Week in Review : MAJOR EVENTS, IMAGES AND PEOPLE IN ORANGE COUNTY NEWS : MISCELLANY / NEWSMAKERS AND MILESTONES
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Peace, not war, was the message at the Irvine Hilton, where 1,000 Orange County residents turned out last Sunday to view a televised ceremony honoring the four Contadora countries, neutral Latin American nations trying to resolve the conflict in Central America.
Irvine was one of 157 cities chosen as the broadcast site, where audiences watched, cheered and sometimes cried as the two-hour international peace celebration was beamed by satellite into ballrooms and auditoriums in the United States and Canada.
The celebration, sponsored by the Beyond War Foundation of Palo Alto, featured the presidents of Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia and Panama, who criticized U.S. involvement in Nicaragua and said that peace in Central America is possible only if the nations involved in the conflict are allowed to solve their own problems.
“We must be left alone,” said Venezuela’s president, Jaime Lusinchi, as the Irvine Hilton crowd cheered. A spokesman for the event said that the program was also broadcast live throughout Central and South America, bringing the total audience to an estimated 20 million.
How did the Irvine audience feel about watching a program with such a heavy topical theme instead of engaging in more frivolous holiday activity?
“First things first,” said 62-year-old Margaret Coston of Placentia. “I think it’s timely this weekend, with the national news we’ve been hearing. We need to hear people with answers other than guns.
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