A series of events sponsored in part by the Mexican Consulate will bring Mexican culture throughout San Diego County during the month of February.

    On Thursday, February 10, the University of California, San Diego, in La Jolla, have an all-day symposium titled “Mexico Moving Forward” with the participation of some of the most outstanding players in various areas and industries in Mexico.

    “Mexico Moving Forward” is part of a special program of UCSD to celebrate its 50 anniversary. The symposium will include the participation of prominent Mexican leaders, including novelist and historian Rafael Tovar y de Teresa and Manuel Arango, a businessman and philanthropist, who will participate in a dialogue about the future of the most populous country in the Spanish-speaking world.

    It will also feature novelist and UCSD professor, Cristina Rivera Garza, one of the most important writers in contemporary Mexican literature.

    Another of the speakers at this historic symposium will include Manuel Arango, known businessman and philanthropist, founder of Grupo Cifra and the Mexican Center for Philanthropy, Rodolfo Dirzo, world-renowned ecologist and botanist, director of the Laboratory Dirzo, Stanford University, Exequiel Ezcurra , internationally known ecologist and director of the Mexico / United States University of California (UC MEXUS), Herminio Blan-co, president and CEO of Strategic Solutions and member of the NAFTA negotiating team by the government of Mexico, Diana Magaloni, director National Anthropology Museum, the largest anthropology museum in the world, Raul Padilla Lopez, president of the board of the University of Guadalajara and the University Cultural Centre, founded the International Book Fair.

    The event has a cost of $175 per person, and includes a sample of the cuisine of Baja California and a rock concert by Tijuana rockero Javier Batiz.

    “Celebrate Mexico at UC SD,” reads the flyer for the event.

    “Mexico Moving Forward” is not the only event that celebrates the Aztec country this month.

    On February 5 the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, La Jolla, opens the exhibition “MEXICO: Expected / Unexpected”, which includes over 100 works from the Colección Coppel, one of the most important collections of contemporary Mexican art. The exhibition runs until May.

    On 17 February the Jewish Film Festival San Diego will present the documentary “Visa al paraiso”, which attests to the efforts made by the Mexican diplomat Gilberto Bosques to help thousands of people escape the horrors of World War II . The festival will be at Reading Cinemas, Town Square 14, San Diego.

    On 19 February the La Jolla Athenaeum will be attended by the poet and visual artist Alberto Blanco, who will display some of his latest multimedia creations.

    With so much Mexican culture in San Diego, it is obvious that there is significant interest in what happens in the arts south of the border.

    “This speaks to the tremendous potential of the Mexican culture in San Diego,” said Pedro Ochoa, Cultural Attaché of the Consulate General of Mexico in San Diego.

    For more information about these events, visit www.consulmexsd.org or (619) 308-9950.