Teresa Heinz Kerry, wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, made a surprise visit to the Mexican American Business Chamber’s new offices last week.
The Mexican Chamber holds a monthly breakfast at Plaza del Sol, the Chamblee business center where the chamber recently opened its new headquarters.
Ms. Heinz Kerry is traveling the country, campaigning on behalf of her husband. In speaking to the Mexican Chamber, she accepted Democratic state Sen. Sam Zamarripa’s request that Mr. Kerry’s presidential campaign focus attention on Hispanics in Georgia.
Ms. Heinz Kerry’s visit was significant, said the Mexican Chamber’s new president, Jose Puente, because it was the first outreach by a Democratic presidential candidate to Georgia’s burgeoning, and largely immigrant, Latino community. It demonstrated her interest in immigration issues, Mr. Puente added.
“I came as a foreign person myself to this country,” Ms. Heinz Kerry said. “Regardless of political party, the kind of cynicism we’re seeing now is the most divisive, destructive, insidious force… We need to build hope, trust and can-do attitudes – what it is to be American…. We have an amazing opportunity this year to redirect America to be American again.”
A native of Mozambique, Ms. Heinz Kerry is fluent in five languages. She studied in South Africa and Switzerland and worked for the United Nations in New York. She married the late Sen. John Heinz, R-Penn., in 1966 and became an American citizen in 1971. Mr. Heinz died in a plane crash in 1991 and Ms. Heinz Kerry married Mr. Kerry in 1995.
Following Ms. Heinz Kerry’s talk at the Mexican Chamber, Mr. Zamarripa and Rep. Pedro Marin, D-Duluth, formally announced their endorsement of Mr. Kerry’s candidacy.
Mr. Zamarripa also invited the Mexican Chamber to visit the capitol and organize a breakfast with the state senators to introduce them to the Hispanic community.”Our challenge this year is to put a human face on immigration,” Mr. Zamarripa said.
Mr. Puente told GlobalFax that the Mexican Chamber’s goal is to be apolitical. “We feel our role in the community is 100% pro-business,” he said. “But our members, through their own entrepreneurism and efforts in the community, do affect political change.”
Contact the Mexican Chamber Executive Director Beatriz Gasiba at (770) 441-7581.