The First Ladies of Latin America, the Caribbean, the
United States and Canada are meeting in Santo Domingo over the next three days
for the XII Conference of First Ladies, Wives, and Representatives of Heads of
State and Government of the Americas. The focus of the conference being held at
the auditorium of the Central Bank is to launch a hemispheric strategy for youth
and the struggle against poverty. The conference is also intended as a forum for
youth leaders from the Americas, who will identify the top health and education
issues. Included on the agenda of the first ladies is a welcome at the Hotel
Embajador, reports Hoy newspaper, a dinner at the Presidential Palace, a
ceremony to receive the keys of Santo Domingo from Mayor Roberto Salcedo, a tour
of the Colonial City and another dinner at the Museo de las Casas Reales. Named
participants are: Patricia Bird (Antigua and Barbuda), Graciela Bernadette
Christie (Bahamas), Beverley Arthur (Barbados), Joan Musa (Belize), Ximena
Iturralde de Sanchez de Lozada (Bolivia), Aline Chretien (Canada), Lina Maria
Moreno de Uribe (Colombia), Leila Rodriguez de Pachedo (Costa Rica), Eudora Shaw
(Dominica), Ximena Bohorquez de Gutierrez (Ecuador), Lourdes Rodriguez de Flores
(El Salvador), Marietta Mitchell (Granada), Evelyn Morataya de Portillo
(Guatemala), Varshnie Jagdeo (Guyana), Mildred Aristide (Haiti), Aguas Ocana de
Maduro (Honduras), Lady Ivy Cooke (Jamaica), Marta Sahagun de Fox (Mexico), Lila
T. Abanza de Bolanos (Nicaragua), Ruby Moscoso de Young (Panama), Maria Gloria
Penayo de Duarte (Paraguay), Denzil Douglas (St. Kitts and Nevis), and Laura
Welch Bush (United States). Wives of attending prime ministers are: Eloise
Gonsalves Nee Harris (St. Vincent & the Grenadines), Rose-Marie Belle Antonie
(St. Lucia), Liesbeth Venetiaan Vanenberg, Suriname, Oma Panday (Trinidad &
Tobago). The first ladies of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Uruguay and
Venezuela will be absent.