[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 49 (Friday, March 13, 2020)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E318-E319]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          RECOGNIZING THE REMARKS OF AMBASSADOR MARTHA BARCENA

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. HENRY CUELLAR

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, March 13, 2020

  Mr. CUELLAR. Madam Speaker, I am honored to include in the Record 
remarks made by Her Excellency, Martha Barcena Coqui after she was 
recognized for the prestigious Mr. South Texas Award for the 123rd 
Washington's Birthday Celebration on February 22nd, 2020 in Laredo, 
Texas. The Mr. South Texas designation is presented to a deserving 
individual who has made a significant and lasting contribution to the 
growth and development of Laredo and the South Texas region. Ambassador 
Barcena is a distinguished career diplomat and noted for being the 
first woman appointed Ambassador of Mexico to the United States.


    Ambassador Martha Barcena's Remarks at Mr. South Texas Luncheon

       I am humbled and honored to receive this recognition that 
     showcases the closeness of our ties at a very important time.
       I want to thank the Washington's Birthday Celebration 
     Association and the International Bank of Commerce for 
     putting together this great event.
       I also want to thank Mayor of Laredo, Pete Saenz, the 
     officials that work at the City of Laredo and the rest of the 
     business community leaders and special guests that join us 
     here today.
       American writer James Baldwin used to say that ``the past 
     is all that makes the present coherent''. Today, I believe 
     that the present of Laredo and the U.S. cannot be understood 
     without its shared history with Mexico.
       Texas is close to us because its history is closely 
     intertwined with Mexico and with Mexican and Latino 
     immigrants in this country.
       As the first female Ambassador of Mexico to the U.S., I 
     have proudly repeated that the Latino community, and among 
     them, the Mexican community, are the past, the present and 
     the future of this country.
       In fact, my own personal story reflects the stories of 
     millions that live on either side of the border but comprise 
     one close-knit community. My grandmother's ancestors arrived 
     from Europe in the Mayflower and finally settled in Texas. 
     They were what Emma Lazarus brilliantly described as the 
     ``huddled masses yearning to breathe free''.
       My great great grandfather, Leonard Pierce Jr., from Maine, 
     served as President Lincoln's Consul in Matamoros, where he 
     cared for the Confederate territory refugees and enlisted 
     Union sympathizers. His family

[[Page E319]]

     finally settled in Laredo, where my grandfather, a French 
     immigrant, married Rachel Pierce Cushman. My grandmother, 
     Claire Jannet Pierce was born here in 1904. The family 
     migrated to Mexico later on, but other part of the family 
     stayed here.
       That is why, the last time I was here I got to visit a 
     school that bears the name of my great aunt, Alma Allerton 
     Pierce Elementary.
       I can feel this sense of fellowship, supported by a 
     binational, bilingual and bicultural community, that is so 
     characteristic of Laredo.
       Our border is one of the busiest and most frequently 
     crossed international borders in the world, but it is way 
     more than a customs and immigration checkpoint.
       When we talk about the border, we are also talking about 
     us. We are talking about people that move, that invest, that 
     shop and that socialize across the boundary line.
       When we talk about the border we talk about ranchers, 
     railroad builders, miners, investors and immigrants. We talk 
     about thousands of people who cross the border every single 
     day in both directions to work, conduct business, attend 
     school or get medical treatment.
       When I come to the border, I see an environment of 
     opportunity defined by social and commercial exchanges, and 
     of common natural landscapes. I also see it as the symbol of 
     our economic stature as a region. Together, the 10 Border 
     States would constitute the world's 4th largest economy.
       Dear friends:
       We are neighbors by geography, but partners and allies by 
     choice. In less than a century, we transformed mistrust into 
     a strong, collaborative and mutually beneficial relationship.
       Our special partnership has made us grow together and 
     prosper together. Today, the great state of Texas has 
     witnessed firsthand the benefits of the close trade with 
     Mexico, twenty-eight years after NAFTA was signed here in San 
     Antonio.
       Under NAFTA, exports from Texas to Mexico increased 350%. 
     In a striking comparison, Texas' exports to Mexico are 
     greater than all U.S. exports to Japan and India combined.
       Mexico is Texas main trading partner, its first export 
     destination and its number one source of imports.
       Our bilateral trade rose to more than 200 billion dollars 
     in 2019 and there are almost half a million Texans whose jobs 
     depend on trade with Mexico.
       Moving forward, we are confident that NAFTA successor, the 
     US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, USMCA or TMEC, will be a 
     strategic component for economic growth in North America and 
     the ongoing creation of opportunities in cities like Laredo.
       With the passing of USMCA, we accomplished three additional 
     objectives:
       (1) To support North America's competitiveness, with rules 
     of origin that strengthen regional value chains
       (2) To increase trade and investments, and
       (3) To restore certainty and stability
       Now is the time for implementation and as Laredo is the 
     main port for bilateral trade we have multiple challenges 
     ahead, particularly in the area of infrastructure and 
     personnel for the port, to be able to grasp the opportunities 
     that we have ahead of us.
       But when I talk about infrastructure is not only the ports 
     of entry, it's water sanitation, and it is also realizing 
     that we share a common environment and discussing how are we 
     going to deal with the challenges that a border wall will 
     bring to that environment.
       We have shared this environment for centuries, and this 
     construction can change it permanently. This is something 
     that we have to reflect on, because, above all, the wall will 
     be a symbol that will separate us, while our rivers, our 
     landscape and our bridges had united us.
       Dear all,
       Mexico is well aware that all of the opportunities that 
     stand before us cannot be fully seized, and will not be fully 
     seized, without a careful reconsideration of the difficulties 
     that lie ahead.
       There is no silver bullet that will resolve all of our 
     challenges overnight, but we are confident that we are moving 
     in the right direction.
       Today, the U.S.-Mexico relationship is at a crossroads, and 
     the decisions that we take from now on will impact the 
     direction of both our countries and the lives of millions of 
     people.
       We have sensitive pending issues like migration, where 
     reality requires that we see it, not as a national security 
     problem, but as a phenomenon that can allow us to establish a 
     link between demographic profiles and labor markets.
       We are convinced of the necessity of a continuous dialogue, 
     especially on divisive issues, because as long as we remain 
     neighbors, American and Mexican futures will be intertwined.
       The role of cities like the two Laredos, its community and 
     its values are key in this shared future. Thank you very 
     much.

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