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Recollections from the Fa-Rectification Journey To Mexico (Part I) Written by a Dafa practitioner from Ottawa, Canada
(Clearwisdom.net) From October 25 to October 28, 2002, the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation) meeting was held in Los Cabos, Mexico. Leaders from twenty-one countries participated
in the APEC meeting, and the city of Los Cabos was under heightened security for the duration of the
event. Falun Gong practitioners from North America, Europe, Australia and Asia were the only group
approved to appeal during this sensitive APEC meeting. While clearing away evil factors in other
dimension with their pure righteous thoughts, Falun Gong practitioners seized this opportunity to
clarify the truth of Falun Gong to the twenty-one heads of government and their delegations. During
these four days, national leaders, high-ranking officials and attendees of the APEC meeting witnessed the practitioners' peaceful and upright appeal. On October 27, Falun Gong practitioners staged a peaceful appeal at a prominent location along
the main route between the Los Cabos Airport and the APEC meeting venue. Around 2 p.m., when the
motorcade of the United States delegation was passing before the Falun Gong appeal area, President
George W. Bush made a point to open his window and wave to greet practitioners. Many
other APEC attendees gave the "V" sign to wish us success or honked their horns to show
their support. The media widely and positively reported this activity. Falun Gong practitioners overcame many difficulties to come to Mexico ahead of
the APEC meeting, and with pure hearts were able to effectively clarify the truth to key Mexican
officials. The mental outlook displayed by the practitioners moved the Mexican people and the
police, and although Mexico had received a blacklist from China, they did not bar any practitioners
from entering the country. After learning the truth about Falun Gong and the persecution, Mexico
resisted the attempts by Jiang's regime to hinder our activities. I was part of the group of practitioners who came to Mexico ahead of time to participate in Fa-rectification
and truth-clarification. Here I would like to recount details of our Fa-rectification journey. Effectively Clarifying the Truth to the Mexican People As always, the Jiang regime tried to poison
the government of Mexico ahead of Jiang's visit. Spreading lies and offering
economic temptations, they attempt to sidestep attention and accountability for the gross offense of
persecuting Falun Gong. It was reported that right before Jiang's visit to the United States in
October, China signed trade agreements with the United States totaling as high as 4.7 billion
dollars in the telecommunications and oil industries. The request that Jiang proposed to the United States was
that Falun Gong practitioners should not be seen, and Jiang also slandered Falun Gong in the
meantime. Jiang's group made no exception for the kindhearted Mexican people. The Mexican government
received the so-called "Materials about Falun Gong" package from the Chinese government,
including the blacklist of practitioners' names, hoping to block them from entering the country.
At first, under the deceiving lies and pressure, and without knowing the truth of Falun gong, some
officials directly in charge of APEC were going to comply with the wishes of the Chinese government.
As with other groups wishing to appeal, they planned to restrict Dafa practitioners' stay in Mexico
by issuing visas that would force practitioners to leave the country before the national leaders
arrived, or in the case of practitioners already in Mexico, they would extend visas for only one day
before the meeting. Furthermore, they were not going to allow Falun Gong practitioners to display
banners or to conduct any other appeal activities. Under such urgent and serious circumstances, it was extremely important to clarify the truth
effectively and specifically. As the principal officials for the APEC meeting were all in Mexico
City, the practitioners who arrived early did not rush to Los Cabos immediately, but instead stayed
in Mexico City to clarify the truth to key government officials there. Many Spanish-speaking Dafa practitioners arrived ahead of time from other countries. They formed
one body with the local Dafa practitioners in Mexico City, and in time introduced the truth of Falun
Dafa to all levels of government in Mexico. The beauty of Falun Dafa, contrasting with the
brutal and despicable means of Jiang's persecution of the innocent, as well as the great benevolence
and forbearance displayed by Dafa practitioners, compelled the Mexican officials to finally give the
green light to Dafa practitioners' entering Los Cabos. This laid the groundwork for allowing Dafa
practitioners to peacefully appeal during the APEC meeting along that prominent stretch of road that
would be taken by all the leaders attending the meeting. "This is Mexico, Not China. You Will Not Have Any Problem." In light of the fact that Jiang had provided the German and Icelandic governments with materials
slandering Falun Gong and had exerted all kinds of pressure on them, it was extremely important to
clarify the truth to key government officials in Mexico City ahead of time, so as to suppress the
evil and reduce potential losses to Dafa. As time was tight, we broke with the Mexican convention that one has to be referred for an appointment, and
visited the Congress in person to clarify the truth directly. A high-ranking official in the
security department listened to the truth about Falun Gong and our purpose for being in Mexico, and
he studied the United States House Concurrent Resolution 188 [condemning the persecution of Falun
Gong practitioners in China and in America]. He said to us, "You visited on your own
initiative to contact the Mexican government to explain the reason and purpose of your appeal in
Mexico, and it indicates your good intention. It is obvious that the persecution against you by
China is politically motivated. This is Mexico, not China. You won't have any problem. I will
compile a report based on your visit and these situations we discussed." Afterwards, based on
the facts that he had learned, this official submitted a report about Falun Gong to the person in
charge of the security department for the APEC meeting in Mexico. This played a major role in making
it possible for us to peacefully appeal during the APEC meeting. A warmhearted Mexican couple helped us immediately, after learning the truth of Falun Gong and
the persecution in China. On their own initiative, they introduced us to a Mexican government
official and arranged for us to meet with a Congressman in the party in power. We introduced Falun
Dafa to the Congressman, and told about the brutal persecution of Falun Dafa in China. We discussed
our planned peaceful appeal at Los Cabos, and told him of our concern about Jiang's campaign of
slandering Falun Gong to countries that he plans to visit. After learning the truth, the Congressman
emphasized in the same way as did the government official, "This is Mexico, not China,"
and he warmly told us, "I will help you. I will go with you to protest in Los Cabos." He
told us not to worry, and then he and his staff invited us to teach them the exercises and learned the first two
exercises from us. To further help us, the Congressman asked us to prepare a detailed document
about the persecution. In the week before the APEC meeting, he hosted a press conference in the
Congress and appealed for the persecution to stop. The Mexican media covered it thoroughly. This
congressman continues to work hard to encourage more members of congress to support Falun Gong. Mexican Reporter: "I Will Broadcast the Program About the Persecution for Two Days Before
the APEC Meeting." In Mexico City, practitioners from Argentina and Canada worked together with local practitioners,
and organized several press conferences, which were covered by the local media. MVS TV Station
attended the press conference and interviewed the family members of practitioners being persecuted
in China. To overcome language barriers, the interviews with practitioners who spoke only Chinese were
first translated into English, and then into Spanish by Mexican practitioners. Family members, as
well as practitioners who are friends of persecuted practitioners in China, spoke to the reporters.
They talked about how their families and their friends' families experienced positive changes after
they started practicing Falun Dafa and how entire families benefited, becoming healthy and
harmonious. Speaking from their hearts, they told the tragic story of their friend Peng Min, who was
arrested for exercising his rights as a citizen and telling the government, "Falun Dafa is
good." For this he was arrested and sent to a forced labor camp, where he was tortured to the
point of paralysis. The labor camp refused to allow him to be treated, and instead called the Jiang regime's mouthpiece, CCTV, to shoot a television news story falsely saying that a Falun Gong
practitioner wouldn't take medicine to treat his illnesses and became paralyzed. Peng Min finally
passed away in pain, but the CCTV reported that he committed suicide. Later his mother was arrested
and sent to a forced labor camp because she told people the real reason for her son's death.
Several months later, she was beaten to death as well. The practitioners present at the
interview wept upon relating this story. They told the reporter, "We come here to appeal because the chief criminal of
the persecution of Falun Gong is coming here." The reporter had not realized that right now, in the 21st century, there are dramas as horrible
as this one being played out in China. He was deeply touched by the group of kind practitioners in front
of him, and said, "I want to go to your practice site to shoot more videos clips and combine
them with this one to make a 20-minute program to broadcast before the APEC meeting." After he
recorded the Falun Dafa music, he came back and said, "We will broadcast this 20-minute program
during prime time on both days before the APEC meeting -- we will try our best." This TV
station followed us and continued to report on our story, including the appeal activities and the
press conferences in Los Cabos. (To be continued) Posting date: 12/2/2002 |