(Credit: Embassy of Ecuador in Chile)
Editor's Note:
Roberto Izurieta is director of Latin American Projects at George Washington University.
He has worked on political campaigns in several Latin American countries and Spain, and was an adviser to Presidents Alejandro Toledo of Peru;
Vicente Fox, from Mexico;
and Álvaro Colom, from Guatemala.
Izurieta the current ambassador of Ecuador in Chile.
The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author.
See more opinions at cnne.com/opinion
(CNN Spanish) --
They told us that any relationship that has survived being together in the pandemic will survive the rest of the trip;
but they did not count what it means to survive a move.
We just went through one and we're going to Chile.
President Guillermo Lasso has honored me with the responsibility of representing Ecuador in Chile.
Two countries with a history full of encounters, with great commercial exchange and shared migrations.
Families from Ecuador and Chile that integrated into different migratory flows maintained their relationship with their culture and opened up to new horizons.
Ecuador is a diverse country in its nature and culture.
From the Galapagos to the Amazon, from the tops of the Chimborazo volcano or passing through the Tomebamba.
Full of major cities that need each other.
It exports flowers, shrimp, cocoa, bananas, and energy, among many others.
With Chile we are united by an enormous commercial and geographical complementarity, united by the Andes and the ports of the Pacific Ocean.
My main function will be to work for this strengthening of historical, commercial and cooperation relations that have been going on for more than 185 years.
Chile has shown all of Latin America how a serious economy can grow to the point of being developed.
We share and admire that rich history of change, transformation, and the search for greater equity.
Chile gave us the Parliament of Quilín, the construction of the San Carlos Canal, the San Felipe University (now the University of Chile), its Mint, the struggle and the search for "the social question";
the intellectuality of José Victorino Lastarria and admiration for Pedro Aguirre Cerda;
not only because of his friendship with Gabriela Mistral, with whom he shared his fight for equal rights, but also because of his commitment that "governing is educating."
Recognizing and going through these stories, sharing them, supporting them, is another great opportunity that life offers me and we take it with my husband Paul, as his greatest wealth.
advertising
Leaving CNN was not an easy decision;
I learned a lot from your professional team with its journalists, technicians, managers and my fellow commentators.
We lived through stories together, almost all of them as they unfolded: we watched live how many raved about Sarah Palin's first national speech at the 2008 convention, we watched the jubilation in Chicago and Washington when Obama won (holding back my pride that The US elected the first African-American president with great justice).
We experiment with the economic recession, the threat of the pandemic, but much more seriously the political irresponsibility of populism.
We saw and lived tragically as American democracy suffered its greatest threat in history on January 6, 2021.
We share with the public opinion the patience until it is possible to declare the electoral triumph of Joe Biden.
All these experiences shape one's professional career and I thank CNN for giving me that opportunity.
I will continue writing in this space, but not about politics but about our people, their aspirations, their struggles, their tears and smiles.
I thank Guillermo Lasso for his appointment, Juan Carlos Holguín for his support, and the Government of Chile for its prompt and positive response.
I thank CNN for these experiences and the Graduate School of Political Management, with whom, after 22 years as a full-time professor and director, I will continue to do so, but only from the academy and partially.
At the end of the day, teaching is learning and now I have to learn in Chile, where I have good friends and I will meet many more who "will meet you as travelers and you will see how they love their friend in Chile when he is a foreigner".*