Gazette Day is once more upon us. And Gazetting we will go.

With great anticipation I note that it is one week until our live Annual Meeting, which begins on next Gazette Day. If you have not registered to attend our Annual Meeting and its events, now is the time! Registration information is below. We will be enjoying our great meeting at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables with receptions, luncheon and dinners. Also, you can contact Vice-Treasurer Richard Montes de Oca, at rmontes@mdopartners.com, who will be putting together a golf outing Sunday morning at the Biltmore’s awesome golf course for those who partake of golf. (I am a connoisseur of Miniature Golf, having played the great courses of Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, and Cocoa Beach)The Agenda for the Annual Meeting will be published on Monday. Stay tuned for more details.

In this Gazette, I would like to draw our Section’s attention to the political oppression currently happening in Nicaragua. The Ortega regime (still here after all these years, like a bad cold that won’t go away and keeps coming back-see Sandinista revolution 1979) is rounding up and imprisoning all those who dare to oppose him Nicaragua’s upcoming elections. Ortega has take a page right out of the Castro’s book; if it looks and walks like a duck, it probably is a duck. Ortega’s government, although not called a communist dictatorship, is all there but in name. Our section stands in support of free elections, free political expression, and not jailing political opponents, not only in Nicaragua, but worldwide (see the imprisonment of democratic activists in Hong Kong).

For big news for ILS, both happy and sad at the same time, is the announcement that current ILS Secretary Rafael Ribeiro has left our Board because he has accepted a position with the Walt Disney Company in Burbank as Assistant General Counsel-Global Ethics and Compliance. We will miss Rafa and his great contributions to ILS, but I stand reassured that the Mouse will have someone of Rafa’s caliber watching over him to ensure ethical conduct and compliance. We will miss you Rafa, but wish you nothing but the best in your new Disney adventure!

In more ILS Member News, Susanne Leone, Executive Council Member and Chair of the ILS Asia Committee, published her article “U.S. Compliance for German SMEs in 2021” on the Compliance Alliance Journal, an online corporate compliance journal created as a collaboration between the University of Miami and the University of Leipzig, Germany. Executive Council member Kristin Drektrah-Paz recently participated as a panelist on FIU Law’s “Women in the Legal Profession” panel. Together with an entire panel of FIU Law alumnae, Kristin discussed topics that impact women in the legal profession. The ILS supports gender diversity among its members, committee chairs, Executive Council and Board. Kudos to Susanne and Kristin!

Please continue to send us your member news and short features for the Gazette. I am looking meet you all personally at our Annual Meeting. Come join us!

Happy Father’s Day!

Sincerely yours,

Robert J. Becerra