On January 23^rd members of the Romanian-American community from California and neighboring states met Ambassador James C Rosapepe at the Romanian Consulate in Los Angeles. Romanian Consul Nicolae Constantinescu and Ambassador Mircea Geoana hosted the meeting.
Four major subject were discussed:

• Freedom for Ilie Ilascu and the Romanian heroes held hostages in Tiraspol;
• Restitution of properties confiscated by the communists and held by the present government;
• Simplification of visa system in Romania;
• Immigration problems;

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen:

General
Let me express my gratitude to the Romanian General Consul, Nicolae Constantinescu for facilitating our participation to this important meeting. It is an honor and a privilege to have the opportunity to speak out about all these major problems we are confronted with, and be heard by both of you.

Is today the right time?
Evidently, I cannot ignore the unfortunate events taking place right now in Romania. One may want to say that today is not the right time to talk about the lawful restitution of the properties wrongfully expropriated by the Communist dictatorship. I have a meaningful task to express my beliefs, here in front of you. Yes, my belief is that today is the right time to discuss this issue and here are the arguments for such a statement.

CPP
For years, we, the Romanian-American community members have tried, individually, to fight in the Romanian Courts to restore our rights on private property ownership. Most of the time the results were next to zero. The Romanian Committee for Private Property (CPP) has been created to guide and coordinate the efforts of many Romanians all over the world trying to restore their rights on their confiscated properties. About 1.700 individuals adhered to this non-profit organization. Here is the list.

Short self-reference
I am one of those 1.700 individuals victimized by the Communist regime whose organized and systematic destruction of private property ownership is still maintained by the post Communist Government. I left Romania in 1978, with my daughter Iulia Georgiana who was dying of cancer. The villainous Communist regime confiscated our home two days before she died, on May 6 1980. For the last six years we tried in vain to obtain the restitution of our home. Despite of our rightful ownership the Romanian officials sold our house and the post Communist Romanian Justice continues to question our Romanian citizenship and right to stand as a party in the civil lawsuit.

Myths
All of us,1.700 and more, in a way or another, victimized by both, the Communist and post Communist regimes are opposed with many myths. I will discuss just a few of them:
Myth #1 - The legitimate restitution of our properties is categorized by some Romanian officials as a lack of love for our motherland. This is a premeditated distortion of the truth. We, as Romanian-Americans, have the ability and honor to love, equally, both countries. We love our country of origin for who we are, and we love our country of adoption for treating us with dignity, for teaching us what a democratic system means, what our rights are, and how and why they shall be protected. Fighting for our rights is an act of respect for the great principles we stand for and a proof of love for our countries.
Myth #2 - The post-Communist Romanian Government procrastinate the resolution of our legitimate requests for property restitution, relying on the false hope that the claimant's natural process of aging (senility, poor health, lack of energy, disgust, reduced financial means, or death) may solve the problem by itself. They are wrong again.Very wrong.Our fight is a complex fight of principles. Looking in my eyes, gentlemen, you will see that I won't give up as long as I live. Beside the subjective aspect of each individual case there is a general movement to restore one of the major pillars of the democracy.The respect for private property 1.700 people feel in the same way, I can assure you. Our children are educated to carry on the torch. Moreover, they will.
Myth #3 - We are told by the Romanian officials, to have patience since there are so many other pressing problems to be solved before those tiresome requests for property restitution. There are many problems indeed. But all human rights are equally important and must be equally treated. A couple of days ago I spoke with one of my colleagues at work. He is from Ethiopia. The Ethiopians were under the Communist regime until 1991. After the Communist regime collapsed and was replaced by a democratic Government, one of their first actions was the restitution of the wrongfully confiscated properties to the original, right owners. Ethiopia has a population of approximately 60 million people. The promulgation of the law and the entire process of restitution took only two months, he said. I was, also, told that the restitution of private properties was a cornerstone for the outside investors; they do not hesitate to invest their money in this African country. Why? Because the Ethiopians had the right laws for private property protection, that were righteously applied, at the right time. That's why. We deplore what is going on in our country of birth, Romania. But now is the time to accept that the rule of law and democratic norms should be consistent with international human rights standards in all areas. Where is no law there is no order.

Conclusion
I am deeply indebted to Mr. Nicolae Constantinescu who, with no reticence, stated that he himself believes that the unjustly seized, nationalized, confiscated, and wrongfully expropriated properties should be returned to their rightful owners. All the Romanian officials should feel think and act in the same manner. Now. There is no room for procrastination and there is no other way than the right way: Unconditional and prompt restoration of our rights of ownership. The right laws accompanied by the right and prompt action must replace the myths.

Dl. Hanciulescu presented the CPP list to Ambassador Rosapepe and Mrs. Suveiu to Ambassador Geoana

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am grateful to Mr. Nicolae Constantinescu, the Romanian General Consul, for allowing my mother and I to have this opportunity to meet and speak with their Excellencies the Honorable Ambassador to Romania from the United States and the Honorable Ambassador to the United States from Romania. It is a privilege to be here and speak with all of you. As my mother said before, we, the children, are ready to carry on the torch. We are the future, and as the future, it is our duty to continue to work, during the present and future for what is right. I was inspired to become a United States Ambassador to Romania because of what happened to my parents. If they were able to sustain themselves through sub zero conditions, surely I could set my goals and work towards bettering the situation in Romania. Tonight, I see here courageous faces; faces that have seen injustice and have been greatly affected by injustice. Nevertheless, I also see hope.That hope is the tool, the tool that will make Romania rise, youthfully, like a phoenix and give the Romanian people the nourishment and strength to battle successfully. I greatly value my Romanian cultural roots. Under the American rays of education and fairness, I have grown to be healthy and to truly value justice. I will be on a journey. My ultimate destination will lead me to be of service to Romania. I know that through the riches that I have obtained from both, my American and Romanian sides, I will use these gifts to work and to accomplish my goal of helping and sustaining Romania. I hope that all of you will join me on that journey.