"From education, culture and communication" - Dra. Idalia Lechuga
Thank very much you. Before anything, I want to thank the Ambassador Dr. William Soto, the President of the Chamber of Representatives, and the President of the Republic of Paraguay. It is an honor to be here with you, with so many leaders, and above all, with such powerful women because… for example, I am Mexican, but I am the first Mexican in the New Mexico Congress in the United States; the first naturalized Mexican in the history of New Mexico. Then...thank you very much. So, it is an honor to have leaders like you, honorable ladies, representatives, senators; because young people like us, we use you as an inspiration. So, to see Latinas in such positions is a great honor and it is a great honor to be here with you as a panelist.
I want to talk a little about New Mexico. New Mexico, I am...well, I represent District 21 in Albuquerque, New Mexico; my district is the most diverse district in all the state of New Mexico because I have all the refugees that arrive to the state of New Mexico; they arrive to my district, that I represent; also refugees during the Vietnam War, I receive them all. So, we have a huge diversity in New Mexico; we have many Asians from different states of Asia. So, in my district, more than 75 languages are spoken. I speak four of those languages; I speak English, Spanish, French, and Italian. I have an undergraduate degree; I am a State Representative, and it is very nice to have the diversity that we have here in this room, as in my district.
It is very important to have the agility, of how to communicate, and to educate people and speak the language they speak. Education is very important because it is the foundation of everything. For example, also in my district, I have the most indigenous people of all the state; they are in the metro area of my district. New Mexico also has three different indigenous peoples, for example, first we have the Navajo Nation, in English, and it is also in New Mexico, and it is in my district; we also have 19 pueblos throughout the state, and in my district there are also those different pueblos; and lastly, we have the Apaches; we have three Apache tribes; the Mescalero, Jicarilla, and fortzio (I was unable to find anything remotely close to this name!) ; so, everything that is here is in my district, in a small area where I represent 30,000 people.
The objective here is to have an open mind on how to educate young people, how to preserve our Mother Earth, as well. I was thinking, since I just finished college, well, not recently, about 10 years ago, but I want to feel young; I'm still young, and actually, I'm the youngest representative in the state of New Mexico, of the senate, and the House of Representatives also; so, it is good to have fresh ideas, bold ideas to change the environment. I was even thinking about making it a requirement in university careers on how to protect the environment. As I said, bold ideas that can change the way people think, maybe boosting the idea of recycling. For example, when I lived in Spain, I was studying my university career; it is very common there to have three different trash cans: One for the plastic, one for trash, and another for glass. This is still not found in my state, or in different states of the United States. I would love to make a proposal as a representative, to push ideas where these things are required; to have three different trash cans, and little by little to push and change the mentality of all people because we only have one Mother Earth, if we do not care for it, all will be over. So… also advocate for solar energy. For example, in New Mexico, we get a lot of sun, so the avocation for solar energy, other ways to take care of Mother Earth, would also be a very good idea. I as a representative have offered myself, and I am committed to advocate, to defend laws, and propose laws that are of benefit to us all.
Then… I would also like very much to quote something I heard and liked from Ambassador Dr. William Soto, and I would like to share it.
“The seed of peace is in our hands to be sown in the heart of the human being; to grow and produce fruits of love and justice and, therefore, peace and happiness in the present and future generations.”
I liked this a lot because as a politician and representative, I do not care about the political inclinations. In the United States we have two big parties; the Republican and Democratic. I am a Democrat, but the important thing is to work together and not care what party you belong to; there is much division in politics; there is a lot of political stress, and the important thing to understand is that the party does not matter, what matters is working together, working for world peace, and work to improve the future of our children and our grandchildren, and that is what matters; to work together for world peace.
So I invite you not to think so much about politics, but to defend laws and propose laws that can change the world, and that is what I invite you to do.
Well, many thanks, and now you have a new friend in me in New Mexico, and I am going to do a commercial also: In New Mexico we have the Balloon Fiesta, which are hot air balloons, it is the most photographed event in the world. So, currently, the event is from October 1-9 in Albuquerque, so I invite you all to attend next year; if you happen to be there please call me, you have a friend in me, and if at any time I can help you with anything, please call me.
Yes sir? Of course.
[Moderato] Please listen to me, there is a debate mechanism; at the end we will have questions and answers to continue with the presentations; agreed? It is only a protocol issue; let’s finish, there is only one more speaker, when they speak you may intervene. Well, we are about to finish… did you want to speak, do you need another minute?
Yes. I just wanted to invite you all on January 6th; of this year I have committed with the Global Embassy; we are having an event honoring all the indigenous peoples of the world; it will be on the 6th of January… of December; pardon, sorry, yes… it will be on December 6th; thank you Enrique; so everyone is invited; it will be in my city, in my state, so hopefully we can see you again in two months.
Thank you very much.
[Moderator] The truth is that when she was speaking and said that she was in politics in the United States, I was wondering: Is she with Hillary or Trump? But, with her speech, and the way, and the approach, she had to be, of course, with Hillary Clinton; which will be the first time there will be a woman president in the United States. We already had a man of color, which was impossible before, with Barack Obama, and we had a Catholic in the United States with John Fitzgerald Kennedy, so now we possibly may have a woman. And I also want to congratulate a lot to the number of Mexicans who are incorporated in the United States; we have spoken to them; they have not lost their word, their language, or their love towards Latin America. Soon, the majority will be the Latin majority, and in the future we will have a president of Latin American origin in the United States.