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The OAS Celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month with Presentation of the Book “Latino Americans: The 500-Year Legacy that Shaped a Nation”

The Organization of American States (OAS) today hosted, as part of the commemoration of Hispanic Heritage Month in the United States, the presentation by author and journalist Ray Suarez of his book "Latino Americans: The 500-Year Legacy that Shaped a Nation," which covers the history, future and contribution of Latino immigrants in the United States and analyzes the impact and contribution of this population in forging the nation.

The Secretary General of the OAS, José Miguel Insulza, recalled at the event that Latinos stand at the cusp of a new era of greater political, social and economic power in the United States, and therefore, “it is important to recognize that this moment in history did not appear out of nowhere. it has been built upon the efforts of countless Latinos who helped forge the political and social narrative of the country.”

Secretary General Insulza stressed that Suarez's book, published in September, "allows us to learn more about many of these previously unheralded men and women who have given so much of themselves to make the United States a better place. By reading these stories of a representative few individuals, we are able to get a broad idea of the stories of millions of individuals who helped define the course of this nation,” he said.

The OAS leader also mentioned that the growth of the Latino community has been such that it represents 16 percent of the U.S. population, with more than 53 million members. “In economic terms, this community also has incredible purchasing power, which is projected to reach a value of 1.5 billion dollars by 2015 and if added together would equal the world’s 9th largest economy," he said.

Ray Suarez, correspondent for the U.S. Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), explained in his presentation that the book was written along with a six-hour documentary produced by PBS and that both works seek to offer a broader "Pan-American" idea of the history of United States, rethink the meaning of "being American and remind people that Latinos living in the country are the children of people who immigrated decades ago, and that their history must be understood and told."

In his book, Suarez reports that in the more than 235 years since the Declaration of Independence, "an essential truth has been often been overlooked by the generations who look on anxiously as they see the arrival of new immigrants by air, sea and land: the United States has constantly been transformed by immigrants and it has transformed them too." The anxiety over this topic has been fueled, said the journalist, especially amid the current political debate, "in which too much attention is paid to the first part and not enough to the second." The PBS correspondent also spoke about Latino identity and perceptions and identifications of Latinos, and said that among all the people who have arrived in the country over the centuries, this is the only major group of immigrants that is multiracial.

"This project would be a failure if only Latinos see and read the book series," said Suarez to stress the importance of reaching out to those who have a "biased notion of what has been the contribution of Latinos to the country." The aim of the publication, he said is " to clear all the doubts of those who are hostile to immigration, people who are hostile to a new style of assimilation."

The Permanent Representative of the United States to the OAS, Ambassador Carmen Lomellin, closed the event by thanking Suarez for the presentation and highlighting the need for the OAS, as a hemispheric Organization, to forge a partnership with Latino communities in the United States "as we have much to offer, and to share, and we can be a positive tool for cooperation and exchange of ideas."

A gallery of photos of the event is available here.

The B-roll of the event is available here.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-399/13