UTRGV, TSC honor Mr. Amigo 2016

Amigo 2016, Fernando Landeros Verdugo, dedicated his recognition to all the children and people who have made Fundación Teletón what it is today.

Last Thursday, the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and Texas Southmost College joined to welcome the Mr. Amigo Association honoree.

The event was held in the 300-seat SET-B Lecture Hall, which was filled to capacity.

Landeros created the “CRIT system of children’s rehabilitative hospitals in Latin America and the United States, which is the largest private pediatric healthcare network in the world,” according to the teletonusa.org website. He talked about how in school we learn how people with disabilities are essential to understand life as we know it.

He cited famous people with disabilities, such as Cervantes, who was badly wounded in the Battle of Lepanto; Beethoven, who became deaf; Borges, the award-winning Argentinian writer who became blind.

“We owe a lot to all of them,” Landeros said in Spanish. “… The world wouldn’t be understandable without them, and without many other extraordinary beings that we know, like for example Moi.”

Moises Diaz Gonzalez, who was on stage with Landeros and other dignitaries, is a beneficiary of the foundation.

Landeros said Moises represents hundreds of thousands children who have made one of the most difficult miracles of humanity, “joining two countries with the most beautiful background … values, those values that makes us feel human again.”

He said no one will be able to step on the dignity of human beings.

“We are dignity, that’s our essence,” he said. “If we check history, no one has ever reached a good ending when trying to oppress the rights of humans and human dignity. That is something we need to say and we need to say it out loud.”

Landeros mentioned that children with disabilities show the world how we cannot live with barriers and obstacles.

“If we really think about it, all conflicts, human confrontations, independent of nationality or flag, they all become a civil war,” he said. “Not a war between two countries, a civil war because in the end, we are all human and that is above all nationalities.”

Landeros said when he was on the Gateway International Bridge for the Hands Across the Border ceremony earlier in the day, he wondered what it really means to be Mr. Amigo.

“When I was thinking about what it really means to be Mr. Amigo and why am I on this bridge so happy, so proud, it’s because I want my three children, my wife, my family, my brothers, my nephews, to walk on a safe bridge, a bridge that unites us,” he said, choking back tears.

Landeros urged the audience to never lose hope on what we can build.

“We can build and live in a better world,” he said.

Before the ceremony began, Mariachi Siete Leguas welcomed attendees outside the lecture hall with traditional Mexican music.

“Today, we celebrate friendship, traditions and the strong collaborations that we have with Mexico,” said Tania Leal, the ceremony’s host and weather anchor at Telemundo 40.

The UTRGV Army ROTC presented the colors and TSC student Yahaira Guerra sang the national anthem.

Students from Colegio Juvenal Rendón in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico, presented the colors and UTRGV student Doris Vanessa Cedillo sang the Mexican national anthem.

More than 15 children from TSC’s Raúl J. Guerra Early Childhood Center, ages 4 and 5, danced “El Jarabe Tapatío.”

The group of children were dressed in charro costumes.

“They say great things come in small packages,” Leal said.

The children were followed by Grupo Folklórico Tizatlán at UTRGV, which performed the polka “Tamaulipas Norte.”

On stage with Mr. Amigo were Melinda Rodriguez, TSC vice president of Institutional Advancement and Workforce Training; U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela (D-Texas); Veronica Gonzales, UTRGV vice president for Governmental and Community Relations; Landeros’ wife Paola Albarran Landeros; TSC board of trustees Chair Adela Garza; Mr. Amigo Association President Richard Garza; TSC Student Leadership Academy representative Brandon Sanchez; UTRGV Student Government Association President Denisse Molina-Castro; and Lisardo Guarinos, guest of Matamoros’ Fiestas Mexicanas.

In the audience were Brownsville Mayor Tony Martinez and Matamoros Mayor Jesús de la Garza.

“Today, we celebrate our Mexican heritage and commemorate generational bonds that cannot be broken by a river, economic strife or political rhetoric,” Rodriguez said.

She is proud of continuing the legacy of celebrating the Valley’s diversity.

“Our college is your college, viva our unity, prosperity and Charro Days,” she said in Spanish.

Gonzales spoke on behalf of UTRGV President Guy Bailey, who was attending his son’s wedding.

“We want to welcome you at the campus that we share with TSC,” Gonzales said.

She gave a brief explanation of how Charro Days was born out of the Great Depression.

“Those were dark days and local business leaders were looking for something to lift the spirits of the community. It worked because 80 years later, Charro Days continues,” Gonzales said.

She thanked the students for representing the university with pride.

“Congratulations to everyone involved in the festivities that celebrate the long-standing friendship between our two countries,” she said.

Gonzales then invited Vela to the lectern.

Vela asked fellow Democratic U.S. Representatives Beto O’Rourke of El Paso and Vicente Gonzalez of McAllen to join him on the stage.

“The significance of having my colleagues here on stage is that together, the three of us represent over one half of the United States population who live in the United States-Mexico border,” Vela said. “I cannot think of a greater moment in the United States’ history to celebrate Charro Days the way the city of Brownsville and the city of Matamoros are doing today.”

Vela said everyone should work together to make Matamoros safer, like it was 10 years ago.

“I love Matamoros,” he said.

Vela launched the social media campaign, #TamauliPazAhora.

“Fernando Landeros has founded one of the most important institutions in the Mexican society, Fundación Teletón, which has raised funds for over 20 years to support children with disabilities and cancer,” Leal said.

The foundation has helped many people in Mexico and the United States.

After Landeros’ speech, Molina-Castro and Sanchez thanked him for coming and gave him the official poster of Mr. Amigo 2016 and a basket with gifts from both UTRGV and TSC.

“We hope you remember the new family and friends you have in the Valley,” Sanchez said to Mr. Amigo 2016.