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Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton traveled to Lima, Peru, on October 15 and 16. In Peru, she met with Peruvian President Ollanta Humala to discuss bilateral and regional cooperation. After her meeting with the President, Secretary Clinton said:

“…The United States and Peru work together on many shared challenges and priorities. We are working together to promote citizen security and to work against the drug traffickers. We are working to support you in your ongoing efforts against the terrorists who have for too long brought violence to too many people throughout… more »

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton highlights women’s financial inclusion during her remarks after meeting with Peruvian President Ollanta Humala at the Palacio de Gobierno in Lima, Peru, October 15, 2012. [Go to http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2012/10/199177.htm for a text transcript.]

Remarks

Well, thank you very much, Mr. President, for the warm welcome. I’m delighted to be back here in Lima.

I have been looking forward to tomorrow’s conference as we discuss ways to tap the potential of women and further social inclusion and economic progress here in Peru. I think it is very fitting that you are hosting this conference during Social Inclusion Week, because there is no doubt that providing more opportunities for people who historically have been left out of progress in our hemisphere will benefit all of us.

We applaud your government establishing the new Ministry of Development and Social Inclusion, and we want to work with you to give every child – every young boy and every young girl – the chance to fulfill his or her God-given potential. As you said, Mr. President, the United States and Peru work together on many shared challenges and priorities. We are working together to promote citizen security and to work against the drug traffickers. We are working to support you in your ongoing efforts against the terrorists who have for too long brought violence to too many people throughout Peru. We are working to protect Peru’s magnificent environment and cultural treasures. And we are working to support your efforts to spur broad-based development that is as important in the cities as it is in the rural areas. MORE.

About the Author: Tomicah Tillemann serves as the Secretary of State’s Senior Advisor for Civil Society and Emerging Democracies.

Today, I’ve come together with more than 500 activists, academics, and policymakers to participate in the World Movement for Democracy’s Seventh Assembly in Lima, Peru. The Assembly is a key gathering for civil society leaders from dozens of countries, and participants at the meeting are working to develop new strategies for advancing democracy, dignity, and opportunity worldwide.

This year’s Assembly is taking place from October 14 to 17, and it’s built around the theme of “Democracy for All: Ensuring Political, Social and Economic Inclusion.” Peru, like many Latin American countries, has made significant political and economic progress over the last decade. But… more »

Special Briefing

MODERATOR: Good morning, everyone. Just to take a few minutes of your time, we’ll do a backgrounder with two Senior Administration Officials. So you know who they are, we have [Senior Administration Official One], and we have [Senior Administration Official Two]. She’ll be giving you a good preview as well. So we’ll just, again, spend a few minutes. [Senior Administration Official One] will talk, then [Senior Administration Official Two], and then we’ll take any of your questions.

So with that, let me turn it over to the first Senior Administration Official.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL ONE: Good morning. Thanks for coming along today. We think this is a great opportunity to go down to Peru and see what is happening in that country. There’s a Social Inclusion Conference. President Humala has made it one of his trademarks to focus on socially inclusive growth. This is kind of the first fruits of that effort, this international conference, to sort of talk about the ways and means of going about that.

Humala has proven to be a good partner for us, both in this area, which is, of course, very important to us in the Administration, but also on the citizen security side. There are citizen security challenges which remain in Peru and President Humala is doing his best to address those, and we’re trying to be helpful in that regard. The big picture in the hemisphere, we have the four policy goals: socially inclusive growth, energy partnerships, citizen security, and working on the institutionality of democratic governance. So this sort of hits on all of those themes. MORE.

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Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will travel to Lima, Peru, on October 15 and 16. In Peru, she will meet with Peruvian President Ollanta Humala to discuss bilateral and regional cooperation. She will also participate in an international conference on women’s financial inclusion — Power: Women as Drivers of Growth and Social Inclusion — at which she will deliver remarks to the plenary.

Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues Melanne Verveer will accompany the Secretary on the visit.
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About the Author: Sean Boda serves as the Digital Media Officer in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs at the Department of State.

I stepped onto South American soil for the first time to participate in TechCamp Lima, the tenth such TechCamp. TechCamps are the pillar of Secretary Clinton’s Civil Society 2.0 initiative and organized and run by the Secretary’s Innovation team and the Office of eDiplomacy in close collaboration with local embassies.

Perched cliff-side, bustling Lima crouches over the Pacific teeming with a third of Peru’s population. An incredibly diverse country, Peruvians point out its three major regions: coast, sierra, and jungle, each with starkly contrasting histories and culture. The NGOs participating in TechCamp Lima work in many sectors. However, they share the broader goal of bridging Peru’s differences… more »

About the Author: Suzanne Philion serves as Senior Advisor for Innovation in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

It’s not every day that the State Department gets to go back to school.

Last week, we partnered with Chicago Public Schools to link Lincoln Park High School students with secondary school students in Ghana, Zimbabwe, Algeria, and Peru via video conferencing technology. Students engaged in a range of human rights-related topics in anticipation of the 12th World Summit of Nobel Laureates, taking place in Chicago from April 23-25, 2012. Juniors and seniors from Lincoln Park High School connected with English-speaking youth brought together by our U.S. Embassies in Accra, Harare, Algiers, and Lima.

These incredible students from three continents discussed a wide range of issues candidly and respectfully. They touched on serious political issues, including women’s rights, education, the Arab Spring, human rights, and access to medicine. Students also connected… more »

About the Author: Della Hareland serves as the Assistant Cultural Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Lima, Peru.

How do you reach out to troubled teenage girls at a juvenile detention center? Can art build self-esteem, even in difficult conditions? U.S. painter, art educator, and costume designer Valentina DuBasky, along with Andrea Piccolo and Gwen Shockey from the nonprofit organization Art in a Box, knew exactly what to do during their recent U.S. Embassy-sponsored visit to Peru. Based on prior experience in Cambodia working with victims of human trafficking and children affected by AIDS, the artists developed an art workshop that inspires creativity and promotes self-esteem. They have devoted themselves to this work as a way to use their artistic talents to reach out to and assist troubled youth. DuBasky, Piccolo, and Shockey held two workshops in July for 30 female residents, ages 14 to 17, of the Santa Margarita Juvenile Detention Center in Lima. This is a detention center for… more »

By: Della Hareland U.S. Assistant Cultural Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Lima, Peru

How do you reach new youth audiences to provide a positive message? How do you help juvenile offenders reintegrate into their communities? You use a language and activity they know and understand: hip-hop and graffiti. The U.S. Embassy in Lima, Peru organized a two-day hip-hop and graffiti program in Lima and Chiclayo with U.S. Hip-Hopper Jose Collado, alias “Rey Chesta,” and Peru’s graffiti artist Alexis Villanueva, alias “Salsa,” April 4 and 5. The artists held a workshop in El Agustino, one of the most dangerous areas of Lima with a high prevalence of drug use and gang activity, and another workshop in the provincial city of Chiclayo, an area with a high rate of delinquency.

Participants in the workshops were sixty 13- to 18-year-olds who are part of the Juvenile Restorative Justice Program (JRJP) led by NGO Encuentros Casa de la Juventud. When young people get… more »