Latin American Ambassadors to Visit Baylor

His Excellency Flavio Espinal, permanent representative from the Dominican Republic, and His Excellency Abelardo Valdez, former U.S. ambassador to Latin America, will visit the Baylor University campus on Wednesday.
The two diplomats will lecture on democratization in the western hemisphere and free trade during the Joseph F. Vélez Latin American Studies Conference. The conference will be held from 2 to 5 p.m. on the fifth floor of the Cashion Building in the Hankamer School of Business.
Baylor professors Dr. James Vardaman, the Jo Murphy Chairholder in International Education; Dr. Joseph F. Vélez, professor of Spanish; Dr. Joseph McKinney, professor and the Ben H. Williams Professor of Economics; and Dr. Joan Supplee, director of the Latin American Studies program, also will give presentations.
Valdez currently serves as an international lawyer with the firm Squire, Sanders and Dempsey in Washington D.C. He advises U.S. corporations conducting business in Latin America, the Caribbean and Western Europe on international law.
He also has served as an assistant administrator for the U.S. Agency on International Development and as a military aide to President Johnson. A 1970 Baylor law graduate, Valdez currently serves the University as an adjunct professor of law.
Espinal serves as permanent ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS). The OAS represents a cooperative association of all the countries of the western hemisphere. The group's purpose is to promote harmony within the hemisphere through promoting trade, democratization, human rights and the fight against drug trafficking.