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Good afternoon, everyone.
Ambassador Sarukhan, thank you again for the leadership you
have provided to Mexico while in Washington.
Juan Jose Moises Bravo, I know our customs has enjoyed a
wonderful working relationship with your team. Thank you for
making that opportunity available and helping to plan such
great events for today.
[English] Mr. Winkowski, thank you once again for making
the trip from Washington. I cannot say enough about our CBP
Team in Mexico City and on the border.
Governor Nati Gonzalez, as always, it is a pleasure to see
you. Thank you for being with us here today and thank you
for the support you and your administration have given to
the U.S. Mission over the years. I value our friendship very
much and I look forward to catching up more after the ceremony.
[English]Mayor Salinas, it is great to see you again and
I am happy to see that the city of Laredo has represented
itself well today.
Earlier today, I had the great fortune to witness the inauguration
of the newest SENTRI Lane in Hidalgo and Reynosa. It is only
fitting that we find ourselves here just a few hours later
here at the Colombia Solidarity Bridge inaugurating the most
recent addition to the FAST Lane program, another great effort
in bilateral relations on the border.
Day in and day out, we hear about the extraordinary efforts
made by President Calderón and his administration to make
Mexico a safer and more secure nation, most recently through
the October proposal of the Mérida Initiative. The United
States stands with Mexico in its efforts because drugs and
violence are not threats faced by Mexico alone. If our neighbors
suffer, so too do we suffer.
Just the same, if our neighbors enjoy prosperity, without
fear from drugs and violence, we too will enjoy prosperity.
A perfect example of the U.S. and Mexico working together
for the sake of security comes from the extradition of man
who is accused of committing murder in the United States.
He was arrested in Mexico and the Mexican government extradited
him early this morning to the U.S. to stand trial. This is
the 80th such formal extradition in the calendar year – an
all-time record for our two countries. It is also is also
indicative of how we would enjoy many more successes on a
similar level as Mexico and the United States work together
even more closely through the Mérida Initiative.
[Spanish] That is how we have focused on those who will do
us harm. FAST, on the other hand, is a program that helps
those who will make us stronger. And there is no better place
to celebrate the newest facet of our shared relationship than
the Webb Country-Nuevo Leon border.
We stand now not very far from where each year people of
both nations take a moment to give one another an abrazo on
the bridge connecting the two cities. It is a border custom
unmatched anywhere else throughout the world, and I am proud
that our two countries continue to celebrate this tradition.
This part of the border is important in other ways as well.
The U.S.-Mexico border sees $1 billion of trade each day,
and Laredo is the home to the busiest land port of entry in
the United States. While the Mérida Initiative focuses on
security against violence and drugs, the other part of the
equation is prosperity.
And the thousands of trucks that cross here and the other
bridges along our border are bringing that prosperity with
them as they carry their tons of commerce from one side to
the other. This newest FAST Lane will account for faster and
more efficient trade between Mexico and the United States,
thereby more prosperity for people of both nations.
As we are in the holiday season, I hope that we can be thankful
on the many blessings we enjoy here on the border, including
good people and strong communities. At the same, let us focus
on the shared challenges that we will overcome together in
the near future through our common recognition and dedication
to facing these problems together.
I’d like to end as I always do, with a simple prayer and
that prayer is this: may God bless Mexico and the United States,
and may He especially bless this stretch of river that unites,
not divides, us. Thank you all so very much.
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