http://www.itsyourworld.org/program.php?page=1502

MANUEL CAMACHO SOLIS (PRD), Representing the Partido de la Revolucion Democratica. Member of the 49th Congress; former Mayor of Mexico City; and former Secretary of Foreign Relations.

AMBASSADOR ROBERTA LAJOUS (PRI), Representing the Partido Revolucionario Institucional. Former Mexican Ambassador to Austria and Cuba and Permanent Representative from Mexico at the United Nations in Vienna and New York; former Director General for North America and for Europe in the Mexican Foreign Ministry.

JUAN MOLINAR HORCASITAS (PAN), Representing the Partido Acción Nacional. Member of the 49th Congress; Chairman for the Council on Economic Affairs, PAN; former professor of political science at El Colegio de México and the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México, and former Undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior.

Moderated by Ysabel Duron, Anchor and Reporter, KRON-4 News

As Mexican citizens living abroad are gearing up to cast their votes for the first time in July 2006, the World Affairs Council of Northern California, the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, and Bank of America are very pleased to co-host 2 debates in English on January 23rd in the San Francisco Bay area. The discussion will be between representatives from the 3 major Mexican political parties: the PRI, the PAN, and the PRD.

The debaters, each national leaders in their own right, will represent their respective parties’ policy ideas and solutions to the pressing issues in Mexico today. This program will highlight the issues framing U.S.-Mexico relations and the challenges facing each party in the up-coming election in July, when Mexicans will vote for all 500 seats in the Congress and all 128 seats in the Senate, in addition to electing the President.

The debates are the first and second of five debates to be held in California as part of “A Celebration of the Mexican Democracy: Who Should Be the Next President of Mexico� debate series held January 23-25, 2006. Los Angeles, Santa Ana, and San Diego will host debates three, four, and five.

California Debate #1 – Santa Clara, California, 12:30-2:00 PM

Check-In: 12:00 Noon

Location: Mayer Theater, Santa Clara University, 500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara

Free to all but reservations are required: Please RSVP to Nikole DuTemple at NDutemple@scu.edu or 408-554-5319

California Debate #2 – San Francisco, California, 6:00-7:30 PM

Check-In: 5:15 PM

Location: World Affairs Council Auditorium, 312 Sutter Street, San Francisco

Reserve online at the link above or by calling (415) 293-4600.

Debate 1: 12:30 PM, Free to all,

Debate 2: 6:00 PM; Members & Students: FREE, Nonmembers: $15,

Statewide Cosponsor: Bank of America