President Toledo's Commencement Speech   (cont. from p. 5)

Chimbote?  My city was essentially a big shantytown, and here I was, looking at the Golden Gate Bridge.
Me?  The boy from Cabana?  Who had shined shoes and sold newspapers and lottery tickets in Chimbote? 

I could talk to you about the success of my administration, but that's not the central point of my reflection today.  Yes, we clearly are one of the fastest growing economies in Latin America.  But as some of you might know, my political popularity is very low.  It is low because I have been holding the line against demands of a quick fix that looks good in the short term.
Poverty must be eradicated in my country and in Latin America.  But it must be eradicated in an effective and lasting way.  Poor people have dignity.  They don't want to [raise] their hands and receive fish.  They demand the right to learn to fish.. 

I was inaugurated on July 28, 2001, and [on] the first day of my inauguration, I made a decision [to reduce] by 20 percent the budget of military spending and to reorient it to education and health.   

Dear graduating class, do not take what you have -- education and a good standard of living -- for granted.  Look at the world out there.  There are millions who cannot even dream of what you have as a matter of course.  Don't take it for granted.

I am here today in good part as a consequence of an extraordinary experiment in generosity on the part of American people.  In 1963,

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YACHASPA