Guam – Governor Eddie Baza Calvo is fresh off his trip to the nations capital. The governor tells PNC he has made some headway in the push for war reparations and a China/Russia Visa waiver program.
The governor says trying to educate members of congress about war reparations can be a rigorous and frustrating process, however he says they did get a lot of support. He thanks the delegates of the CNMI, American Samoa and Puerto Rico for advocating for Guam.
“We do have a lot of advocates there both in the administration and in congress we just have to keep this movement alive we can’t get frustrated we just have to continue,” said Calvo.
The governor says Guam has made a lot of progress in it’s quest for a China/Russia visa waiver program. Calvo says he was able to identify and get meetings with the key players and now believes that the higher levels in the Department of Defense and homeland security would like to see Guam get tourists from China and Russia through this program. “If there are security issues I reminded them that there’s a hundred thousand mainland Chinese students that are currently in the United States. Once you go into those 48 contiguous states it’s hard to keep track of them we’re a small island and those bases are fairly well you know they have a perimeter fence and it’s hard for even for our local people to come on in. I reminded them that in Okinawa there’s thousands and thousands of mainland Chinese tourists going to Okinawa,” said Calvo.
The governor says he also had some productive meetings in San Francisco and Washington D.C. with Housing and Urban Development or HUD officials about creating more affordable housing for Guam.
