September 2005

MEDIA RELEASE
For immediate release: August 31, 2005

“Horizons of Friendship Announces Exposure Tour to Mexico for 2006”

(Cobourg, ON) Horizons of Friendship announced a new Exposure Tour today. A ten-day group delegation will be organized in February 2006 to the Southern State of Chiapas in Mexico. The tour will allow participants to visit community development projects working with the Mayan Indigenous groups of Mexico in agriculture production and women’s human rights issues.

The trip is organized by Horizons of Friendship, a Canadian charitable organization located in Cobourg, Ontario that supports development projects in Central America and Mexico. Exposure Tours are annual events that blend educational and cultural travel. They are an opportunity to give a first-hand look at how Horizons of Friendship works and supports local organizations in the South.

Horizons has hosted five extremely successful Exposure Tours which have given friends and supporters from Northumberland County, Kingston, Calgary and Nova Scotia an opportunity to have a more meaningful travel experience. The tours create awareness about the socio-economic context and cultural diversity of countries in Central American and Mexico.

Chiapas, Mexico has one of the largest and most diverse indigenous populations; almost one million people speak an indigenous language. It is also home to nine major ethnicities and was a centre of the Mayan Empire including the world-renowned ceremonial city of Palenque, which the group will visit. However, one of the most persistent problems of recent times in Chiapas has been the need to give greater rights for Mexico’s forgotten indigenous peoples, which Horizons of Friendship is working towards.

The trip will last 10 days and will take place in mid-February 2006. The total cost of the tour is $3,200, and includes such expenses as airfare, accommodation, insurance, in-country travel and all meals. Spaces are still available for those interested. To learn more, please contact Horizons of Friendship in Cobourg at (905) 372-5483 or 1-888-729-9928.

For more information, please contact:
Jessica Farias
(905) 372-5483 Ext. 24

REBEL MUSIC AMERICAS TOUR – Peterborough
Solidarity Encounter Between The Americas
September 22nd, 2005
Film, Panel & Concert

“From Tierra del Fuego to the Rio Grande the Americas are in turmoil, and in the midst of the social and political movements rocking the region are some amazing rebel musicians.”

“Four of them take centre stage in the film REBEL MUSIC AMERICAS. It’s the rhythms and voices of displaced communities in Colombia, of “los piqueteros” blocking access to a refinery in Buenos Aires, of indigenous Mexicans hunted down at the U.S. border, of peasants staging vast land occupations in Brazil. These groups take us, in their music and through their lives, inside the major people’s movements and the political and social events shaping the Americas of today.”

This event will include the film screening, a panel discussion and performances by international artists.

For more information, contact:
OPRIG Trent University
Telephone: (705) 741-1208
Email: opirg@trentu.ca