We interviewed the new Press and Cultural Attaché of the Chilean Embassy in the United States, Fernando García Naddaf, activist of Acción Humanista, teacher, Pressenza collaborator and great friend.
Pressenza: Tell us Fernando about your new appointment?
Fernando García: I feel that it is an appointment of special value on a personal, professional and family level, but that it also has meaning for the political project to which many of us are committed, and I even see it as a way of contributing to a current of life that inspires others, such as Humanism.
From a professional point of view, it is a great opportunity because it means actively joining an area of work that I have known for decades. But the difference is that this time it is to contribute to a political and governmental project that, at least in Chile, we have been waiting for years and that today is headed by President Gabriel Boric. It is undoubtedly a progressive and profoundly humanist project, in which its challenges and complexities inspire one to apply oneself to it.
I also feel it has meaning within a particular political project, namely Humanist Action. In this sense, I feel supported by the friends of AH. All of us who are joining the different government posts from here are not only doing it so that this government will do well and be an example of how to do things with a progressive and humanist look, but also to strengthen one of the political expressions of humanism, such as AH. In this sense, we have to do the work in the best possible way, with neatness, and with a good tone, to be a reference and demonstrate that the project AH represents is a political effort worth being committed to.
Finally, I think it is also an opportunity to contribute to Universalist Humanism from a position that is different from how we have done it in recent years. That is to say, in this case, from a position of government or state, with international impact, and to apply ourselves to its success by emphasising the central look of the ordinary human being. For me that is the ultimate level of significance of such an appointment.
Pressenza: What is your personal purpose in Washington?
Fernando García: First of all, to do good work in office. What does that mean? To carry out relevant activities that strengthen Chile’s presence and influence in the United States, particularly in terms of cultural activities and relations with the American press. All with the look of finding the meeting points between the peoples of both nations. I would like the activities to have the stamp of advocacy and to be able to support Chilean foreign policy.
But the purpose that guides me is also more profound. It has to do with how to make this role coincide with the aforementioned values, that is, that the activities carried out consider the centrality of the human being, social progress, the promotion and defence of human rights, and that they have the union of peoples as their horizon.
In other words, the professional purpose is to ensure that the activities I carry out become, in each act, small humanising and humanising links that facilitate the unfolding of the humanist project. This must be reflected not only in my relationship with the United States, but also in my relations with my colleagues at the Embassy, with my neighbours in the neighbourhood, in my daily coexistence, and of course, in the challenges that this will pose for my family, in the education of my children and in my relationship with my partner. All these aspects that can be personal, that sometimes are not considered within the “formulas of professional work”, but that are undoubtedly part of a whole, and that act in an integral and complementary way to the daily work.
Pressenza: What achievements – at the end of your mission – would you be satisfied with?
Fernando García: That the projects that we have raised as an Embassy have all been aligned, from the look of the Ambassador and the other officials, to the American public and Chilean foreign policy. That there is unity of effort.
At the press level, I hope to evaluate at the end of the mission, that the relations with local journalists and press editors have improved qualitatively, with the organisation of good activities that have enhanced the image of Chile in the United States. I hope to establish a way to regularly evaluate the work of the Embassy with the press.
At the cultural level, to promote cultural activities every year, of a high level, that enhance Chile’s image, but that are also aligned with the purpose mentioned before. I could not anticipate today what kind of activities they will be because first we have to coordinate with the guidelines of Ambassador Juan Gabriel Valdés and the Foreign Ministry itself.
But in short, I think my objective is to carry out activities that not only have an effect at the moment they are carried out, but that have a cumulative effect on the positive things, so that those who take over later can work on those bases and thus facilitate the meaning of what is being done. If at the end of the mission, I have the feeling of leaving that kind of thing behind, I think the objective will have been achieved.
