Guadalupan Torch Run 2002 Mexico-New York 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, And 2002 For the first time an Historic Event, the run will Bring the Torch from the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City to St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City.

Press Release                September 11^th 2002

Grant a  name and face for the immigrants

Our messengers crossed the border to give good news to their families and enrich this country with their work and culture, but the tragedy seized their life while they were working to accomplish their dreams. In agreement with their employers and the authorities of this country, they officially died without name, without face, on September 11^th of 2001.

Today, September 11 of 2002, at one o clock pm, in San Bernardo’s Church in Manhattan (14^th St between 8^th and 9^th Av) former workers of the WTC will be invested as special messengers. The spirit of those who died on September 11^th, will give strength to the special messengers who will announce to and for 36 cities in the United States, that we shouldn’t die without name and face. That it is possible to come together in faith and organize in the need to have a name and face, so that this country will give us the right to work with a name and a face. That it is a tragedy to die away from home and the family, and double tragedy is to die without a name and face in agreement with the employers and authorities of this country, like it happened for those who died on September 11^th.

We haven’t found those who may reveal their real faces. After September 11^th, their friends have reported possible names: Adrian Flores Zepeda (Mexico), Samuel Herrera (México), Dora Luz Rojas (México), Rosa Sanchez Torres (Mexico), Brando Ledezma (?), Ronald Hernandez (USA/Spain), Victor Manuel Bernal Macias (México), Jaime Muñoz (Ecuador), and many others who have not yet been reported...

The families of those who to be able to find a job have been forced to conceal their name and face in the United States, will light the Antorcha Guadalupana on the Basilica de Guadalupe on October at 9:00 am, and they will run for 9 days to take the torch to the border in Matamoros/Brownsville. The children of the messengers without name and face, those who are born with a name and a face in the United States, will cross the border on the night of November 6th.  The special messengers will cross 35 cities to reach New York on December 12.

The whole way we will remember the victims of September 11^th, and specially the messengers, officially without a name and face, those who couldn’t come back and look at their wives, children, mother and father. They came anonymously, and anonymously they died. This are the names of those who having their families living far away, cannot remember the face of their loved ones, and their employers dare not remember their names: Jose Morales Aquino (Puebla, Pue., México), Arturo Alba  Moreno (DF, México), Jorge Octavio Santos Anaya (Aguascalientes, México), Victor Antonio Martinez Pastrana (Puebla, México), Fernando Jimenez Molinar (Oaxaca, México), Dante Lazo Ruiz ( Lima, Peru), Margarito Casillas (Guadalajara, Jalisco, México), Nicolas Brenes García (Almendro, Nicaragua).

Their employers just saw them as workers. They we forced by the immigration laws to hide their names and faces to have work opportunities. Their names were never written in the accounting books of the many businesses. Officially, they never existed. They don’t exist any more than the 9 million undocumented immigrants that  in spite of strengthening the economy of the United States, are still forced to conceal their name and face.

For all of them, the Special Messengers will run with the Antorcha Guadalupana, throughout the roads of both countries, to announce that it is urgent to unite in for faith and demand that the Government of the United States officially accepts their names and faces, and grants permanent Residency to the more than 9 million undocumented immigrants, so they can be in the books, have a legal identification, receive medical attention, travel to their countries of origin so they can be remembered by their sons, daughters, mothers and wives, to buy a house in the United States, cash a check, obtain a drivers license, to be able to get a death certificate when they die, to receive compensation for accident or death, so that their families will not be left vulnerable, and to stop the suffering for all that has been evident on September 11^th 2001.

Responsible Joel Magallán, SJ Excutive Director

Asociación Tepeyac de New York

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Ana Guevara

Ana Gabriela Guevara  (www.latinmex.com), athlete from Sonora State, Mexico, major athletic promoter and a proud representative of Mexico, shows her solidarity with Mexicans and other Latino immigrants to the United States by confirming that on October 29, 20002, she will be at the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico City, at 9:00 AM, to launch the International Guadalupan Torch Run. Her participation will promote the message of dignity for a people divided by the border, a message that will be brought on foot by relay runners, all the way to New York City on December 12, 2002, via 45 cities (9 in Mexico and 36 on the East Cost of the United States) where hundreds of thousands of Mexicans have migrated.

Alex Lora

Likewise, Alex Lora of  Mexican urban rock band, “El Tri”, (www.rockska.com/eltri.html), and devout follower of the Virgin of Guadalupe, has confirmed he will take his turn at the Basilica of Guadalupe on October 29, the launch of the torch run, and that he will sing to the Virgin of Guadalupe so she might give strength to the messengers who will run relays to promote the message of dignity for the millions of undocumented Mexicans who live in the United States.Alex lora the singer of one of the best Mexican Rock Band " El Tri" will be in the Basilica of Guadalupe on October 29 at 9:00 Am.