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Mr. Ambassador breaks a tradition
A&M grad greets America’s visitors
Ambassador “Lalo” Valdez, ’64, here to see the Texas game, answers questions at a press
confernce. Battalion photo by Clay Cockrill
By LIZ NEWLIN
Battalion Editor
Usually a very wealthy, middle-
aged man has his job — a man who
is socially “well-connected.”
Lalo is not.
He is the son of a migrant farm
family from Floresville, about 30
miles southeast of San Antonio.
Abelardo Lopez “Lalo” Valdez,
37, is chief of protocol of the United
States and has the rank of ambas
sador.
It’s his job to take care of foreign
chiefs of state and heads of govern
ments when they are in America.
Valdez, who graduated from
Texas A&M in 1964 with a degree in
civil engineering, said President
Jimmy Carter had definite reasons
for his non-traditional selection.
“I believe Carter picked me be
cause he wanted someone who
could do the job and do it well,”
Valdez said in a interview last
weekend.
“Secondly, he wanted to have a
different kind of person, from a dif
ferent culture, with language
ability.”
Valdez did not learn to speak En
glish until he was in the third grade,
but now even most of his Texas
accent is gone.
“Carter was trying to recognize
through me a very large Hispanic
community,” he continued, one that
had not been recognized at all until
the Georgian’s administration. Val
dez said the United States has the
fourth largest Spanish-speaking
population in the Western Hemis
phere, which is just now coming into
its own economically and politically.
Valdez has been in a good posi
tion to observe that growth in this
nation and others. From mid-1977
until his appointment in late Sep
tember, he supervised the U.S.
economic aid programs throughout
Latin America and the Caribbean.
The United States will become
more dependent on Latin America
for trade, he says, because the
countries offer markets that will
grow. Already the Latin American
markets translate into employment
for one of three farms and one of
eight manufacturing jobs here.
Hispanics are vital, he contends,
because they can act as “two-way
translators,” something that has
been missing in Anglo-Hispanic re
lations.
“With their commonalities and
struggle for economic develop
ment, they can relate successfully
with Latin America,” the ambassa
dor said.
“You just have to look at the his
tory of Latin American relations to
see the numerous misunderstand
ings between the two sides.” Some
of the conflicts and suspicions were
generated by cultural differences
that American Hispanics would
understand, he said.
The Carter administration has
tried to remedy that void by appoint
ing several Hispanic judges and
other officials.
“The president generally has a
high priority for Latin America,” the
ambassador said, citing the Panna-
ma Canal issue as an example.
Carter stuck his neck out to support
returning the Panama Canal even
though it was politically unpopular.
The U.S. legislature has also re
cently taken a kinder view of Latin
America.
“The Congress did pass legisla
tion which I was sort of instrumental
in getting,” he said. The act states
“the sense of the Congress” is that
America shall place high priority on
both private and public funding for
Latin America and the Caribbean.
“Beautiful language,” Valdez
said, explaining that Congress had
not made similar statements about
what the country ought to invest in.
Before the legislation and in the
10 years before Carter, "transition
al developing countries” in Latin
America had seen U.S. govern
ment aid budgets, budget cut from
$600 million to less than $200 mil
lion.
During that time, international
policymakers said the Latin Amer
ican countries no longer needed
assistance.
“They were all wrong,” said Val
dez, who has written numerous
scholarly articles on the subject.
Even though Latin American per
capital income was about $550,
and half the world was below the
$250 poverty line, U.S. per capita
income was about $9,000. Latin
America was not in the middle class
as claimed.
“I couldn’t figure that out,” he
said. The nations are in a critical
situation economically and, in some
cases, politically.
“We are fooling ourselves to be
lieve that (the countries don’t need
help) and not make an investment.”
While he was the chief Latin
American economic officer, Valdez
persuaded many businessmen and
local governments to offer assist
ance, often for their own benefit.
Again, he says his major
achievement was the Congression
al recognition of the need.
“Before, they were kind of cut
ting, cutting, cutting.”
To aid the bill ki Congress, he
helped build a constituency for the
act from the Hispanic community,
chambers of commerce and labor
unions.
But the understanding these
countries need help must reach
more people.
“We need to increase the aware
ness of the American public of the
interdependence. That’s why I’m so
excited about the initiative A&M has
taken,” he said, echoing his state
ment at a press conference earlier
in the weekend.
“This President Jarvis Miller is
trying to put A&M on the world
map.’’
Texas A&M has a great oppor
tunity to enter the international
sphere by training students and in
volving faculty in the new Interna
tional Center, he said.
“I hope to be of some assistance
to students,” he says, “to give
advice and moral support.”
And this is where Latin American
affairs and Valdez’ new job link
back together.
“I hope to be bringing some
ambassadors here, as well as to
other parts of the state.”
He proposes a “visitng ambas
sadors” program that would get the
foreign representatives out of
Washington, D.C., and into the
countryside.
The ambassadors would gain a
better perspective of America, and
Texas A&M would be a good place
to bring them, Valdez said.
“You can’t tell people about
Texas A&M. They have to experi
ence it,” he said, reflecting on his
alma mater.
“I feel so indebted about the be
nefits it gave me,” the ambassador
said. “I hope my children will attend
A&M.”
After Texas A&M and being com
missioned in the U.S. Army, he was
assigned to duty at the White
House and became interested in in
ternational affairs.
Then he earned law degrees at
Baylor and Harvard universities,
rare for Hispanic students in those
days, and worked in private interna
tional law before entering the gov
ernment.
“All of this helped to develop,
one, an ability to deal with other
cultures, languages, and two, to
deal with very important people.”
Confidence is important to the
chief of protocol; if he freezes, he
can’t function.
“You realize presidents and
kings are people too,” Valdez said,
a veteran of two months.
“Protocol is really common cour
tesy and common sense in dealing
with other people.”
But one of his first major assign
ments, greeting Pope Paul II, was
uncommon.
Valdez, his wife and Mrs. Carter
flew to Boston to greet the pope.
“When we got to the top of the
stairs (of the airplane), there was
the pope, surrounded by bishops.
“I felt like I had walked in on a
scene in the Vatican,” said Valdez,
a Roman Catholic.
“It was such a dramatic meeting.
“He has the body of a very pow
erful person and such a sweet face
— it’s such a contradiction.
“The first words he said were,
‘America ... it’s a strange place.’” It
was in perfect English, Valdez re
membered.
“It threw me completely off-
stride.”
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