I
t's a real pleasure for me to be here tonight, sharing this event with one of the most prominent Hispanic organizations of the United States of America. I feel thus very proud of being part (for the first time) of the Hispanic Heritage Month Celebrations.
Muchas gracias por amable invitación y por su hospitalidad.
Many thanks to President Grace Napolitano, to all members of the Board of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute and to you all.
Thirty years ago five Hispanic representatives took the initiative to create the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. I am pleased to join you in honouring Herman Badillo, Baltasar Corrada, Kika de la Garza, Henry González and Eduard Roybal.
They initiated a path you are following today with your daily work and efforts in order to promote the interests and dreams of the Hispanic community in this country.
Thirty years later, we should be impressed and indeed we are by your efforts in putting forward the Hispanic agenda and in promoting education among your community leaders. You are right in identifying education as your main priority. It is key in the promotion of this community and I hope we will be able to find ways and means to collaborate in that field.
We in Spain are proud to see what people of our own heritage are accomplishing in the United States. You deserve the utmost respect and admiration.
We are ready to collaborate. We wish to strengthen ties with a community with which we share so many things. Indeed we are the European Hispanics.
Spain belongs to your own world ever since Ponce de León set foot in Florida in 1513. History has left us a common heritage, a common background which allows us to work together, to look ahead with much confidence.
We share common cultural roots, which are the backbone of our identity no matter our national origins. I am talking about an identity beyond national borders. I am talking about a transnational community with an impressive historic, artistic, linguistic and cultural heritage.
We, the Hispanics, belong to a large community comprised of more than 400 million people. A community with an increasing role to play in the international arena. In fact the United States has already become the second Hispanic nation of the world only after Mexico.
We are proud to be Hispanics: Sentimos un legítimo orgullo de pertenecer a ese mundo y de sentirnos cercanos, unidos por cultura, por valores.
This is the world of Cervantes, Velázquez, Picasso, Neruda, Miguel Angel Asturias, Severo Ochoa, Jorge Luis Borges or Julio Cortázar, and hundreds of others people can well identify on both sides of the Atlantic.
Of course this great country has Anglo-Saxon roots which you are proud of, but it can also legitimately boast of having a Spanish past and a vibrant and prominent Hispanic component. Hispanic heritage has been here for centuries and it is as American as any other influx. Some Hispanic families can even trace their origin back to 13 or 14 generations.
?Han estado aquí desde siempre?.
We should make others know that Hispanics were in this country from the very beginning and helped to found the Nation. Hundreds of rivers, cities, mountains, bays or counties have here Spanish names, many traditions have Hispanic origins, including some States of the Union.
Today, new and active generations of Hispanics are shaping this country. They are contributing to the economic growth, to demographics, to the labour force, to the cultural advancement. Theirs are histories of struggle and effort. They firmly believe in the American dream.
Quiero finalizar subrayando la gran admiración y el profundo y especial interés que suscita en España la comunidad hispana de los Estados Unidos. El pueblo español, sus instituciones y la Familia Real española, se sienten muy próximos a vuestros retos y aspiraciones.
Os deseo de corazón mucha suerte. Vuestros logros, vuestras victorias, también son las nuestras.
Thank you very much.
Muchas gracias.