Remarks by Chargé d’Affairs John Feeley - July 4th Reception (as prepared)

July 3, 2009

Appropriate salutation mentioning highest ranking Mex officials)…Ladies and gentlemen. My name is John Feeley and I am the new Charge d’Affaires at the American embassy in Mexico City.  And it is my great pleasure and honor to welcome you to the 233rd celebration of the birth of American democracy. 

For the people of the United States, the 4th of July is a seminal and inspiring date.  It is the day we pause to reflect upon the core values, the courage, and the democratic vision on which our nation was founded. Those values are so beautifully expressed in the preamble to our Declaration of Independence

 “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

Our nation was born in struggle, a struggle to overthrow an unjust government that did not emanate from “the consent of the governed.” Our forefathers faced virtually insurmountable odds, but they persevered, firm in the belief that their values were worth the fight.

Across more than two centuries, we Americans have continued to face significant challenges, at home and abroad, in our effort to become a more perfect union: The national stain of slavery and the horror of Civil War, the women’s suffrage and civil rights movements; the devastation of two world wars and the Marshall Plan; the Great Depression and the progressive social contract of the New Deal; the Cold War and perestroika; and today, the challenges of nuclear proliferation, and the scourge of radical extremism and terrorism. What connects these and many other difficult episodes in our history is that they spurred us to become better.  To become a more just, secure, and democratic people.

Americans have always banded together to protect our democracy, messy and imperfect as it may be. And a crucial understanding, true throughout our history, is that United States cannot meet all its challenges alone.  And in reaching out to our friends and allies, we must remain true to our core values.

As President Obama recently said, “As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our values.  Our founding fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations.  Those ideals still light the up the world and we will not give them up for expedience’s sake.”

And so, we are also here today to celebrate the vibrant and expanding partnership between the United States and Mexico  -- countries united by geography, by the bonds of family, by the success of our economic partnership and, most certainly, by our mutual responsibilities and challenges.

Challenges such as the H1N1 Virus.  Let me take a moment to applaud the Mexican people and their government for this nation’s simply magnificent response to the influenza outbreak.

Your transparency, your discipline, your decisiveness, and your commitment to genuine partnership, not just with the United States, but with the global community, have rightfully earned Mexico and the Calderon Administration the respect and gratitude of people all over the world.

Speaking in Cancun on Wednesday, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius said, “The openness and timeliness with which Mexico shared critical information within the global community was essential to our efforts to protect people from this virus.” And she went on to say, “I am proud that our recent technical and scientific cooperation was so successful, and I believe our relationship with Mexico is stronger as a result.”

I am immensely fortunate to be returning to Mexico when the relationship between our governments is quite possibly the best it has ever been. 

In January, President-elect Obama’s first meeting with a national leader was with President Calderon.  His second international trip was here to Mexico.  We have had over a half dozen cabinet secretaries visit Mexico in the last three months.  As you can see, the Obama administration is committed to a respectful relationship of equals with its Mexican counterparts.

This intense engagement stems from President Obama’s belief in the power of diplomacy.  He recently said, “I am personally committed to a new chapter of American engagement. We can’t afford to talk past one another, to focus only on our differences, or to let the walls of mistrust go up around us.”

Under the Merida Initiative, we are undertaking an ambitious joint venture, as the United States assumes its duty to help President Calderon fight the drug traffickers. The cartels offer nothing but a legacy of corruption, parentless children, and material and spiritual poverty. We are confident of Mexico’s ultimate victory against those who seek profits through addiction, violence, and shattered lives. The United States can and will stand fast with Mexico in this struggle.  And together, we will prevail.

But our shared responsibilities, challenges and opportunities go well beyond the security sector. In commerce, science, health, agriculture, education and the arts, Mexico and the United States have and continue to partner like no two other nations on earth.

And the metrics of this friendship and cooperation are just staggering. We do more than one billion dollars a day in two-way trade. And every day, over one million people cross our 2000 mile border at one of 35 ports of entry. U.S. companies invested over 8.5 billion dollars in Mexico in 2008 – almost half of all foreign investment in Mexico last year. And in winter, over 60% of the fresh fruits and vegetables consumed in the United States come from the farms of Mexico.

And yet these indicators of our formal government and commercial linkages, impressive as they are, represent only a part of our two countries’ relationship. The dizzying array of informal, direct partnerships between schools, nonprofit organizations, sister cities, churches and community groups in the United States and Mexico literally boggles the mind. These have nothing to do with governments, and everything to do with people, neighbors, and family.

Just try googling “volunteer in Mexico” and you will find thousands of Mexicans and Americans working across our frontier to help orphans, the homeless, the abused, the addicted.  These volunteers may be firefighters, environmental activists, health care professionals or students.  They may come from different walks of life, but their efforts contribute to the same end:  They connect us at the most elemental level, people-to people, one handshake at a time.

And so on this day, when the United States celebrates 233 years of independence, and when Mexico, one of the world’s greatest, most vibrant democracies prepares to go to the polls to exercise its own most basic democratic right, I would like to offer this toast:

Que viva Los Estados Unidos; que viva Mexico; y que viva nuestra hermandad y alianza.