Washington, DC – The LIBRE Initiative (LIBRE) together with six national Hispanic leadership organizations today announced an alliance and launch of a national outreach effort that will engage, inform and inspire Hispanic- and Latino-Americans across the country to join a movement to protect our individual liberties and increase economic freedom in the U.S.
Leadership from LIBRE, The Latino Coalition, The Hispanic Free Market Network, Focus on the Family, Heritage Libertad, and the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles affirmed their commitment to empowering Hispanic and Latino businesses and families to take back their lost freedoms, and achieve prosperity.
“If we truly seek to improve the whole of society, then what we need is a full throated defense of free markets, improved educational attainment, and American individualism. Our policies need to incentivize risk taking, entrepreneurship, and free enterprise,” said Daniel Garza. “Our community continues to suffer from rampant under-employment, as well as unemployment, still hovering around 10%. And this number doesn’t even reflect folks who have given up and dropped out of the labor force. So, I am encouraged by my colleagues’ unwavering commitment and leadership to this nationwide outreach effort,” added Garza.
This effort represents a first and significant step in sharing engagement strategies, outreach opportunities, and economic freedom resources specifically tailored to Hispanics and Latinos in the U.S. LIBRE was joined by Hispanic thought and community leaders including Hector Barreto, Chairman of The Latino Coalition; Clara Del Villar, Founder and CEO of The Hispanic Free Market Network; Yuri Mantilla, Director for International Government Affairs for Focus on the Family; Israel Ortega, Editor of Heritage Libertad; and Alfonso Aguilar, Executive Director for the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles.
“I am excited to work with The Libre Initiative and all of our partners to promote economic freedom, and help ensure that our prosperity and high quality of life is preserved and protected for our children and grandchildren,” said Israel Ortega. “The Heritage Foundation is proud of our work in promoting economic freedom to Hispanics through our Spanish language website: Heritage Libertad,” he added.
“Successful Hispanics from different parts of the country are prepared to come together and share our ideas, success stories, contacts, expertise, and resources to help our hardworking community prosper, especially in these challenging times. We are all committed to this long-term effort. We will continue developing a networking and solutions agenda to integrate and encourage the natural ability of our Hispanic population in the years to come,” said Clara Del Villar. “Today, there are too many in government trying to control us, pretending to provide socially engineered ‘solutions’ that in reality only stifle our ability to grow. But this only clouds the reality of what has really fueled prosperity for our nation: industrious, free market enterprise. Unless we put this private enterprise, free market agenda front and center – the obstacles will only increase for our Latino population, and all those working to climb the ladder of success for their families,” added Del Villar.
“I’m thrilled to join my colleagues today. The Latino Coalition looks forward to being part of this new alliance and long-term effort to reach out to our community, particularly the fastest growing segment of the business community – Latino business owners,” said Hector Barreto. “We understand that small business is the engine of the American economy. Initiatives like The Latino Coalition’s business matchmaking program and our signature programs like TLC’s Economic Summits will not only continue empowering our businesses, offering greater access to resources, they will also serve as a platform to engage Latino business leaders in a serious discussion about how sound economic policies and free enterprise will help strengthen our weakened economy, and help us all prosper again,” Barreto added.
The next outreach event presented by members of the alliance – A Forum on Economic Freedom and Energy – will take place March 1, 2012 in Albuquerque, New Mexico on March 1, 2012. This event will be free to the public and will feature speakers such as New Mexico Lt. Governor John Sanchez, New Mexico Secretary of Economic Development Jon Barela, Representative John Kintigh, former Small Business Administration Administrator and current Chairman of The Latino Coalition, Hector Barreto, as well as LIBRE’s Executive Director, Daniel Garza.