This past Saturday, over 8 thousand people gathered at the Cuauhtemoc roundabout located at Zona Rio in the City of Tijuana to participate in the annual "Zombie walk". Currently this event is considered the 3rd largest event in all of Mexico.

The "Zombie Walk" is a recreational social movement for the people of Tijuana and is completely Free. They are even known as "Social Awareness Zombies" given that each march is dedicated to a different foundation. This year it was in honor of the "GAIA Foundation" who helps senior citizens with low income, which is why they requested those who went to the event to support their cause by bringing food or and supplies.

However this citizen gathering was criticized by public figures like journalists and religious people, especially by Archbishop Rafael Romo Muñoz who classified those who participated as people without values. Others classified the "Zombies" as apathetic when facing social issues like the VAT standardization at the border, which made a call for another march a few days ago receiving a much lower affluence.

Paio Hernandez, organizer of the "Zombie Walk Tijuana" met with SanDiegoRed to talk about the event's stance and clear up several misunderstandings, which arose because of these negative criticisms. "ZWTJ was established as free event from the beginning, promoting healthy fun for families and lovers of the 'horror' genre" Hernandez said. "We have taken advantage of our reach slowly to help civil associations in Tijuana to collect food and basic supplies to help those who need the help the most in Tijuana. If there is something that all of our event participants know is that we do not have any monetary gain from these events, and we have rejected several sponsors from companies because of the fact that it is for us, our participants are not a market to exploit, they are citizens who just want to have a nice day."

Paio Hernandez added that "in regards to the statements made by the Archbishop, the articles by some media, we have nothing to comment other than it would be wise for them to get to know our organization better, because it is sad that public figures and news agencies misuse the event's name, an event which is appreciated by a lot of families, solely to gain attention and personal gains, calling for attention to subjects which have absolutely nothing to do with us or our event."

In conclusion the organizer said that "Zombie Walk Tijuana takes a lot of months of preparation, it takes 80 people who volunteer to help without any sort of pay or benefit, and support this event, year after year we do this without the support of the government, institutions or companies, and the budget we have comes from the staff and myself. Everyone is invited to get to know us better, as well as participate and keep growing, given that Zombie Walk Tijuana is one of the 3 most important marches in the country, and one of the 10 largest in the world, it will continue to have the values and morals that we have maintained so far".

"Zombie Walk Tijuana 2013" started it's march at the Cuauhtemoc roundabout, walking through Sanchez Taboada Boulevard ending in Tijuana's Downtown, were a party was organized for those who assisted the event. "Zombie Walk Tijuana 2013" is one of Tijuana's most attractive games in the city, intriguing curiosity and surprising those who were present at the event, let us hope that the surprises continue to happen next year.

Jorge.Guevara@sandiegored.com

Daniel.Aguilar@sandiegored.com