Bibi La Luz González, a Guatemalan national and former participant in the Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative, promoted by the State Department, created in 2016 a non-profit organization that promotes food security and works in collaboration with low-income families and to contribute to a more inclusive food system. She was named a Trust Changemaker by the Thomson Reuters Foundation in 2019.
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Together, we want to generate more stories like hers.
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Very few potential change agents and entrepreneurs in the Americas can make their dreams come true, because inequality in public institutions, corruption, insecurity, poor health care, the effects of climate change, and limited access to financing frustrate their projects before they can gain momentum.
President Joe Biden will host Western Hemisphere leaders this week for the ninth Summit of the Americaswith an ambitious but simple goal: to help the entire hemisphere – including the United States – realize its potential as a region where democracy meets the needs of all and people can fulfill their aspirations, regardless of where they live.
Democracy and markets have generated extraordinary benefits for the Americas in the last 40 years, but many people continue to face challenges and tragic experiences: the mother grieving because gangs in El Salvador killed her son, the Haitian family who fled of poverty and lawlessness, the farmer in Paraguay who lost his crop to drought or the parents in Oklahoma who lost their son to illegal fentanyl.
We can and must do more for all the people of America.
Our common prosperity depends on economic recovery and further growth of the middle classes in the US and in every country in the region.
Although the Summit is a meeting of governments, it focuses on the cornerstone of all our societies: our people.
Covid-19 has claimed more than 2.7 million lives in our hemisphere and has caused massive economic damage, with job losses, declining incomes, and rising poverty rates.
The economic crisis exacerbated historical inequalities in the region, and its effects affected, above all, marginalized communities.
Job losses have been particularly high for women, younger workers, those with lower levels of education, and those working in the informal sector.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine caused a spike in the prices of essential products in the Americas, from fertilizers and wheat to oil.
Our common prosperity depends on economic recovery and further growth of the middle classes in the US and all countries in the region. We continue to have an inseparable bond with the peoples and economies of the Americas. What happens in the region affects us here in our country.
There are many tasks ahead of us. During the Summit we must commit to an equitable ecological recovery, resilience in our health systems and the revitalization of democracies.
The pandemic showed that there are gaps in our public health systems, which we must overcome by working together.
We must promote governance with transparency and accountability, and promote and protect human rights, the rule of law, social inclusion, and gender, racial, and ethnic equality.
We can promote inclusive prosperity if we build a digital economy that adds more people to formal employment; therefore, we must strive to promote interoperable, resilient, secure and reliable telecommunications networks and to facilitate affordable and universal broadband internet access.
Harnessing the immense potential of clean energy in the hemisphere can be a driver of economic development and respond to the climate crisis, and that is why we must express our commitment to use efficient and energy-saving technologies to reach a level of net zero emissions; cooperate so that there are more sources of wind and solar energy, bioenergy and hydroelectricity; and set goals to bring renewable energy to a larger scale.
In addition, we must commit to tackling deforestation, ecosystem conversion, and ocean plastic pollution.
Many nations in the hemisphere are already experiencing heavy impacts from the climate crisis.
We need to commit to implementing national adaptation plans or strategies, building resilience across sectors, establishing monitoring and evaluation systems, sharing information, and educating the next generation of policymakers.
Progress in all these areas will restore citizen confidence that democracy can respond to people’s needs.
We must focus on the basic responsibilities of government: providing security, health care, education, infrastructure and the rule of law.
To achieve this, we aim to invest more in our people through education, build and strengthen more inclusive institutions, protect and consolidate the crucial role of independent civil society, and respect the human dignity that belongs to every person.
The future of our hemisphere remains auspicious.
The Biden-Harris administration will use the opportunities offered by the Ninth Summit of the Americas to help all people in America benefit.
BRIAN A. NICHOLS
United States Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs
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