Peter Hoagland: “I was privileged to be the chaperone on this trip to Mexico that was taken by senior staff members here in Washington.…”

“I was privileged to be the chaperone on this trip to Mexico that was taken by senior staff members here in Washington. As Mr. LaRocco indicated, the trip, I think, carved new ground in two respects. First of all, it was the original initiating staffers-only trip; and, second, it shows a renewed interest in Mexico and our relationship with Mexico. As Larry indicated, we have had events involving Mexico for years, but thanks to the efforts of our Vice President, Jack Buechner, who has taken a special interest, I think, in Mexico, we will see the organization spending more time than previously. Our trip was on Friday April 11 through April 14. There were seven senior congressional staffers and some others that came along, too, including Linda, our executive director, who always makes an excellent contribution. It was a very crowded trip. We had a number of seminars involving Mexican politics, economics, trade, and those discussions led by Mexican professors were really very informative and very helpful. We also had a little bit of time to tour archeological sites, and we stayed in some of the magnificent haciendas that do have overnight guests.”