Decorated with large blowups of several Pathfinder titles, many visitors stopped by the booth to discuss the deepening worldwide crisis of capitalism, Washington's war against the people of Afghanistan, and the resistance of the working people the world over. There was special interest shown in the struggles of the working class in the United States.

Numerous Pathfinder titles on the Cuban Revolution, a beacon showing how workers and farmers can take and hold power, were also an attraction to people passing by. Cuba will be the featured country at the 2002 fair, following Brazil, which was honored this year.

Over the course of the nine-day fair, the Pathfinder booth was staffed by volunteers from New York; Toronto; Charlotte, North Carolina; San Francisco; Philadelphia; St. Paul, Minnesota; and Los Angeles.

Among the best sellers were the Spanish-language editions of Che Guevara Talks to Young People with 53 copies sold; The Working Class and the Transformation of Learning by Jack Barnes with 50 copies sold, Cuba and the Coming American Revolution, Capitalism's World Disorder, and Thomas Sankara's Women's Liberation and the African Freedom Struggle. In addition, all five copies of the Pathfinder pamphlet, Abortion: A Woman's Right to Choose were sold in the first two days of the book fair.

A total of 67 English-language titles were sold mainly to Mexican students and workers, including several copies of Marxism and Terrorism and Fascism: What It Is and How to Fight It, along with My Life and The History of the Russian Revolution, all by Leon Trotsky; Malcolm X Speaks; and Nelson Mandela's The Struggle is My Life.

"Young people stayed at the booth for hours and there were many repeat customers," said Maria Alice Andre, a young staff volunteer at the Pathfinder booth. "A group of five high school students organized into a group called the Red Brotherhood Collective walked into our booth. They were very serious about politics," Andre explained. "They pooled all the money they had and bought 10 books, including titles by Lenin, Marx, and by U.S. communist leader Jack Barnes," she said.

Guillermo Gómez, Pablo Ayala, José Juan, and Alejandro Carpio pooled their money to buy Che Guevara Talks To Young People. They are senior high school students at the Colegio Cervantes Costa Rica in Guadalajara. Gómez, who was wearing a T-shirt with the image of Che Guevara, said he had been assigned to do a biography in school and chose to do it on Che. "I read the Bolivian Diary, but I thought it was a little boring," he said. "Then I read Episodes Of the Cuban Revolutionary War and I have been looking for more books by him ever since.

"I like Che Guevara, I like Cuba. I have a deep admiration for the Cuban people because it has been an example of dignity, able to withstand the 'yanqui' might," said Roberto Olivares, a 42-year-old grain farmer who visited the Pathfinder booth. "I have read speeches by Che before and I would like someday to get his collected works."

"I am working so I can keep working. My standard of living is only getting lower," said Olivares, explaining the difficulties he and other small farmers are having. "I had not come to the fair for three years because I could not afford even one book. I come from a family that farmed for decades, but I am the last one left on the land."

Olivares, who has 100 head of cattle, said with the enactment of the North American Free Trade Agreement the "import of grain from the United States into Mexico has increased, causing the prices small farmers can get for their crops to plummet. At the same time the banks are charging more for loans."  
 
Farmers' struggles
The Pathfinder volunteers explained the plight of small farmers in the United States and described some of the experiences farmers are going through, including organizing several fact-finding delegations to Cuba. Olivares said he would be interested in contacting those farmers. "Maybe we could help each other," he said, purchasing two titles.

Flavio González, a farm veterinarian who bought copies of the Spanish-language monthly Perspectiva Mundial, explained that "since Article 27 of the Mexican constitution was changed under the presidency of former Mexican president Carlos Salinas to allow the sale and purchase of "ejidos,"communal lands that date back to the 1910–20 Mexican revolution, more and more farmers are losing their land. "I must know about 40 peasants that have lost their land in the last several years and the new administration of Vicente Fox is no different," he said.

Sponsored by the University of Guadalajara, the book fair is a major literary and cultural event in Mexico and it is one of the most important events of its kind in Latin America. The huge Exposition Guadalajara where the book fair was held was filled to capacity, with more than 1,200 publishing houses participating from 32 countries.

There was significant interest among those attending the fair in a booth sponsored by sexual and reproductive rights groups in Mexico. This booth included information on birth control, abortion, which is illegal in Mexico, and gay rights. Among the hundreds of workshops there were several on these questions as well.

Cuban publishers staffed a substantial booth that was always filled with youthful crowds. During the course of the book fair, Cuban participants went to the University of Guadalajara and other campuses and spoke before several classes.

A total of 158 book presentations were made during the fair, which included programs on works by well-known writers such as Brazilian author Paulo Coelho. Brazil was featured this year so culture from the South American country was on display. A large stage set up outside the Exposition Center featured Brazilian music every night.

A number of workshops and symposiums were also held. A series of workshops on Chicanos in the United States included discussion on immigration between Mexico and the United States. Jorge Castañeda, the foreign affairs minister of the Mexican government, was the featured speaker at the standing-room-only final session. Several young people protested his presentation with signs saying, "Traitor" and "Castañeda, Mexico is not for sale." Another man in the audience shouted his opposition to the Mexican government's support for the U.S. war in Afghanistan.

Cuban publishers also participated in a number of workshops with authors from the island speaking on their books on politics, literature, health, medicine, and other questions. This included presentations on titles by Cuban publishing houses Editora Politica, Ciencas Sociales, and others.

Teresa Valdés from the Organization in Solidarity with the Peoples of Africa, Asia, and Latin America (OSPAAAL), based in Cuba, which publishes Tricontinental books and magazines, and Luis Madrid from Pathfinder, participated in a joint press conference. Valdés presented Tricontinental's new title: Equality and Social Participation Of Women in Mozambique by Vitoria Afonso Langa de Jesús; Madrid presented Pathfinder's new Spanish edition of Women's Liberation and the African Freedom Struggle by Thomas Sankara.

"These books are necessary to incorporate African women into the world," said Valdés. "They speak to the best that the continent has to offer. Prejudices are prevalent when we speak of Africa and women of colonial countries," she said. "This is an important moment; we are speaking of liberation at this point in history."

Madrid quoted Sankara's words to illustrate how women participated in giving life to the 1983-87 revolution in Burkina Faso.

A press conference on the final day of the fair was organized to announce that Cuba will be the featured country in 2002. Fair president Raul Padilla shared a platform with Ismael González, the vice minister of culture for the Republic of Cuba, and Iroel Sanchez, the head of the Cuban Book Institute, and others.

"Our country is ready to amply reciprocate for receiving such an honor," said Cuban government representative González. "We gladly accept the opportunity to have this special space to put forward our ideas, our culture, and our reality. We will share with Latin America our truths and our beliefs in an exchange that will enrich us all."

"We will involve the Cuban literary world and culture, from dance to theater," said Sanchez. "We will be here in force with a sample of our music and our art, along with the best of our national literature."

Francisco Picado and Deborah Liatos are packinghouse workers in St. Paul, Minnesota, and San Leandro, California, respectively. Hilda Cuzco and Lena Ourique contributed to this article.  
 
 
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