U.S. Leaders Celebrate Life on World AIDS Day

For World AIDS Day, December 1, United States leaders are calling on Americans to celebrate life and commemorate those who were once dying but are now living and thriving in the fight against the global epidemic of HIV/AIDS.

The State Department encouraged its posts to mark AIDS Day 2008 by “celebrating the work of the dedicated men and women in nations affected by HIV/AIDS who are choosing life, saving the lives of their fellow countrymen and women, and creating hope for a future free of HIV/AIDS.”

“On World AIDS Day, we recommit ourselves to the global challenge of combating the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and to showing our compassion for those affected here at home and around the world,” President Bush said in a proclamation on World Aids Day.

Visit to "Liceo Jubilar Juan Pablo II"

Ambassador Frank Baxter visited the “Liceo Jubilar Juan Pablo II”, the first private high school in Uruguay where students attend without paying tuition. It has open its doors to the school system in the country, giving the most needy students a chance to learn and graduate from high school, who, otherwise, would not be able to escape the tough social situation they are in.


The high school is located in a very poor neighborhood called Casavalle and it arose as a result of parents’ hard work in order to have a high school for their kids to continue studying after graduating from elementary school.


The porpose of the visit was to meet the Principal, Gonzalo Amelius, who participated in the Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program 2008, and to get acquainted with their programs.

Mrs. Baxter was invited on Uruguayan National TV to prepare a Thanksgiving Turkey

The Ambassador's wife shared her cooking tips live on Channel 12 of Montevideo. With the chef Marcelo Bornio she talked about the best techniques for cooking a Thanksgiving turkey during a morning show called "Bien Despiertos," aired live on Montevideo's Channel 12, November 26, 2008. Although the celebration of Thanksgiving is not part of Uruguayan culture, a great deal of interest has been generated in this event by movies and shows from North America.

Alliance of Youth Movements Summit, December 3-5

Summit brings youth groups, tech experts together to promote freedom
New York, NY — Facebook, Google, YouTube, MTV, Howcast, Columbia Law School, the U.S. Department of State and Access 360 Media are bringing leaders of 17 pioneering organizations from 15 countries together with technology experts next month in New York for the first-ever conclave to empower youth against violence and oppression through the use of the latest online tools.
These young leaders will form a new group, the Alliance of Youth Movements, which will produce a field manual for youth empowerment. The field manual will stand in stark contrast to the Al-Qaeda manual on the basics of terrorism, found by Coalition Forces in Iraq.
The gathering was inspired by the success of the One Million Voices Against the FARC, a group started on Facebook.com by young people in Colombia. Aided by social networking technologies, the organization inspired 12 million people in 190 cities around the world to take to the streets in protest against the FARC, an extremist group that has been terrorizing Colombia for more than 40 years. The magnitude of the marches illustrated once and for all that the FARC lacked a strong support base. Within days of the protests, the FARC witnessed massive desertions from their ranks. The Colombian group will share their ideas with leaders of other groups that use social and mobile technologies to promote freedom and justice and oppose violence, extremism and oppression.
The New York summit will bring together such organizations as One Million Voices Against the FARC, Save Darfur Coalition, Genocide Intervention Network, Burma Global Action Network and Invisible Children.
The Alliance of Youth Movements Summit will take place December 3 to 5 at the Columbia Law School in Manhattan. “We at Columbia are excited about helping, designing, and studying innovative public-private partnerships that leverage new technologies to tackle some of the world’s greatest challenges. This summit is a great opportunity to do this,” said Matthew Waxman, associate professor of law. The event will also be streamed live online by Howcast.com and on ThinkMTV.com. Howcast Media is organizing the Summit with additional support from Facebook, Google, YouTube, MTV, Columbia Law School, the U.S. Department of State and Access 360 Media.
Speakers at the Summit will include:
• Whoopi Goldberg, Host of ABC’s “The View” • Dustin Moskovitz, Co-Founder, Facebook • James K. Glassman, Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, U.S. Department of State • Oscar Morales, Founder, One Million Voices Against the FARC • Luke Russert, MSNBC • Matthew Waxman, Associate Professor of Law, Columbia Law School
Panels will discuss a variety of practical topics, including How To Build Transnational Social Movements Using New Technology, How To Use New Mobile Technologies and How To Preserve Group Safety And Security.
Summit participants will also be honored at a red-carpet event with entertainment celebrities, business leaders, and civil society figures at the former home of MTV’s Total Request Live (“TRL”) overlooking Times Square.
Howcast will use the field manual for youth empowerment developed at the Summit as the cornerstone of a much larger online “hub,” where emerging youth organizations can access and share “how-to” guides and tips on how to use social-networking and other technologies to promote freedom and justice and counter violence, extremism and oppression. The hub (http://howcast.com/youthmovements) will include instructional videos and text guides, links to related online resources and discussion forums for sharing experiences, ideas and advice.
“The Summit provides a unique opportunity to bring these socially conscious groups together for the purpose of making real, positive change in the world," said Jason Liebman, Co-Founder and CEO of Howcast Media. “Howcast’s mission has always been focused on making it easier for people to learn how to do just about anything, and I'm particularly proud to see Howcast being used to help people learn how to make a difference in improving the world that we all share."
“I’m thrilled and inspired to see how people, especially young people, are using Facebook and other technologies to work together to improve the lives of entire nations of people,” said Elliot Schrage, VP of Communications, Public Policy and Platform Marketing, Facebook. “We often focus on the value technology brings to the individual but the true promise of technology is unlocked when it connects people and enables them to work with a common purpose.”
“The State Department is proud to play a role in highlighting the new wave of civil-society empowerment that is happening online,” said James K. Glassman, Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. “What is so encouraging is that this effort is being led by public-spirited technology firms like Howcast and innovative educators like those at Columbia University.”
“It’s critical that young people continue to utilize the technological tools available to them to band together and rally around causes and movements that can make a difference in the world,” said Ian Rowe, Senior Vice President of Public Affairs and Strategic Partnerships. “On Think.MTV.com, we encourage young people to engage in and take action on the issues that matter to them most. This Summit revolves around how young people can do this, through multiple technology platforms.”
About the Alliance of Youth Movements Summit
From December 3 to 5, leaders of pioneering youth movements will launch a global network that seeks to empower young people to mobilize against violence and oppression. Brought together by Howcast, Facebook, Google, YouTube, MTV, the U.S. Department of State, Columbia Law School and Access 360 Media, leaders of the organizations will travel to New York City with the mission of crafting a field manual on how to effect social change using online tools. This field manual will form the cornerstone of a much larger online “hub,” where emerging youth organizations can access and share “how-to” guides and tips on using social-networking and other technologies to further their causes.
About Howcast Media
Recently named a top website of 2008 by both TIME and PC Magazine, Howcast.com engages consumers to watch and share free, useful how-to videos and guides produced in-house at Howcast Studios as well as by innovative media partners, trusted brands and individual contributors. Howcast Studios produces useful, engaging how-to videos while also enabling up-and-coming filmmakers and students to gain experience and build real careers by making professional video with guidance in the Howcast Emerging Filmmakers Program.
To show consumers how-to videos wherever, whenever they need to learn how, Howcast tailors Howcast.com and The Howcast Player to showcase instructional content, while partnering with leading websites as well as home and mobile-video providers. Howcast also offers marketers innovative, relevant “how-to” video-advertising solutions.
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Domestic Press Contact: Tessa Barrera, 646-558-0671, tessa.barrera@howcast.com
International Press Contact: Jared Cohen, 202-647-0531, Cell: 917-923-0732, cohenJA2@state.gov

Ambassador Baxter visits a housing project at a displaced settlement near Montevideo

The organization Endeavor launched Entrepreneurship Week in Uruguay, which will take place November 17 through 23. Its main objective is to raise awareness of the importance of encouraging entrepreneurship with simultaneous activities in Montevideo and the interior of the country. Talks, workshops, symposiums, roundtables, conferences and awards ceremonies are just some of the activities that will take place during the course of the week.

A highlight of Entrepreneurship Week in Uruguay are the volunteers from over 50 businesses as they begin construction on 30 houses for the most needy families in the settlement of Independencia, located in the outskirts of Santiago Vázquez, near Montevideo. The plan, called Build with Your Enterprise, was created by the organization Un Techo para mi País (A Roof for My Country), which is led by young people from various countries of Latin America. These youthful volunteers take part in the construction of emergency housing for those living in settlements or temporary camps.

Ambassador Frank Baxter had the opportunity to visit the settlement at Santiago Vázquez on November 16, where he learned about the work being carried. While there, he spoke with the young volunteers as well as the families who will receive the housing. Ambassador Baxter has made it a priority to encourage entrepreneurship combined with a spirit of volunteerism. U.S. firms such as IBM and Weyerhaeuser, together with numerous Uruguayan companies, form part of this important social project.

Endeavor is a non-profit organization that aims to unleash young people’s enterprising ideas and promotes a culture of business entrepreneurship, contributing to the economic and social development in the countries it works in.

Flipping Burgers for a Good Cause

U.S. Ambassador Frank Baxter and local TV celebrities helped MacDonald's staff to serve customers at a restaurant in downtown Montevideo during McHappy Day event, November 14, 2008. Known as "McDia Feliz," McHappy Day is a very special event in Uruguay as proceeds from all Big Mac hamburger sales across the country are donated by McDonald's to the Peluffo-Giguens Foundation, an organization for the fight against cancer in children.

Barack Obama Wins Historic Election Victory

Democrat will be first African-American U.S. president

By Stephen Kaufman, America.gov

Washington — On November 4, Americans elected Illinois Senator Barack Obama the 44th president of the United States.
Addressing supporters in Chicago November 5, the president-elect said, “To all those who have wondered if America’s beacon still burns as bright, tonight we’ve proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.”
Obama said that through their votes, Americans sent a message “that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states. We are and always will be the United States of America.”
“A new dawn of American leadership is at hand,” he said. “To those who would tear the world down, we will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security, we support you.”
As of early November 5, Obama had won at least 26 states and the District of Columbia with a total of 338 electoral votes, putting him well above the 270 needed to clinch the presidency. Results still were being reported from some states in the early hours of the day after Election Day.
Obama will become the first African-American president of the United States and also the first person of color to govern a country with a white majority.
The Illinois senator carried all the states won by Democrat John Kerry in 2004, as well as Ohio, Iowa, Florida, New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada and Virginia — states previously carried by Republican George Bush.
In his concession speech from Phoenix, Senator John McCain said he had telephoned President-elect Obama to offer his congratulations. He recognized the significance of Obama’s victory for African Americans and the “special pride that must be theirs tonight” following a long history of slavery, segregation and discrimination.
He said the United States is now “a world away from the cruel and prideful bigotry of that time,” and “there is no better evidence of this” than Obama’s election. He also pledged to support the incoming president and urged his supporters to offer their “good will and earnest effort to find ways to come together.”
Obama’s victory came after a long and difficult Democratic Party primary battle with New York Senator Hillary Clinton, followed by an intense general election campaign again McCain.
The 2008 U.S. presidential election was historic in a number of ways. After the field of Democratic Party candidates narrowed in early 2008, it was clear that voters would be choosing between the first female presidential nominee and the first African-American nominee.
On the Republican side, McCain’s choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as a running mate marked only the second time a women has been on the ticket of a major political party.
OBAMA CLAIMS VICTORY
Early November 5, Obama and his running mate, Delaware Senator Joe Biden, addressed cheering supporters in Chicago, and pledged to be the president of all Americans, regardless of whether they had given him support or not. Hundreds of thousands of people, some of whom arrived the day before, celebrated in Chicago’s Grant Park.
Obama’s rally was especially poignant given that 40 years ago the park was the site of the violent demonstrations aimed at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. That violence illustrated the rift within the party between younger liberal activists and older conservative stalwarts.
It was also in 1968 that Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy predicted an African-American could become president in 2008.
“Things are moving so fast in race relations a Negro could be president in 40 years. There is no question about it. In the next 40 years, a Negro can achieve the same position that my brother has … prejudice exists and probably will continue to … but we have tried to make progress and we are making progress. We are not going to accept the status quo,” Kennedy said May 27, 1968, approximately one week before he was assassinated.

Fulbright Announces Awardees of 2009 Teacher Exchange Program

33 teachers from Uruguay to spend three weeks in U.S. schools
By Leigh Miller
The Fulbright Commission of Uruguay announced on October 15, the awardees of scholarships for the Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program in the United States.
Thirty-three teachers, principals, subdirectors, superintendents and second language educators from across Uruguay were selected by the Fulbright Commission to visit the U.S. in February. Following an introductory visit to Washington D.C. to learn about the U.S. school system, they will then spend three weeks teaching alongside their U.S. counterparts in bilingual schools throughout the country.
The educators’ goals during the program will be to learn about the U.S. school system, teaching methods and American culture, and to share information about Uruguay with their host schools and families. Upon returning to Uruguay, the teachers will complete projects based on their experiences and maintain ongoing contact with the U.S. schools.
The awardees were congratulated by U.S. Public Affairs officer Robert Zimmerman, who also serves as chair of the Fulbright Commission, and the commission’s executive director, Mercedes Jimenez de Arechaga, during an introduction session held Oct. 15, at Cala di Volpe Hotel in Montevideo.
Ana Maria Carballo, national superintendent of the National Board of Education Public Elementary Schools Council (ANEP-CODICEN); Norma Quijano, advisor to the ANEP-CODICEN general director and Gabriela Casal, director of ANEP-CODICEN’s Second Language Program, gave words of congratulation and advice to the teachers during the meeting. Fulbright Commission Board Members Felipe Michelini and Leigh Miller also attended the event.
The annual Teacher Exchange Program, funded by the U.S.-based Fulbright Foundation, supports Uruguayan teachers to visit the U.S. each February, and American teachers to teach in Uruguayan schools each July.
Uruguay’s Fulbright program was established in 1960 to promote understanding between the U.S. and Uruguay through educational and professional exchange programs. In addition to the Teacher Exchange Program, the Fulbright Commission funds Uruguayan scholars to complete graduate study and research in the U.S. and supports educational partnerships, teacher exchanges and American Fulbright scholars doing projects in Uruguay. Visit www.fulbright.org.uy for more information on the Fulbright program in Uruguay.
The 2009 Teacher Exchange Program awardees are:
Canelones: Adriana Hernández, Etel Perdomo, Graciela Raquel Techera
Cerro Largo: Ana Isabel Borba, Wilson Fernandez
Colonia: Myriam Lourdes Ayala, Ana Victoria Vazquez
Florida: Gessy Pedreira
Montevideo: Ana Gabriela Abelenda, Luisa Ayerza, Mónica Grisel Bruguera, Maria Dolores Buján, Maria Isabel Eraña, Diego Estévez, Vilma Esther García, Sylvia Itté, Alicia Gloria Lacuesta, Carmen Nibia Lopez, Silvia Rosario Mariño, Sara Muñoz, María José Quintela, Ana Quinteros, Marcelo Rodriguez, Verónica Soler
Rocha: Faty Yanina de Avila
Salto: Gretel Beatriz Castagno, María Celia da Rosa, María José Souza
San Jose: Ana Inés Andrada
Tacuarembo: Nelly Graciela Caro, Gloria Silva dos Santos
Second Language Program: Gabriela Balao, Beatriz Tejeira