In December, 1965, Mayor Victor H. Schiro led his first cultural-trade mission to Central America
since taking office in 1961. The mayor and his party visited five nations, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador
and Guatemala, and
were greeted at receptions, luncheons, and dinners by government officials and business leaders. Schiro hoped to
initiate talks leading to the possible establishment of New Orleans as headquarters for a proposed common market
between Central America and the United States.
During his two terms in office, Mayor Schiro attempted to carry on deLesseps S. Morrison's successful pursuit of Latin
American trade and cultural exchange. It was during his administration that the International Trade Mart and the
Rivergate exhibition hall rose on the banks of the river at the foot of Canal Street. But various factors--disagreements
among local leaders of the international trade movement, along with pressing domestic concerns during the tumultuous
era of desegregation in New Orleans, for example--conspired against Mayor Schiro, and by the end of his administration
the international trade movement had lost some of its momentum.
Most of the people in this photograph of Schiro's 1965 trip to Central America are unidentified. It is also unclear where
the photograph was taken. However, since the tall man with the mustache is Jose Ramirez Soto, mayor of Tegucigalpa,
Honduras, it seems likely that the photo shows the New Orleans visitors either landing in or departing from Honduras.
Mayor Schiro, of course, is the man in the hat.
