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| | | Council of the Americas
Secretary Rice (May 7): "We've witnessed nothing less than a social revolution in most of our hemisphere in recent years and its cause has been democracy. Democracy has been opening up old, elite-dominated politics to millions who had been on the margins of their societies: the poor and the disadvantaged and indigenous peoples and minorities. These men and women have at last become active democratic citizens, and they are demanding that their governments work for them. They are addressing long-standing problems of poverty and inequality and social exclusion that have ever been so real in our hemisphere." Full Text | Remarks by President Bush
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| Friday, May 9, 2008 | |
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|  | | U.S. Preparations for Relief Efforts for Burma
USAID Administrator Fore (May 8): "The United States Agency for International Development has allocated ...$3.25 million in initial assistance to date. ...The assistance will be allocated by the USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team, what we call DART. It is currently prepositioned in Bangkok and awaiting permission to enter Burma. We are urgently requesting visas." Full Text | Key Developments
| | |  | | Expulsion of Two Military Attaches
Department Spokesman McCormack (May 8): "...we had a diplomatic exchange with the Russians on this and I’m not going to get into the particulars of it. But they gave us some reasons. We believe that the expulsions were not justified. But as we all know, in the world of diplomacy, sometimes these things happen. They happen from time to time. As far as we’re concerned, no – the – we don’t intend to take any further actions. Of course, we always reserve the right, but at this point, I don’t see that we’re going to take any further action in response." Full Text
| | |  | | Relationship With South Korea
Deputy Secretary Negroponte (May 8): "...the United States and South Korea are strategic allies; we have a very close relationship, and obviously this was an opportunity for me to come and pay my respects after the formation of a new government here." Full Text | Travel to Asia
| | |  | | Central America and the Merida Initiative
Assistant Secretary Shannon (May 8): "Drug trafficking, gang violence, crime, and human smuggling, all linked to Central America, now directly afflict many areas of the United States, while arms and cash flows move south across our border and through Mexico to sustain these criminal organizations. The United States has a compelling strategic interest in moving quickly to reinforce our partnership with Central America to check illicit activity in the region." Full Statement
| | | ![Department Spokesman Sean McCormack and Mark P. Lagon, Ambassador-At-Large and Director of the Office To Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, during a Policy Podcast interview May 2, 2008. [State Dept. photo]](/cms_images/thumbs/thumb96_policy_photo_tip4.jpg) | | 
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Peru
![Incan ruins at Machu Picchu, Peru, July 2006. [© AP Images]](http://www.state.gov/cms_images/peru2.jpg) When the Spanish landed in 1531, Peru's territory was the nucleus of the highly developed Inca civilization. Centered at Cuzco, the Incan Empire extended over a vast region from northern Ecuador to central Chile. More...
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What to Pack
Tips for Traveling Abroad
