AMBASSADOR LINO GUTIERREZ'S REMARKS AT DINNER INAUGURATING AMERICAN STUDIES SEMINAR

April 5th, 2005

Centro de Estudios Americanos

It’s an honor to be here this evening.

I want to take this opportunity to congratulate Lic. Savino, his staff, and all those of who you support the Centro de Estudios Americanos.  The work that they are doing is essential.  Argentina and the U.S. have much in common; they share many interests.  What unites our two countries is far stronger than what divides us.  And most of the time, on the majority of issues, I think our two countries will be on the same or at least parallel courses.

But to cooperate more effectively – or to disagree more knowledgeably – each of our two countries needs to know more about how the other works.  And that is where the Centro de Estudios Americanos fills such a key role.  Many Argentine leaders now have a much better grasp of how the United States originated, what motivates it, and what it is likely to do thanks to the work of Dr. Savino and his associates.  Whether one agrees with a given U.S. policy or disagrees with it, it is always helpful to base one’s reaction on real world perceptions.

As an American diplomat, I am always concerned – sometimes bemused – about the way our country is perceived abroad.  Sometimes our own press, as received here in Argentina and other countries, portrays us well; at other times, perhaps not quite so well.  Images that come from the mass media – movies and television, for example – often distort or exaggerate some aspects of American policy or society.

The most comprehensive way to fix this would be to have every Argentine who wants to understand the U.S. spend a year in our country, preferably in a small town or medium-sized city, where the nature of American society appears in a purer and more crystalline form.  Obviously, that’s impractical.  But the next best alternative is what you have decided to support – the Centro’s activities explaining what the U.S. is, how it came to be, and how it functions.

We take a special interest in projects like this because we want that kind of understanding to flower.  We want those bridges of mutual recognition to be built.   And in this, the Centro’s work is essential.

As participants in the Centro’s courses come to learn, our two countries share many characteristics.  Both are nations made by immigrants seeking new opportunities; both have made rich contributions to the cultural history of this planet; both have a rich legacy of historical figures who inspired the world with their idealism and heroism; and so much more.

But what the U.S. and Argentina also share is a consensus on many of the basic issues of our time.   Argentina and the U.S. have worked together on peaceful settlement of several conflicts – for example, helping Peru and Ecuador end their decades-long border dispute in 1998.  We have cooperated to preserve democracy where it has been shaken in this hemisphere, as in Bolivia and Venezuela; to meet humanitarian needs – as is the case just now in Haiti – and to defend human rights in numerous international fora.  Our two countries have been the only ones in this hemisphere to suffer from the brutal hand of international terrorism, and thus we both know first-hand the need to defend against this threat.

In short, Argentina and the U.S. have a history of working together to achieve the most admirable goals.  There will always be issues on which we don’t see eye to eye – and that’s no different from any relation we have with any friendly country.  But we also know the U.S.-Argentine relationship goes beyond crises and is fundamentally strong and solid.

When former Under Secretary of State Marc Grossman visited Argentina in March, 2002, he used a phrase that Colin Powell, Assistant Secretary Roger Noriega, and many others have since repeated:  “The U.S. wants Argentina to succeed.”  That’s as true today as it was when U/S Grossman first said it, and I think I speak for Argentina’s many friends abroad when I say as much.

I commend Dr. Savino, his colleagues at the Centro de Estudios Americanos, and those of you here today who are taking so seriously the challenge that lies before you – to see that Argentina, as a country and culture, through better understanding of the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead, finds a way to succeed.

Thank you very much.