The University of Zacatecas, in Mexico’s Autonomous State of Zacatecas (UAZ-Zacatecas), has donated 20 wheelchairs to help Vietnamese Agent Orange (AO)/dioxin victims. The university’s Rector, Dr. Francisco Javier Dominguez, handed over the gifts on Aug 31 to mark the 67th anniversary of the August Revolution and Vietnam’s National Day, saying that the presents are a symbol of the two countries’ solidarity. Vietnamese Ambassador to Mexico Le Thanh Tung thanked the university’s staff and students for their kindness, affirming that he would try his best to develop relations between the two countries as well as between Vietnam and Zacatecas State. Last Dec, the General Secretary of Mexico’s Labor Party (PT), Senator Alberto Anaya Gutiérrer and the Vietnam-Mexico Friendship Parliamentarians group also gave 120 wheelchairs to Vietnamese AO victims. Such AO victims are regarded as the most vulnerable people of the disadvantaged groups in the Southeast Asian country as they are direct, second or third-generation victims of the toxic chemical spreading. Vietnam reports an estimated 4.8 million people suffering from 80 million liters of defoliants including the highly toxic AO with over 10% of total areas in the southern region sprayed by the U.S. troops from 1961 to 1971. (Quan Doi Nhan Dan Sept 4, Vietnamplus.vn Sept 4)
