Congressman Honored by Council of the Americas

Washington, D.C.--Congressman Eliot L. Engel, the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, received the 2009 Chairman’s Award for Leadership in the Americas from the New York-based Council of the Americas. Rep. Engel was presented with the award Tuesday at a reception at the Inter-American Development Bank.

Rep. Engel issued the following statement:

“It is a tremendous honor for me to receive this award from the Council of the Americas. Since I became Chairman of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee at the beginning of 2007, I have consistently relied on the Council of the Americas, an organization on the cutting edge of all policy discussions aimed at enhancing US-Latin American relations.

“The United States and Latin America are at a true crossroads. I recently led the Congressional delegation to the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago. The Summit was by all accounts an enormous success. It represents a new beginning where the U.S. shows real respect for our neighbors to the South and pays sustained attention to the Western Hemisphere. As we work to reinvigorate U.S. – Latin American relations, I know that my fellow Subcommittee Members and I will continue to rely on the Council of the Americas for their thoughtful and important policy analysis and recommendations.”

The Council gives the Chairman's Award for Leadership in the Americas—the highest honor the Council can bestow—to a democratically-elected leader with a record of significant achievement in hemispheric affairs.