MIAMI.- As part of its policy of outreach to immigrant communities residing in South Florida and the Latin American region, the State Department opened a press office in downtown Miami.
“This office is our permanent headquarters to interact in Spanish and Portuguese with the media that cover Latin America, Spain and Portugal,” Kristina Rosales, press spokesperson in Spanish for the State Department and director of Media for the State Department, told DIARIO LAS AMÉRICAS. Americas.
According to Rosales, the objective of the new space “is to take advantage of the recurring passage through Miami of State Department officials, on their way to Washington or when they travel to the Region, so that they can interact with local communicators and the diaspora. In addition, it is a vehicle to promote rapprochement with Latin America.”
It is not a new idea, “we have been operating here (in Miami) since 2013, but almost always virtually. For two years, we had a temporary office in the Freedom Tower building through an agreement with Miami-Dade College,” Rosales said.
“Many officials, when they travel to Miami, not only want to be interviewed about different events, but they want to have feedback from the diaspora. Mainly, they want to speak and lend an ear to the Cuban, Venezuelan and Nicaraguan diaspora that we know have their communities here.”
In early February 2023, the State Department press office organized a series of meetings with Benjamin Ziff, charge d’affaires of the US embassy in Havana. At that time, the interviews took place in an art gallery in Miami.
By inaugurating this headquarters “we opened a more formal space where we could meet with the local press. “We found our own place to interview officials and special visitors.”
The office will also serve as a training center for US government officials, “so that they can acquire the necessary resources to communicate with the media in Spanish and Portuguese.”
The new five-employee office, located at 51 SW 1st Ave, Miami, FL 33130, in the Claude Pepper Federal Building, has several cubicles, a large meeting room and “a small studio to record interviews or broadcast them live. ”
“We would like to have a team of eight to ten people that can manage the flow of information on the important issues we address,” Rosales said.
In January 2024, the first training with a group of officials will take place, it will be in Portuguese. Later, there will be another in Spanish.
“Over time, the public will understand that this building is where the Miami Media Office of the State Department is located,” the spokesperson stressed.
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