Embassy Remembers September 11 with Music and Poetry at the Museum of Memory and Tolerance

Charge d’Affaires John Feeley urges Mexicans to be resilient

Trumpeter Eugenio Elias performs piece by Morton Felman during ceremony

Mexico City, September 9, 2011 — Today, U.S. Embassy Chargé d’Affaires John D. Feeley hosted a remembrance ceremony for the victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States. The remembrance, which had “resilience” as its central theme, was held at Mexico City’s Museum of Memory and Tolerance.

The British Embassy’s Deputy Chief of Mission Justin Mackenzie, the Spanish Embassy’s Deputy Chief of Mission Pedro Martinez, and Museum Director Sharon Zaga also participated in the ceremony. Several 9/11 survivors and the Mexican rescue team “Los Topos Aztecas” who helped New York authorities locate victims at Ground Zero in 2001 were also present at the service.

Alluding not only to the attacks of 9/11 in New York, Washington DC, and Shanksville, PA, but also to those of March 11, 2004, in Madrid, and July 7, 2005, in London, as well as the scourge of violent extremism around the world, John Feeley stated, “From one point of view, we are all victims and we are all survivors. But this is precisely what I want to emphasize today: we are capable of overcoming hate. Good is, and always will be, stronger than evil. And as human beings, we have one mission, one sacred duty: to survive.”

Cellist Carlos Prieto, poet Hernan Bravo Varela, trumpeter Eugenio Elias, and composer Richard Cornell participated in the ceremony, sharing music and poetry in honor of the victims and the resilience of the survivors.

Feeley concluded, “On behalf of my colleagues at the U.S. Embassy, on behalf of the diplomats of the nations that are here with us today, and on behalf of all who suffered the evil and cowardly scourge of terrorist acts, I exhort you, our dearest Mexican brothers and sisters, to be resilient in your fight against crime, and thus deliver your children a safer, a more peaceful, and a brighter future.”

John Feeley, U.S. Embassy Chargé d’Affaires, remarks during 9/11 Aniversary at the Museum of Memory and Tolerance