The main event was held in the ballroom of the Sheraton Hotel. The banquet hall was prepared for about 1000. Before the program even began, the ballroom was completely full, and an overflow room was also filling up completely. Lic. Rebeca Vilafana de Hellier served as emcee. There were several speakers, including Ambassadors for Peace Sen. Jorge Abel Lopez Sanchez, Sen. Federico Doring Casar, Sen. Santiago Cortes Sandoval, and Dr. Oton Perez Fernandez del Castillo. The invocation was offered by Padre Jorge Luis Mora. Amb. Phillip Sanchez then gave a beautiful testimony of his experiences with Dr. and Mrs. Sun Myung Moon over many years, preparing the audience to receive the main speaker. Dr. Thomas Walsh read the Chairman’s address to a gracious and dignified audience.
Deeply committed to the vision, mission and work of her parents, Sun Jin Moon prefaced her reading of the peace message with words of appreciation for the opportunity to present this speech to the audience here in Mexico. Mother Moon followed with a delivery of the keynote speech, although she was struggling with both a cold and the altitude.
Following the prayer of blessing in marriage, dinner was served, with singing, sharing, and picture-taking. It was heartwarming to see people remaining for an hour or two after the main program.
Mexico is a nation of over 100 million people. Messages of peace are needed, since there had been significant political demonstrations each day, in the center of Mexico City, as a follow-up to the recent presidential elections. The results were being challenged by the opposition, with claims of irregularities and corruption, and demands for a new election. Each day up to 200,000 protesters had been gathering in the streets near our hotel. There was some concern that this might affect the tour event or the ability of participants to travel into the central city; however, it had no negative impact.
To read a message delivered during the UPF peace tours click here.
