Mayor of Montevideo (Minnesota) Off to Montevideo (Uruguay)!

Patrick Moore just passed along news that the West Central Tribune has published an article about the upcoming visit of Montevideo Mayor Debra Lee Fader  to Montevideo, Uruguay. The mayor has been invited to Uruguay for two weeks in December through the diplomatic efforts of Consul General Nury Bauzan, who has visited Minnesota several times, including a trip to Montevideo, Minn. Partners of the Americas is providing a travel grant, which is helping to make this historic exchange possible. Mayor Fader is pictured below with Governor Mark Dayton.

Senior officials launch new Business Fellows matching program

Partners of the Americas in Washington shared the photo below from the official launch of the new Business Fellows matching program yesterday. Our Minnesota-Uruguay Chapter has offered to assist with the ambitious endeavor. The meeting was covered by the Tico Times in Costa Rica. More details below.

Pictured from left, Mr. Alejandro Buvinic, Head of the Economic Department, ProChile, Mr. Matt Clausen, Vice President for Partnerships and Programs, H.E. Muni Figueres, Ambassador of Chile to the United States, Mr. Francisco J. Sanchez, Undersecretary of Commerce for International Trade, Ms. Roberta Jacobson, Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere, and H.E. Felipe Bulnes, Ambassador of Chile to the United States.

Official Launch of the Matching Program

Today marks the official launch of   the International Business Fellows Matching Program! In a ceremony at the Chilean Ambassador's residence in Washington, D.C., these officials will kick off the program:  H.E. Muni Figueres, Ambassador of Costa Rica to the United States H.E. Felipe Bulnes, Ambassador of Chile to the United States Mr. Francisco J. Sanchez, Undersecretary of Commerce for International Trade Ms. Roberta Jacobson, Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere Mr. Matt Clausen, Vice President of Partnerships and Programs at Partners of the Americas       They will each speak to this unique partnership between the private and public sectors to promote the exchange of expertise and best practices among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Americas.   Matching is a being launched as a pilot program with Chile and Costa Rica, but there are opportunities to expand it to  additional countries with the right support. Why Matching? Fellows and host organizations can both greatly benefit from the relationships ignited by the Matching program. It's a wonderful opportunity for SME leaders to share best practices, target skill-building, and forge potentially life-long partnerships to build strong businesses. 1-2-3 Match! Qualified Fellows and their SMEs are recruited and selected Partners works with Chapter members to select host organizations and works with Fellows to craft meaningful and educational experiences Fellows apply lessons in their home organizations and work to build a hemispheric network of professionals

If you are interested in Partners implementing Matching in your country and think that there is public and private sector support for this initiative then contact Lauren Boetsch atlboetsch@partners.net or Melissa Golladay at mgolladay@partners.net to learn more.

New photos from the Wanderlust Exhibit

We received the photos below from this month's Wanderlust exhibit, organized at the University of Minnesota by Sarah Trembley, a board director of Minnesota-Uruguay Partners. It included the work of other members like Kati Mae Duesler, Diane Katsiaficas, Mark Knierim, Anne Sugnet and many others.

w@nderlust

November 5th- 16th 

Opening Reception

November 8^th, 2012

Regis Center for the Arts

Quarter Gallery

405 21st Avenue S
Minneapolis, MN 55455

Please join us for a night of art, international food, stories, and music, as 25 Minneapolis artists gather to share highlights and new perspectives inspired from their travels.

  

o    5:00pm – 6:00pm Influx Room, East Regis Center for the Arts. Artist Talk; 10 artists share how their art and perspectives alter after unique explorations
o    6:00pm Lobby, East Regis Center for the Arts. International Buffet and Music
o    6:00pm - 8:00pm Quarter Gallery, East Regis Center for the Arts. Opening Reception

exhibiting artists                       

Laura Bigger

Kelsey Bosch

Kat Busch

Bipin Butala

Kate Casanova

Joni Christenson

Cindy Cribbs

Daniel Dean

Kati Duesler

Matt Franzen

Jim Gubernick

Terez Iacovino

Diane Katsiaficas

 Mark Knierim

Paul Linden

Lynn Lukkas

Joyce Lyons

Ben Moren

Wayne Potratz

Sonja Peterson

Natalie Patera

Anne Sugnet

Manny Trembley

Sarah Trembley

Kazua Vang

*Special thanks to Partners of the Americas and University of Minnesota Art Department

For further question regarding w@nderlust, please contact Sarah Trembley at trem0092@umn.edu

 

Profile of Uruguay's president on the BBC

Longtime member of Minnesota-Uruguay Partners, Ted Bowman, shared this BBC News profile of Uruguay's president with us.

Momentum Builds for Criminal Justice Reform Project

Uruguayans and Minnesotans working together to share best practices in criminal justice and prison reform continue to build momentum for new innovations in the field.

For two weeks in October, Bruce McManus, Connie Roehrich and Diane Levendusky were hosted in Uruguay by officials across a range of disciplines in the criminal justice system.

The three volunteers with Minnesota-Uruguay Partners of the Americas met with Interior Minister Eduardo Bonomi, as well as a host of professionals in the prison, police and judiciary systems.

Connie Roehrich, a former warden of Minnesota's largest prison, helped train police and prison officials on incident command systems and hostage crisis negotiations, as well as general prison management issues.

In his trip report to Washington, McManus, who was Minnesota's deputy corrections commissioner as well as a prison warden, said that after six years of working with his colleagues in Uruguay, the nation is developing "an impressive management organization for its criminal justice system." "It is moving carefully to fill positions with individuals who have experience in police, prison and human services management," he added. "They appear to welcome change and are impressive as individuals."

Photos of the Minnesota team with Minister Bonomi and other moments from the visit appear below.

Minnesota artist featured in Uruguayan arts and culture journal

We just received word that Diane Katsiaficas, a longtime volunteer and a board director of Minnesota-Uruguay Partners, was featured in La Pupila, a culture and arts journal in Uruguay.

Mariel Doyenart, Teacher in Residence, is taking Minnesota by storm!

Reports are coming in from around the state about Mariel Doyenart's visit to Minnesota this month. She's been from Minneapolis to Montevideo, from Hackensack to Stillwater. Above are photos sent from board director Audrey Arner, taken at an asado she hosted at Moonstone Farm in Western Minnesota after the annual Meander Art Crawl. Mariel is pictured here with Audrey and another board director, Marcos Villanueva, the famous asador.

Below is a photo that was published by the West Central Tribune this week about Mariel's visit and her impressions of the U.S. presidential election campaign. See: "Visitor from South America’s most democratic nation arrives as election campaigns heats up"

The passing of Norman Brown, former Dean and Director of the Minnesota Extension Service

A note received today from Rob Scarlett, vice president of Minnesota-Uruguay Partners, in response to a notice circulated by Partners of the Americas president Steve Vetter about the passing of Norman Brown...

The news of Norm Brown's passing is very sad news; but I very much appreciate receiving this notice and will send condolences to his surviving family members. I attribute to Norm my current involvement in Partners. In 1983, while he was Dean of the Extension Service at the University of Minnesota, Norm hired me to design and manage the tri-lingual Fellowship in International Development that was funded by the Kellogg Foundation. It was an exciting two-year undertaking and a rich learning experience, as well.

Norm's leadership and compassion will be missed in many corners of the world, I am sure.
Best regards to Norm's many friends - up and down the Western Hemisphere!
Rob
Robert H. Scarlett, Vice PresidentBoard of DirectorsMinnesota-Uruguay Partners of the Americas

Rare film footage of Uruguay in the early 1900s

Gary Kuhn, our chapter's leading historian, has passed along these links to rare film footage of Uruguay in the first half of the 20th Century. Amazing stuff. Very much worth a look!

Montevideo in the early 1900s

A film made by the US Government about Uruguay in the 1940s

Los talleres de AFE en Peñarol en viejos tiempos...

Graf Spee

Desfile del Dia de la Independencia en Uruguay (1944), noticiero cinematográfico de USA

Escuela, Liceo y Universidad en el Uruguay de 1943 (documental USA)

Another successful asado!

From all accounts, Saturday's asado/Uruguay Independence Day celebration was a big success. We had more than 50 people attending, with many familiar faces and new ones too. Three of the Minnesota's Youth Ambassadors shared anecdotes and observations from their trip this summer to Belize. Members and guests contributed generously toward the costs of some excellent food and wine, which is important to sustaining the quality and vitality of these events. Many, many thanks to Marcos Villanueva, Gerard Lagos, Dave Kremer, Sue von Bank, Patrick Moore and all the others who did so much to make things come off so very well despite the threat of rain (which never materialized, in the end, thankfully). We appreciate the contributions from all who attended and look forward to next year!