Laura Jimenez is a consultant to Joe Biden

A rainy morning with a hurricane warning marked the beginning of Diario Libre’s visit to the US State Department waiting for us. Laura JimenezThe only Dominican woman to advise the president Joe Biden In the affairs of the Western Hemisphere covering North America, Central America and the Caribbean.

Laura was born in Santo Domingo in front of the park of San Miguel Church, and at the age of five she came to the South Bronx, although she exemplifies that she grew up between the two countries because she often met her father. In addition to the opportunity to return to DR to complete his secondary education.

Prior to his current term, the Dominican held a number of politically related positions in South Florida, one of which was Chief of State Senator Jose Javier Rodriguez. In 2016, he worked for Hillary Clinton’s campaign and also served as director of the Latin Voting for Biden’s candidacy. When he won the presidential election, he was part of his interim committee, and from the first day of the Biden administration he began working in the Foreign Office.

“In the last election, I knew I wanted to participate, I wanted to do my part, I felt that my community, the Latin community, had a lot to lose, and I always knew that he, the then Vice President, was Biden. Can help, so I waited for him to run, I had other opportunities, I did not, I’m going to wait because I was confident he had the experience and leadership to get us out, ”Jimenez said.

The Summit of the United States

The Dominican drowned next Summit of the United States It will take place June 6-10 in Los Angeles, California. With him, we discussed with President Biden the key topics he would like to discuss with the planning process, invited countries and regional leaders.

“I hope all the people of the hemisphere face similar challenges. We all share the same hope for our families, our people, our countries, and we can do more together and then agree with these governments, how can we move forward as a hemisphere, from the plague?” Talk about how we can get out and give opportunities to our people, something that will help and benefit each of our countries and regions.

Key issues that President Biden wants to discuss with regional leaders include climate crisis, epidemics, economic opportunities and migration.

“This is something we’ve going to talk about, because it’s something regional, this is something we all have to deal with together,” he said on the issue of immigration.

We talked to Laura about invitations to the summit and the question of whether countries like Brazil and Mexico should not attend if countries like Cuba and Venezuela are excluded from the meeting. In this regard, he assured that the invitations have started to come out and they have not yet reached the total number of invited countries.

“I would say we’re still on the invitation. At the end of the day, in countries that feel there is a problem with who is being invited or who is going to participate, I would say that each country should decide whether to participate, but the President believes that all countries and all democratic leaders should participate. .. The President hopes that the region will seize this opportunity, and the reality is that those who attend the summit will see the benefits for their own people.Dominican highlighted.

When asked about the possibility of boycott at the summit because of the controversial reactions of some countries in the region, Laura promised that each country would decide whether or not to participate.

“I repeat, the President hopes that those invited will attend because the region really needs to hold this dialogue and it will be one that benefits our people and the hemisphere,” he said.