Representatives of the largest social movements in Latin America will be at
the United Nations on October 12, for a series of meetings and events in
relation to the Continental Cry of the Excluded. They will be dealing with
pressing issues such as the Plan Colombia, the Free Trade Agreement of the
Americas, the Latin American debt crisis, and the situation of Latin American
immigrants in the United States.

The delegation is composed of representatives from the Confederation of
Indigenous Nations, from Ecuador; the Indigenous National Congress, from
Mexico; the Latin American Congress of Farm Workers Organizations; the
Landless Workers Movement, from Brazil; the Continental Front of Community
Organizations; the Association of Farm Workers, from Nicaragua; the Defense
of Neighborhood Rights Committee, from the Dominican Republic; the National
Coalition for Dignity and Amnesty for Undocumented Immigrants, from the
United States; and the Kensington Welfare Rights Union, from the United
States. Religious leaders from Latin America, such as Nobel Peace Prize
laureate Bishop Adolfo Perez Esquivel, from Argentina, will also join the
delegation.

The Cry of the Excluded delegation is an effort to bring attention to
situations of poverty, hunger, unemployment, and environmental destruction in
Latin America. In the past two weeks, the Cry of Excluded organized different
events in almost every country in Latin America, involving approximately 20
million people. The United Nations delegation represents the concerns of
millions of people who have been suffering human rights violations all over
the continent.

In addition to the United Nations meetings, the Cry of the Excluded
delegation will promote a public debate in New York City on October 12, at
5:30 p.m., at 310 W. 43rd Street. The gathering will also include traditional
music and dance performances, as part of a movement that has been organizing
marches, debates, and cultural events in the Americas. This type of
organization seeks to build partnerships for the development of a continental
grassroots project that promotes economic sovereignty and values local
cultures.

PRESS CONFERENCE: October 12, at 12:30 PM, at the United Methodist Office of
the United Nations, 777 UN Plaza, 11th Floor.

PUBLIC DEBATE: October 12, at 5:30 PM, at the National Health and Human
Services Employees Union Auditorium (Local 1199), at 310 W. 43rd Street,
Manhattan, NY.

Contact information: Martín Longoria Tel: (212)473-3936 / Fax: (212)473-6103
gritousa@aol.com