NORTH AMERICAN INTEGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER University of California, Los Angeles
NORTH AMERICAN INTEGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER University of California, Los Angeles
Community Scholar Recognition Award Los Angeles, CA May 6th, 2014 It is with great pleasure that the NAID Center welcomes Mr. Werner Marroquín as a Community Scholar for his long-standing commitment and work in the Salvadoran and Latino communities here and abroad. Over the past three decades, Werner Marroquín has worked tirelessly on numerous issues such as organizing initiatives that contributed to ending the civil war in El Salvador, promoting immigration reform in the U.S that will ultimately impact hundreds of thousands of Central American immigrant families, and contributing to the establishment of the Central American Independence Parade in the City of Los Angeles, the largest Salvadoran - Central American celebration of its kind outside the Central American region. In 2006, Mr. Marroquín played a significant role in having the US Congress establish August 6th as the official “Day of the Salvadoran American - Día del Salvadoreño Americano", a celebration that has gone beyond this country in that it has become an important celebration of national identity for the Salvadoran Diaspora. Additionally, Mr. Marroquín’s efforts and work as a union organizer at the University of California contributed to improving the quality of life for thousands of working families by securing their jobs as well as creating access to health care insurance, retirement benefits and a step salary system. For the past 33 years Mr. Marroquín has continuously worked on both sides of the border constantly keeping contact with migrant families. At the same time, his work has always been of a transnational nature that is rooted in that strong community connection he has developed. He is among a handful of Salvadorans who has represented the interests and needs of the Central American Diaspora at institutional levels, including serving as a legislator in the Central American Parliament-PARLACEN since 2006. As a PARLACEN legislator he has brought into perspective the need to strengthen the relationship of Salvadorans immigrants with their communities of origin. Mr. Marroquín has been instrumental in facilitating visits to Central America by high level politicians, union and labor federation leaders and workers, religious and faith-based leaders and members. Similarly he has supported visits of Salvadoran political and business representatives as well as human rights leaders to the US. One of his main concerns has been establishing a dialogue and understanding of the situation of Salvadorans on both sides of the border. Within this context a delegation of parliamentarians from Central America, the Caribbean and Mexico visited Washington DC last year to speak on how the region is working and the developing initiatives aimed at decreasing migration inflows to the US.
For over a decade Mr. Marroquín has conducted educational visits to the Salvadoran Legislative Assembly and the Executive branch to ensure Salvadorans living abroad were able to exercise their right to participate in national elections. Finally in 2012 a law passed enabling Salvadoran immigrants to participate in elections by casting their votes in the countries where they reside. Similarly, he contributed to educating US Congressional members on El Salvador’s 2014 Presidential elections. Fifty-one US Congress members signed a “Dear Colleague Letter” addressed to Secretary of State John Kerry, which called on the US Government to maintain a neutral position in regard to the Salvadoran electoral process and to respect its outcome. In 2013 and 2014, Mr. Marroquín’s leadership helped to provide opportunities for Salvadoran Americans to learn more about US foreign relations and specifically US economic development strategies for the Central American region. A nation-wide coalition was built with the participation of Salvadoran Americans from nine states and 23 community organizations. This effort was also supported by hundreds of community members who for the first time followed the Salvadoran Presidential electoral campaign. Once again it is an honor to welcome Mr. Werner Marroquin as a new Community Scholar to the UCLA NAID CENTER.
Raúl Hinojosa Ojeda, PhD. Founder and Director UCLA NAID Center & Associate Professor UCLA César E. Chávez Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies