Trade mission update, Day 2
VALENCIA, Spain (Reuters) -- A pivotal meeting between Portland, Oregon's trade delegation and executives from a Spanish company was postponed this morning due to a medical emergency at the firm's headquarters here. Paramedics were summoned when the international vice president of Iberdrola, Amparo Moraleda Martinez, collapsed after choking on a breakfast churro. Office workers managed to perform the Heimlich maneuver and revive Moraleda, who was taken to a local hospital as a precaution.
"She was turning blue," said Julian Martinez-Simancas Sanchez, the company's general secretary. "It was fortunate that we had people around who knew what to do. She's going to be o.k."
According to witnesses, Moraleda inadvertently inhaled a portion of her pastry in a fit of laughter after her assistant told her that the mayor of Portland and the head of that city's development commission had dropped by to encourage the company to keep its American headquarters in the Oregon city, rather than moving it to Chicago. "I told her they were here, and she asked me to repeat what I had just said," said the assistant, Esperanza Garcia-Rojo. "I told her again, and then she burst out laughing -- really loud belly laughs. I've never seen her like that. Hot cocoa flew out of her nose, and then she started choking."
It was unclear if the meeting with the American officials would take place later in the day. One Iberdrola official who spoke on condition of remaining anonymous said that the Portland delegation may need to make their case to Iberdrola officials at the company's renewable energy offices in Glasgow, Scotland.
| Posted at 5:48 AM | Permalink |
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Comments (9)
It wasn't the churro. Those little marshmallows in the hot cocoa can be a killer.
Posted by Texas Triffid Ranch | February 11, 2011 6:16 AM
Geez, Jack. You could write for The Onion.
Posted by Mark Mason | February 11, 2011 6:39 AM
It could happen!
Thanks for a good laugh!
Posted by Portland Native on the road | February 11, 2011 6:46 AM
Would that be Glasgow via Amsterdam perhaps?
Posted by Abe | February 11, 2011 7:23 AM
At least Sam showed up. Maybe he showed up to an unscheduled meeting, but at least he was there.
Keep 'em guessing, Sam!
Posted by Michelle | February 11, 2011 8:09 AM
The whole situation is funny but no so funny. One has to wonder how the mayor and the head of the PDC are planning to whore the city once again in order to keep up the façade of sustainably green.
Posted by Mr. Grumpy | February 11, 2011 8:38 AM
Is this the Onion?
Posted by pdxmick | February 11, 2011 9:03 AM
Did Jack write it or Reuters?
Posted by Starbuck | February 11, 2011 10:25 AM
Is this turning out to be a trade mission, or a railfan adventure for Sam to ride lots of "high speed rail" and streetcar systems?
Surely, he didn't fly RyanAir to save taxpayers a few bucks.
Posted by Erik H. | February 11, 2011 2:54 PM