2011 Independence Day Greetings
Click on any of the small photos below to read the July 4 greeting from that person.
Laura Chinchilla
President of Costa Rica
President of Costa Rica
Lynda Solar
Chairman
American Colony Committee
Chairman
American Colony Committee
Anne Slaughter Andrew
U.S. Ambassador to Costa Rica
U.S. Ambassador to Costa Rica
Dear friends,
On behalf of the Costa Rican people, let me convey to you our congratulations and best wishes on the 235th anniversary of the United States’ independence. We Costa Ricans are lucky to share with the United States the values of freedom and democracy you have cherished for so long. Incredibly, and unfortunately, this is a privilege for which many have yearned for centuries in other corners of the world. That is why the 4th of July is not only an occasion to remember the past, but also a great opportunity to remember why we are building a future.
Over two centuries, the world has greatly changed; however, the core principles and ideas that guide our people’s actions and hopes for the future remain unaltered. The aspiration for freedom, nondiscrimination and solidarity continues to underline each of our actions and decisions in the pursuit of equity, human development, human rights and justice for the less fortunate. However, enormous challenges lie ahead in order to protect the legacy of our ancestors and to construct the hopes of the yet unborn, both in the United States and in Costa Rica. For this reason, it is crucial to remain united by our common interests and to constantly nourish the ties that bind our peoples.
Let us not dismay in our beliefs and in our vision of the world. I know that sometimes it is hard to believe that we are walking the right path, but I am convinced that this celebration is a good indicator that we are not lost; that there is still a guiding light ahead. As long as we can continue to celebrate independence in democracy, we know that the world is moving in the right direction and that all we have fought for has been worth the effort, and cannot be sacrificed on the altar of pessimism. This is why we should always persist in embracing our democracies and receive peace, freedom and justice with open arms.
Happy Independence Day!
Laura Chinchilla
President of Costa Rica
Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, once wrote, “Patriotism is not a short frenzied burst of emotion, but the long and steady dedication of a lifetime.” So, as we prepare to celebrate the 235th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, let us reflect on those words. Patriotism is having pride in being an American, having pride for what the U.S. has accomplished and for what it stands for. It’s honoring and loving the land of our birth. It’s having pride in knowing that our country still remains a beacon of hope, freedom and opportunity around the world.
For me, it’s also having pride in the contribution that hundreds of U.S. companies make to the economic and social development of Costa Rica, through the creation of well-paying jobs and truly outstanding community programs in education, environment and health that impact thousands of people and transform lives.
For me, patriotism is when a group of people have come together every year for the last 50 years to organize the celebration of the 4th of July in Costa Rica. The American Colony Committee of Costa Rica was formed with the mission “to promote the civic observance of the United States of America’s Independence Day and its history and traditions.”
For the last 10 years, the spacious grounds of Costa Rica’s national brewery have been the site of the American Colony Committee’s 4th of July picnic, where thousands of U.S. citizens, residents and their families, as well as our Costa Rican friends and collaborators, have had the opportunity to enjoy and share in the marvelous celebration of the birth of our great nation.
This year we are celebrating the 4th of July in a new venue, Avenida Escazú, and we’re thrilled with the opportunity to contribute with the cultural part of the program. This year we are not the organizers but the collaborators, and although we won’t have a picnic, we will have fireworks, which is one of the reasons the program will begin at 3 p.m. and not in the morning. And yes, there will be most of the traditional treats such as hot dogs, beer, popcorn, square dancing, clowns, a magician, rock music and two great university bands, one from the University of Costa Rica and the other from the touring Western Kentucky University Wind Ensemble. And of course we’ll have Uncle Sam, who’ll be proudly passing out flags as he leads a parade, complete with antique cars, down Avenida Escazú to the rotunda where the official flag ceremony will take place.
On behalf of the American Colony Committee, we invite you to join us for the 235th birthday of the United States of America. “America is a tune. It must be sung together.”
Lynda Solar
President, American Colony Committee
This 4th of July, the 235th anniversary of the launch of our great country, we celebrate the creative spirit of our forefathers who came together to form a nation that valued freedom, democracy and innovation.
Our founding fathers, many of them inventors in their own right like Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, understood that innovation was a key to the pursuit of happiness and the economic success of a fledgling America. These forefathers envisioned the hope and opportunity that democracy could deliver to all its citizens, and also had the pragmatic foresight to adopt the laws that made those visions a reality – like adopting a patent protection act in 1790 that, just two months after it was passed, Thomas Jefferson remarked had “given a spring of invention
beyond [his] conception.”
That “spring of invention” has changed the world in ways our founding fathers could never have imagined: from Ben Franklin’s bifocals to NASA’s Hubble telescope; from Thomas Jefferson’s advocacy of the first U.S. patent system to the Internet – a quintessential example of American innovation.
Yet the framework of a government that valued life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness has endured, and indeed its people have been enriched by the innovations it has fostered.
For in the U.S., those innovations are not only inventing and marketing the latest high-tech gadgets. Innovation has created the opportunity to serve the greater good: to feed our families, to protect the health of our children and to provide more meaningful lives for our elderly.
President Obama, continuing the U.S. tradition of visionary leaders, on his recent trip to Latin America recognized the common heritage and expanding connections between the U.S. and Latin America and emphasized that innovation plays a key role in advancing the shared prosperity of all Americans in this hemisphere.
I am delighted that this spirit of innovation invigorates our partnership with Costa Rica.
In promoting clean, renewable energy to power economic growth, we are working with EARTH University and INBio – two centers of innovation in Costa Rica – to develop smart grid technology. We have partnered with the University of Costa Rica and the Ministry of Science and Technology to open an Energy Efficiency Center where we will share best practices and sponsor training to help Costa Rica reach its goal of carbon-neutral growth by 2021.
To fulfill President Obama’s vision of increased science exchanges, we are sending Costa Rican high school science students to the U.S. National Science Foundation’s summer camp and, in just a few months, we will collaborate with Costa Rican innovator Roberto Sasso and his TEDx event for students by bringing 17-year-old Caroline Moore from the U.S. to speak to her Costa Rican peers with her story of being the youngest person to find a supernova, using good math skills and a backyard telescope.
Innovation is spreading the benefits of new technology to populations that haven’t benefitted from it yet. In this 50th anniversary year of the Peace Corps, we find Peace Corps volunteers in Costa Rica helping rural communities install solar panels, using biogas collectors as an extra source of energy, and training senior citizens how to use the Internet for lifelong learning.
Another innovative step forward for the U.S. Embassy: We invite everyone to join us for the first broadcast via Livestream of the embassy’s Independence Day Reception. Log on to www.livestream.com/ usembassy on July 1 from 2 to 4 p.m., see the ceremony, and share your comments and stories via the live chat. Be a part of our innovation history as we expand Ben Franklin’s town square, where neighbors gathered to exchange news and chat with friends, to the global village of virtual communities, and celebrate the 4th of July with friends around the world.
Happy 4th of July!
Anne Slaughter Andrew
U.S. Ambassador to Costa Rica
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