TIJUANA.- American actor Forest Whitaker made a rare appearance yesterday in Tijuana, meeting with Mayor Jorge Astiazarán, and not because of a film role or any other production.

Whitaker traveled to Tijuana with the objective of making the city home to a pilot program for the Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative, which aims to create young leaders in their communities, make them experts in conflict resolution and teach them abilities to promote peace and development in new generations.

Astiazarán and Whitaker took the opportunity to discus the stages and main points needed to improve the social fabric in some of the most marginalized communities of the city, to be applied during the next three years.

"It is an honor for us to welcome such a world famous person and, above all, for the great initiative of wanting to help in the wellbeing of our city, starting with youths through this interesting foundation," announced Astiazarán during a joint media appearance with Whitaker./p]

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For his part, Mr. Whitaker said they started their activities this September in some of the city's high-schools by selecting the 30 young people –15 women and 15 men– that will join this project and train them in conflict resolution, building communities, life coaching, communication and information technologies.

"It's a program dedicated to young people in communities in Tijuana between the ages of 15 and 22, who during a year will be trained in different areas like mediation, conflict resolution, computers and how to handle information. During two more years, accompanied by the foundation, they will continue with a training in order to implement a specific an action of plan for their community," explained Mr. Whitaker.

Also present during the meeting where the secretaries for Social Development, Javier Camarena Salinas, of the Interior, Bernardo Padilla Muñoz; as well as Francisco Diez, from the Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative.

The Academy Award-winning actor has worked with different charity organizations, supporting different communities and being an honorary member of the Penny Lane Centers organization that provides help for abused teens, part of Human Rights Watch and the Hope North Organization, which Whitaker has been a member and benefactor of since he filme The Last King of Scotland in 2006.

Forest Whitaker can currently be seen in movie theaters actually with "The Butler", a film in which he plays a White House butler that lives to see many presidents throughout the years. It is also an Academy Award favorite.

VIDEO: "The Butler"

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