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Secretary General of the OAS Nominates ORITEL for the Prince of Asturias Award

The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, formalized his decision to nominate the Telethons International Organization (ORITEL) for the 2012 Prince of Asturias Award in the category of Concord, in a letter sent to the Director of the Foundation which presents the awards in Spain, Teresa Sanjurjo González.

The head of the Hemispheric Organization held a meeting with representatives of ORITEL Mario Kreutzberger, Gastón Melo and Mauricio Vásquez in which he reaffirmed his strong support for the nomination. In his nomination letter, he states that, “for many years I have had the opportunity to follow the efforts and the commitments of this Foundation. I am familiar with their guiding principles and I know of their integrity and altruistic spirit, so I do not hesitate in taking the lead in this nomination in my official capacity as Secretary General of the Organization of American States.”

“ORITEL is the largest and most extensive non-governmental organization that helps people dealing with disabilities. It works to provide rehabilitation opportunities to more than half a million disabled children and youth suffering from musculoskeletal disorders in Latin America,” added Secretary General Insulza.

At the gathering in Washington, DC, the representatives of the organization, led by its founder and President Mario Kreutzberger, thanked the Secretary General for the support expressed by the nomination and passed along the best wishes of Mexican businessman Emilio Azcárraga, co-founder of ORITEL, as well as Kreutzberger.

ORITEL is an organization that seeks to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities, by means of exchanging experiences among its different entities, through financial and technical support for the development of its activities. It operates in Chile, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Nicaragua. Currently, it meets the needs of more than 120,000 disabled children and youth, with a network of more than 90 rehabilitation centers and 70 community action centers located in 14 countries in Latin America, which represent more than two-thirds of the continent’s population.

The Prince of Asturias award has been presented annually since 1981, and in the Concord category it is bestowed upon “the person, institution, group of people or group of institutions whose work has made an exemplary and outstanding contribution to mutual understanding and peaceful coexistence amongst men, to the struggle against injustice, poverty, disease or ignorance, to the defense of freedom, or whose work has widened the horizons of knowledge or has been outstanding in protecting and preserving Mankind's heritage.”

A gallery of photos of the event is available here.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-725/11