work that we\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n

So there\u2019s a lot that the embassy works on, supports, and it\u2019s something that I very \u2013 believe strongly in.\u00a0 We\u2019ll try to do more of that going forward.\u00a0 I know COVID, of course, has made things even more complicated.\u00a0 But hopefully we are \u2013 we will turn the corner, and Colombia is doing very well, and that will allow some of the things that we want to do, to do even more of.\u00a0 Thank you.<\/p>\n

MR GALLO:\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0The time has been flying, so we have time for one more last question from our live audience.\u00a0 And we\u2019re going to invite Rosy Pacheco, who is an Afro feminist leader from Choc\u00f3, also on the Pacific coast.<\/p>\n

Bueno, Rosy.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

QUESTION:<\/b>\u00a0 (Via interpreter) Good afternoon to everybody.\u00a0 Good afternoon, Mr. Secretary.\u00a0 As he said, my name is Rosy Pacheco, Afro feminist from Choc\u00f3.\u00a0 And I\u2019d look to tell you that being a leader is not easy, and to be a leader of a marginal community is even harder.<\/p>\n

Today we wanted to ask you something very simple.\u00a0 How can the United States help those young people from the LGBTQ community to take preventative measures to help us, and whether that\u2019s a priority for you?<\/p>\n

SECRETARY BLINKEN:<\/b>\u00a0 It is a priority.\u00a0 And I think that in the first instance, maybe the most important thing we can do is to speak up, to speak out, to stand up for the rights of minority communities, or in this case LGBTQI communities, around the world; to put the voice of our government \u2013 and through our government, our people and our country \u2013 in support of, defense of, protection of your rights.<\/p>\n

And to the extent that our voice is heard and can \u2013 maybe it will help make a little bit of a difference \u2013 that voice can be expressed in different ways.\u00a0 We express is publicly through the words of our government, through the men and women who speak for our government, starting with the President but also me and others.\u00a0 Sometimes they\u2019re expressed privately as we talk to governments around the world and press them, urge them, encourage them, to uphold the rights of different communities and minority communities that are being challenged.\u00a0 And sometimes we have ways of putting some teeth into that by making it clear that if they don\u2019t, there may be consequences in terms of the relationship with the United States, and then they have to choose what\u2019s important to them.<\/p>\n

But I was speaking to some colleagues from civil society in Ecuador just \u2013 we were in Ecuador before coming to Colombia \u2013 and like you, they were people who had in a sense stood up to defend and to protect and advance the rights of their community, and that had put a spotlight on them and maybe in some cases made them a target.\u00a0 And one of the things that they told us that was the United States speaking out, sometimes raising their individual cases or the work that they were doing, had made a difference and had given them more space in which to do that work.\u00a0 Now, that\u2019s very imperfect, but it\u2019s \u2013 I hope it helps.<\/p>\n

Second, we need to bring countries together in terms of making real binding commitments to protect marginalized communities, marginalized groups, and there are different ways of doing that.\u00a0 There are international conventions, international agreements, international statements where countries put themselves on the record and say we will protect communities, we will have accountability for those who abuse them.\u00a0 And that\u2019s an important first step, because if countries sign on to these basic understandings, then we have an ability to go back to these countries when we see them not living up to their commitments and call them out \u2013 call them out on that.<\/p>\n

One of the things that is a challenge around the world and in so many of our countries has been violence against women, and COVID-19 has seen horrifically an increase in violence against women as well as against LGBTI communities and others.\u00a0 One of the things that my boss, President Biden, has worked on for years is dealing with the problem in our own country of violence against women.\u00a0 And I was saying to a group yesterday of all the things he\u2019s done in his career, I think maybe the thing he\u2019s proudest of is having written the law to give us tools and resources to combat violence against women in the United States, and there\u2019s now an international aspect to that.<\/p>\n

So this can be done in many ways, but I think the first step is to speak out, to put a spotlight on the issue, and to put whatever credibility the United States has behind the protection of those who need it.\u00a0 Thank you.<\/p>\n

MR GALLO:<\/b>\u00a0 Well, thank you, Mr. Secretary, for taking the time, for visiting Colombia \u2013 we\u2019re very grateful \u2013 and coming to South America.\u00a0 And thank you to the 20 young people from all over Colombia \u2014<\/p>\n

SECRETARY BLINKEN:\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>Thank you.<\/p>\n

MR GALLO:\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\u2014 who came today.\u00a0 (Applause.)<\/p>\n

SECRETARY BLINKEN:<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0Gracias.<\/i><\/p>\n

MR GALLO:<\/b>\u00a0 And also those who submitted their questions online.\u00a0 There were hundreds of them.\u00a0 Also, if you want to rewatch this, you can do that on the embassy\u2019s channels and on\u00a0El Espectador<\/i>, and I hope everybody has a great day today.\u00a0\u00a0Buenos tardes<\/i>\u00a0and welcome to Colombia.<\/p>\n

SECRETARY BLINKEN:<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0Buenos tardes.\u00a0 Muchas gracias<\/i>.\u00a0\u00a0Gracias a todos.\u00a0\u00a0<\/i>(Applause.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

10\/21\/2021 05:15 PM EDT   Antony...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,7,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion","category-u-s-a","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41352"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41353,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41352\/revisions\/41353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}