See you soon, Luis

Today, October 31, 2014, is a special day for CIAT. Do not think that the reason is Halloween celebration with parties, costumes and candy in some of the member states. In fact, it is here at CIAT the last day of Luis Ugarte Cremades, the head of the Spanish Mission. Luis came to Panama City, to our Central Office on November 1, 2009; and exactly five years later, as Chavela Vargas would have said, he returns to his “dear Madrid”.

Luis was not only a Head of Mission, but also a real colleague. He worked with us in all our areas. As a Speaker, he has shared his experiences and expertise with the majority of our member countries in the Americas. He worked with Socorro Velázquez in the international cooperation areas and for our Organization’s strategy. With Miguel Pecho, he worked in countless studies and publications, of which we can highlight the Diagnosis of the Tax Administrations in Latin America. With Gonzalo Arias, he also worked in the international cooperation areas, especially in those where the Tax Agency was directly involved, as well as programs like EUROsociAL II. With Raquel Ayala, he helped with training and especially in matters related to the Ethics Committee. With Francisco Beiner, he collaborated in institutional relations and recently in logistics and technical aspects for the recent CIAT Technical Conference in Santiago de Compostela, which was very well evaluated. With me, the work of Luis deserves to be specially mentioned since he participated in technical assistance activities in Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, and especially in Ecuador, where he led a project from the Executive Secretariat.

At the closing session of the technical conference, the Executive Secretary Marcio Verdi praised him on behalf of the Secretariat, and a few days later, we greeted him here, with all our employees of this organization. On both occasions, Marcio highlighted the importance of his work, as he always collaborated with CIAT, providing critical but constructive contributions and was even willing to roll up his sleeves to remove water from this building when it suffered a sudden flooding.

Silvio Rodríguez, in one of his songs from which I borrowed the title of this post, said that sometimes our duty is to sing to the homeland and raise its flag. As for me, my duty today is to share this post with you. Many of you have met Luis in these five years, and so perhaps through a direct message or a comment under this post, you can send him your greetings.

On my behalf, it is just a “See you later”. I had not met Luis before he came to the CIAT, but I knew from common friends about his professionalism and human qualities. Today, I can confirm this. I am proud that we became friends, and I am committed to let this friendship grow.

Greetings and good luck

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