Recollections from the Fa-Rectification Journey to Mexico (Part III)
Written by a Dafa practitioner in Ottawa, Canada
(Clearwisdom.net)
6. About the Appeal Location
So far, everything had gone smoothly and everybody was pleased. Practitioners
that arrived on Monday had no problems clearing customs. However, on
Tuesday the Mexican authorities stopped us from putting up a banner across a busy
intersection. After discussing among ourselves, we decided to start setting up
everything on Wednesday and find a suitable spot for the banners to catch the
attention of reporters and participants attending the APEC meeting.
One other problem was the complexity of the officials we had to deal with in
Los Cabos. There were the local officials, federal officials, as well as
officials from the APEC organization. In addition, there were the local police,
federal police, presidential guards and army troops as well. Under the evil's
influence, any of these groups could have possibly caused interference.
Therefore, we knew that we must get rid of all the potential problems before the
other practitioners arrived.
After careful investigation, we settled for two locations:
On Wednesday morning, practitioners went to San Lucas to begin their appeal
under the scorching sun. As soon as we set up, reporters from over twenty media
immediately swarmed towards us.
However, we encountered problems at the other location. While hanging up our
banners, we noticed a Chinese special agent snooping around. Minutes later, a
number of APEC security officers, including one official whom we had clarified
the truth to earlier, appeared on the scene. Some reporters also came. After
some negotiations, we agreed to rearrange our set up, but remained firm not to
leave this vital spot. We continued to clarify the truth to Mr. G, who appeared
to understand the difficult situation of living under suppression and
persecution in China, and why we were doing what we were doing there.
Later, soon after we had erected the two huge banners, "Falun Dafa is Good,"
and "Stop Persecuting Falun Gong," an army officer came and told us to take them
down. One practitioner who spoke Spanish tried to talk to him. Mr. G also showed
up again. After further negotiation, they agreed that we could stay.
Subsequently, officials from different groups ordered us to take down the
banners and leave the place. Mr. G talked to them one by one. We were left
unscathed.
But that was not the end of our problems. Mr. G told us that Mr. A was the
principal person responsible for the safety of all the visiting Heads of
Government, and that he would have the final say. We realized that was our
omission in our clarifying the truth. Back in Mexico City, we already knew the
important role Mr. A played, and also had his phone number, but had not
contacted him. We decided to immediately make an appointment to see him.
At eight o'clock that evening, we met Mr. A. After clarifying the truth to
him about Falun Gong, Mr. A said that he respected our Falun Gong practitioners'
action. However, for the safety of all the Heads of State, he must watch
all the actions of Falun Gong practitioners closely during this period. There
was a special request from China to ensure that Jiang would not be exposed to
Falun Gong. That was his job and he had made up his mind; there was no room for
negotiation.
From our conversation, we knew that he had received a lot of slanderous
material on Falun Gong from the Chinese authorities, but also he had also heard
the truth from other Mexican officials whom we had talked to. However, compared
with the other Mexican officials, he had a lot of misunderstandings about Falun
Gong that needed to be put straight.
We earnestly informed him that our appeal would be peaceful and would
not be a security issue. When bringing up the cases of some practitioners who
were tortured to death for appealing in Beijing, but later reported as suicide,
I could not hold back my tears. I told him that Jiang was a cold-blooded
murderer of the Chinese people, but he replied, "You are trying hard to convince
me."
I realized that buried in my earnestness was a pursuit to change his mind,
which I must get rid of immediately. Therefore, I felt that we should stop
trying to persuade him further, but should try our best to break his warped
notions with the principles of Dafa, and to let him know more about the truth. It
was Dafa giving him and the people of Mexico an opportunity. So I said, "I won't
try to convince you. I simply want to let you know the truth about Falun Gong,
so we can understand each other better."
When he said that the President of China represented China, I told him that
Jiang was not elected by the people; a murderer of his own people could not
represent the nation and the people of China. His fabricated lies about Falun
Gong had poisoned the minds of millions of people in China. Not only was he
persecuting Falun Gong, he was persecuting all the citizens in China and he
would bring disaster to the whole nation. I quoted Mr. Irwin Cotler, Member of
Parliament of Canada, who said "Truth, Compassion, Forbearance represent the
best of Chinese values...the values of a great civilization." (Source:
http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2001/8/3/12695.html)
At long last, Mr. A appeared moved. He asked repeatedly, "What can I help you
with?" But we could still see that he was still holding firm to his stance.
The next day, when we went to the appeal site by the Yellow Monument, Mr. G
was already there. Mr. A also arrived, but he did not insist on us moving to
another place. Thus we finally secured a key location in Los Cabos for our
protest appeal.
There is one point worthy of mention. The Mexican officials had told us that
only citizens of Mexico were allowed to stage a protest and set up banners,
whereas visitors did not have that privilege. However, on the Friday morning
when the Heads of States were due to arrive, a Mexican group set up a protest
banner nearby, but before long, they were told to leave. On the other hand, we
Falun Gong practitioners as visitors, were the only group allowed to stage a
protest. We can see the power of clarifying the truth.
(To be continued)
Chinese version available at
http://www.minghui.cc/mh/articles/2002/11/19/39770.html
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