GLOBAL NEWS
CLARA RECOGNISES KEY PLAYERS IN FOUNDING OF REDCLARA
O
n 10th June 2003 in Valle de Bravo, Mexico, the statutes for the CLARA (Latin American Cooperation for Advanced Networks) organisation were signed, and with it the success story of the Latin American R&E network, RedCLARA, took root. Eleven years later, in May 2014, the RedCLARA community returned to Mexico, this time to Cancun with its azure-coloured waters for its annual TICAL (Latin America ICT) conference and RedCLARA meetings. In the closing session of the TICAL conference, which this year saw a record participation of over 400
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people, the audience was taken back eleven years to the beginnings of RedCLARA and public recognition was given to the people who worked tirelessly in 2003 to make RedCLARA a reality. Among those recognised and presented with a framed photo from the statutes-signing meeting, was DANTE and GÉANT’s Cathrin Stöver, who was project manager of the first EC-co-funded ALICE (Latin America Interconnected with Europe) project. Though unable to attend in person, Cathrin expressed her gratitude through a message to the audience, and congratulated RedCLARA on its successes.
The other individuals recognised were: Ida Holz (RAU, Uruguay), Luis Furlán (RAGIE, Guatemala), Nelson Simoes (RNP, Brazil), Rafael Ibarra (RAICES, El Salvador), Carlos Casasús (CUDI, Mexico), Florencio Utreras (CLARA, Latin America), Mario Campolargo (European Commission), Elena Villar Pascual (European Commission).
For more information on RedCLARA, visit www.redclara.net
Words Tom Fryer, Senior International Relations Officer, DANTE