The U.S. and Peru: Strong Partners With Shared Values and Goals

When I became the Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, President Bush asked me to make Latin America one of my priorities because he deeply believes that nurturing our connections with our partners, amigos y vecinos in our own hemisphere is absolutely vital. The President’s most recent trip to Latin America in March was his 11th in the Western Hemisphere – more than any other U.S. President in history – which shows his deep commitment to our neighborhood. He followed up with an historic White House Conference on the Americas in Washington earlier this summer -- where attendees from 29 countries in the Western Hemisphere, private sector NGOs, government officials, discussed new ways to cooperate and improve social justice and the circle of opportunity in the Americas. This summer President Bush also directed the U.S. Navy Hospital Ship Comfort, to visit 12 countries including Peru -- un gran example de la amistad y cooperación entre los pueblos estados unidos, Peru y otros en este hemispherio. I had had the great thrill yesterday of meeting some of the volunteer doctors from the United States and medical professionals from Peru who are partnering -- performing surgeries and bringing healing health and hope to thousands of people.

This hospital ship is a wonderful example of what I like to call America’s “diplomacy of deeds,” “Diplomacia de Hechos,” the concrete ways in which our country reaches out to help people across the world have better lives, especially in the areas we all care about most -- education, health care, and economic opportunity.

And, the Comfort visit illustrates the central spirit of our policy in this region, partnership. We engage in a spirit of respect and collaboration, working together – juntos -- to find ways to help democracy deliver a better life to an ever expanding number of our citizens. The U.S Peru Trade Promotion Act is central to our efforts to alleviate poverty and create jobs in Peru and America –I was pleased to see that Congressman Rangel visited Peru this week and saw for himself how motivated the government and people of Peru are to implement the agreement. The Congressman is very influential – his comments here were very encouraging – that he sees broad bipartisan support for the trade promotion act and intends to take it up as a priority when Congress returns in September. President Bush looks forward to working with Congress to approve the U.S-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement as soon as possible, and we hope the FTAs for Panama and Columbia will also be rapidly approved.

We are gathered this afternoon to celebrate and extend another example of our partnerships with Peru, our Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for Cultural Property Protection. Peru has a unique status as one of the cradles of world civilization, and by extending the Memorandum for another five years, we demonstrate the shared desires of our governments to cooperate to stop the illegal traffic in precious cultural artifacts.

Our shared goal is protecting the great cultural heritage of Peru and preventing the illegal pilferage and sale of Peruvian cultural artifacts in the United States. We have had much success together in the past 10 years since the original MOU was signed.

In a recent example, our government helped recover the Challapampa colonial altarpiece in 2006. Today, more than 350 pre-Colombian pieces are in Miami and will be repatriated later this month to Peru. This is considered the largest recovery of pre-Colombian artifacts in more than 30 years, since the 1970s.

The Peruvian Government is a committed, effective partner in our efforts to fight trafficking in cultural patrimony and I thank your nation’s leaders for their strong cooperation.

America shares Peru’s pride in your unique cultural heritage – and the people of the world have demonstrated their admiration as well by voting on the Internet to declare Machu Picchu as one of the “World’s Seven Wonders.” The majesty and mystery of Machu Picchu are a wonder – a wonder that I hope to visit myself someday. With that international recognition will come the positive benefit of many more tourists – and that will add to the responsibility of conserving and preserving that uniquely beautiful mountaintop.

That’s another reason we want to continue working with you to protect your cultural patrimony so it can be shared with future generations. Our embassy also is organizing a Museum Education course this month for 60 museum professionals from 11 regions of Peru. That course will be led by Maria del Carmen Cossu, who is a Peruvian expert at the Smithsonian museum, and she is here with us today. That course and similar activities are organized regularly by our embassy in cooperation with the INC and other institutions in Peru to promote a broader awareness of this MOU and increase the ability of Peruvian cultural professionals to use the MOU in their work.

Muchas gracias, thank you all for hearing me – I have enjoyed my visit to your wonderful country – and the delicious Peruvian food.