Culture / Arts
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Mexico Helps Haiti
Posted By Cristina Noriega at 08:21 PM
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It is widely known that Hollywood celebrities such and Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, Geroge Clooney, and other big names donated substantial amounts of money to relief efforts in the wake of the disastrous hurricane that struck Haiti on January 12.

What is not as widely known, at least in the U.S., is that Mexico has also jumped in to lend a hand to the ailing nation. Carlos Slim, a Mexican businessman and the reported third richest person in the world has stepped in big.

According to the People's Daily News:

Over 120,000 Mexicans donated a total of 32.8 million Mexican pesos (2.5 million U.S. dollars) to earthquake victims in Haiti through the Carlos Slim Foundation, said the foundation on Wednesday.

The foundation, run by Mexico's richest man, Carlos Slim, doubled the figure as it has promised to give out another peso for each donated peso from Mexican citizens.

The money collected will be used to assist the reconstruction and modernization of Haiti, said the foundation,

Immediately after the earthquake, Mexico sent 13.8 tons of humanitarian aid, including food, vegetables, clean water, power generators and satellite telephones to Haiti.

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that "Slim’s foundation said it would match donations for Haiti made by customers of his Telefonos de Mexico company."

 



   
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