Raul Yzaguirre
| Raul Yzaguirre | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| United States Ambassador to the Dominican Republic |
|
|
In office November 17, 2010 – May 29, 2013 |
|
| President | Barack Obama |
| Preceded by | Christopher Lambert (Chargé d'Affaires ad interim) |
| Succeeded by | James "Wally" Brewster, Jr. |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Raul Humberto Yzaguirre July 22, 1939 San Juan, Texas |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Audrey Yzaguirre |
| Alma mater | George Washington University |
| Profession | Activist |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |
 United States
|
| Service/branch | United States Air Force |
| Years of service | 1958–1962 |
| Unit | United States Air Force Medical Service (AFMS) |
Raul Humberto Yzaguirre (born July 22, 1939 in San Juan, Texas) is an American civil rights activist. He is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He served as the president and CEO of the National Council of La Raza from 1974 to 2004 and as U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic from November 2010 to May 2013.
Yzaguirre was born to Mexican American parents Ruben Antonio and Eva Linda (Morin) Yzaguirre and grew up in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. Yzaguirre states that some of his first memories of social injustice involved what his grandmother called a "race war" in Texas. Mexican Americans lived under a curfew at that time and Yzaguirre's grandfather was almost lynched one night when coming home after dark from his second job.
In 1958, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force Medical Service and served for four years.
He attended George Washington University.
His name has sometimes been spelled Izaguirre.
In 1968, the Southwest Council of La Raza was organized with funding from the Ford Foundation. By 1972 the organization changed its name to the National Council for La Raza (National Council of the people or community in English ) and moved its offices to Washington, D.C. In 1997, the Ford Foundation, then the NCLR's sole funding source, demanded a change in the organization's focus and direction by threatening to withhold funding and forced then-president Henry Santiestevan out of office. In 1974, Yzaguirre was elected the second president of the NCLR. The Ford Foundation was pleased with Yzaguirre and continued to be a top donor of the NCLR throughout his term.
Under Yzaguirre, the organization grew from a regional advocacy group with 17 affiliates to over 300 that serve 41 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia. Yzaguirre expanded membership criteria so it was not limited only to ethnic Mexicans, but also included Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Argentines, Cubans, Venezuelans and all other Hispanic subgroups. This paved the way for the National Council for La Raza to open offices in Chicago, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Sacramento, San Antonio, and San Juan. Since then NCLR has added offices in New York and Atlanta.
...
Wikipedia