[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 66 (Wednesday, May 5, 2010)]
[House]
[Page H3176]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 HONORING DR. RODRIGO NOGUERA CALDERON

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Lincoln Diaz-Balart) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to 
honor an admirable educator and scholar from Bogota, Colombia, Dr. 
Rodrigo Noguera Calderon. During his long and highly acclaimed 
professional career after receiving a doctorate in law with a 
specialization in socioeconomic sciences from the Pontificia 
Universidad Javeriana, he has been an exceptional jurist and 
academician.
  His humanistic formation led him to defend from the outset the values 
and principles of western civilization, the defense of which is today 
manifested in the formation of professionals educated with the same 
principles.

                              {time}  1545

  As a corollary of his humanistic formation, Dr. Noguera has been an 
ardent defender of democracy and of its liberties, and he has been a 
fighter against totalitarian and so-called ``populist'' regimes which 
seek to destabilize democratic governments.
  Dr. Noguera has also stood out for his unwavering and constant 
defense of the principles on which human rights are based and for the 
correct application of international norms that regulate them against 
those who, in the name of human rights, violate the very principles 
they say they seek to protect. To further this cause, Dr. Noguera 
established the Human Rights Institute in collaboration with academic 
institutions on three continents.
  Regarding the United States of America, his positions and those of 
the Universidad Sergio Arboleda, which is the university founded in 
1984 by his father, Rodrigo Noguera Laborde, and at which he has 
presided since 2003, have always been of friendship and in defense of 
the postulates and values of this great Nation.
  The Universidad Sergio Arboleda was the main academic institution in 
Colombia that supported and assisted with the entire negotiation 
process of the Free Trade Agreement between the United States and 
Colombia.
  The Universidad Sergio Arboleda also maintains very close 
relationships, by means of specific shared programs and projects, with 
many American universities, such as Florida International University, 
Florida Atlantic University, Georgetown University, American 
University, and the New York University School of Law. The Universidad 
Sergio Arboleda was a leader in the creation of joint degree programs 
with American universities. It was also a leader in other innovative 
and groundbreaking agreements, which have benefited both the United 
States and Colombia.
  The Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute, of which I am 
honored to chair, will also enter into an agreement of collaboration 
with the Universidad Sergio Arboleda.
  Dr. Noguera has held very prestigious public-sector positions by 
presidential appointment, including supervisor of corporations, 
national electoral council judge, and associate judge of the National 
Constitutional Court of Colombia. He was presently named by Colombian 
President Alvaro Uribe as a member of the Committee on Political 
Reform. He has received many important distinctions, including the 
Order of Democracy Simon Bolivar in the degree of Cruz Gran Caballero, 
which is one of the highest civilian honors of Colombia, granted by the 
Colombian House of Representatives.
  For my late father, for my brothers, and for me and my wife, our 
friendship with Rodrigo Noguera and his wife, Zayda Barrero de Noguera, 
is an extraordinary honor.

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