Washington DC –  The 80th birthday of His Holiness the Dalai Lama was celebrated in several cities in the Latin American Region.

On July 5, the 80th birthday of His Holiness the Dalai Lama was celebrated in Santiago, the capital city of Chile (South America) with a cycle rally for peace in the morning followed by a main event held at the Fundacion Cultural de Provindence.

The main event was commenced with Fernando Salinas speaking about the life and vision of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and reading the message of Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Latin America.  Other activities at the main event included a brief talk on introduction to Buddhism, a session of meditation, art for Tibet participated by the children, artist’s expression on the theme of the event, and musical presentation. The event in Santiago de Chile, organized by the Amigos del Chile, was participated by a hundred supporters and well wishers of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

In Montevideo, the capital city of Uruguay (South America), the 80th birthday of His Holiness was celebrated on the evening of July 6 at the historic culture center of Montevideo,”Ateneo de Montevideo” located in the city center. Anthropologist and theater director Luis Vidal,  artist and supporter Ciro Jaumandreu, writer and activist Aloma Sellanese shared His Holiness’ life and vision through poetry, stories, anecdotes, and the presentation of video clips.  The event, attended by 65 people, was commenced with the presentation of singing bowl presentation by Guillermo Cabrera. The event was covered by the TV Channel 10.

Earlier in the morning, the TV channel 4 invited Aloma Sellanes to the studio to discuss in depth about the life and vision of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the program was broadcasted immediately.

In Petropolis city in the Southern Brazil, the 80th birthday of His Holiness was marked with Miguel Berredo’s presentation on the life and vision of His Holiness and the event was attended by around 75 people.

In Mexico City, the 80th birthday of His Holiness was celebrated with two-day event on July 5 and 6, jointly organized by the Casa Tibet Mexico and Centro Loseling and coordinated by the Tibet Mx.

The visiting Loseling monks commenced the event with the invocation prayers.  Thereafter, Alan Murillo of the Casa Tibet Mexico spoke about the life and vision of His Holiness the Dalai Lama; Geshe Lobsang Dawa, a Mexican Tibetan monk who studied at Drepung Loseling and now a resident teacher at Centro Loseling, spoke about the power of compassion; Loseling monks gave a presentation of the Tibetan Buddhist ritual music as well as snow lion dance; and the local musicians sang Mexican Mariachi songs. A featured film on the life of His Holiness, “Kundun” was also screened during the event. The two day event was attended by more than 400 well wishers and supporters and ended with the festivity mood.

In the Mexican cities of Puebla, Morelia, Cuernavaca, and Queretaro, the 80th birthday of His Holiness the Dalai is celebrated with the tour of film screening of “Tibetan Stories” directed and produced by Russell Avery.  The film screening tour commenced in Puebla City on July 3 with the presence of Russell Avery who spoke about the project. After Puebla, the screening takes place in Morelia city on July 7, Cuernavaca on July 9 and finally concluded at Queretaro city on July 10.  A separate celebration also takes place in Monterrey City on July 10.

As a reminiscence of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s connection with the Latin American people, Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Latin America also released and shared an online photo album of His Holiness’ visit to the Latin American region from 1989 to 2013.