We were seeing such a sharp rise. As we look at the issue were closing, we realized that really wasnt true. Many of the new middle class and trends when not traveling to the United States. They were still traveling inside brazil. We were seeing increased travel but uppermiddleclass. Because they had more disposable income and they had developed an interest in travel. Even though we had to run really hard in order to fashion a visa process that reduced wait times down to two days and accommodate the Many Brazilians traveling to the United States, we recognize that there is a new group of entrance into the middle class that have yet to attempt to travel to the United States but hat they are coming. It is kind of like a rogue wave out there. It is in the middle of the ocean and not stopping. Through expanding our consular sections and the number of officers we have in building out the interview windows we have, we are building a capacity to produce 1. 8 million to 2 million visas a year.
Can understand, Everybody Knows they are brazilians. Thank you. I would like to remind you of something which this was the last event of our program this year, and im grateful to ambassador shannon and the others for being here and have helped participate in this. This sunday marks the 25th anniversary of the assassination of chico mendez. Chico mendez was not known in brazil when he was killed. Today mendez is honored in brazil at the National Institute for studies, policymaking in the amazon, one of the 26 National Heroes of brazil named by the brazilian congress. We have associated ourselves to a group of institutions that will host a Memorial Service this sunday at 4 00 at Holy Name Catholic Church on 11th street, the announcement on our website, and i hope that those that are interested can join us there. With that, i would like to thank ambassador shannon very much for being here with us, and i would like to thank you for having been with us throughout this year that is closing n
Brazilians like to point out even border on france. Complicated diplomatic dance and is made more complicated by the relationships and the trade challenges that brazil faces with argentina because they tend to overload some of the circuits in the structures that they have. But the resilience work very hard at this. Brazilians work very hard at this. The efforts from our point of view are positive, whether it is in Central America or the caribbean community. These are all efforts that facilitate dialogue and for thes that broader hemisphere. To ahe biggest impediment brazil that dominates south america is largely its inability to open its markets. If brazil could open its markets, the andean countries never would have done freetrade agreements with the United States, or least not with the speed that they did them. They would have done agreements with brazil. When the mexicans realize they have been organized of latin america and they were not part andhe caribbean community, they launch
[ music ] mexico is struggling with hits by backtoback hurricanes. The second hurricanes manuel is now moving inward over central mexico. It has triggered massive landslides. Some the of the images here, has left 58 people missing. The death toll from both hurricanes is up to 80, and there has been a largescale evacuation. We have more from mexico city where evacuees from acapulco have been arriving. Theyve been bringing them in from acapulco to mexico city. They have been bringing thousands of people trapped in acapulco as the hurricane devastated the area. Weve seen people walk through chesthigh water. The mexican military is there conducting rescue operations, trying to understand the full extent of the disaster. Weve seen two storms hitting mexico. Manuel on the west coast and ingrid on the east coast. People dead and that death toll could still be rising. Were going to see military from mexico city continue to deploy into acapulco into the hardest hit area as they try to understan
Actions on victims families. A surprise on wall street as the Federal Reserve stunned just about every by leaving its Stimulus Program as is, stocks as you can see here rallying on the news. The dow slightly down before the announcement took off, and it is flirting with an alltime high. Patricia, what it always means. You can quantify ready, ready, readynot yet. Now this program is meant to support the economy by keeping Interest Rates low but apparen apparently the feds does not feel the economy is ready to stand on its own yet. A key concern, unemployment. While the Unemployment Rate has improved slightly over the past year a lot of people are dropping out of the workforce. Not all labor market developments are positive. The labor force rate fell, and real wages remained flat. And bernanke cited other concerns such as fiscal tightening and rising Mortgage Rates. Rates has jumped a full percentage point since may. Thats largely in response to bernanke saying in june that the feds will