BBVA - Press Room

• Francisco González: “Our unwavering support of Ruta Quetzal BBVA represents a commitment to education, youth and family. What we are attempting to highlight is the importance of philanthropy, team effort, open-mindedness and ethical behavior in today’s global society”
• The expedition will visit Mexico, coinciding with the bicentenary celebration of its independence, starting out in Veracruz and following on in cities such as Palenque, Uxmal, Chichén Itzá and Colonial style Campeche
• Moving back to Europe, the young participants will visit Madrid, Cadiz, Lisbon, and several cities in Galicia and Castile-Leon

BBVA’s Chairman & CEO, Francisco González, the president of Spain’s Chamber of Deputies, José Bono, the Ibero-American General Secretary, Enrique Iglesias, and expedition director, Miguel de la Quadra-Salcedo, announced the XXV edition of the Ruta Quetzal BBVA, The Mystery of the Mayan Ruins. Mexico’s Bicentenary 2010, which will take place next June and July. Next year’s expedition will take its participants through the roads built by the Mayans along Mexico’s Atlantic coast and then on to Madrid, Cadiz, Lisbon, Galicia and Castile--Leon.

BBVA’s Chairman & CEO stated that “our unwavering support of Ruta Quetzal BBVA represents a commitment to education, youth and family. What we are attempting to highlight is the importance of philanthropy, team effort, open-mindedness and ethical behavior in today’s global society”. He went on to add that the bank’s Corporate Responsibility policy reflects its vision that we are working for a better future, stressing that “education, together with financial inclusion, is one of the major focuses of our corporate citizenship initiatives. For many people education is the only chance of a better future and that is what we are striving to achieve with equal opportunities, to ensure that all children have the chance of an education and hope of a dignified existence”.

Francisco González recalled that BBVA had recently unveiled its Valores de futuro (tomorrow’s stars) program to further financial education in Spain. This academic year the program will reach over 200,000 children aged 6-14. He also mentioned the Latin American Niños adelante (Children first) program which in 2009 granted over 50,000 integration scholarships. Lastly, Mr. González reiterated the group’s firm commitment to Mexico, where the 2010 expedition is scheduled to take place: “Mexico is a country in which BBVA believes and in which it will continue to believe in the future. It is a cornerstone in BBVA’s strategy and Bancomer is a vital component of our Group”.

In this, the 25th edition, the 270 young expeditionists, who come from 54 different countries, will travel to Mexico where they will visit cities and ruins from Mayan culture, one of the most sophisticated of the ancient civilizations. They will start in Veracruz, the place where Hernán Cortés started his Mexico-American adventure, from where they will move on to Tlacotlalpan, the epicenter of Totonaca culture, and then to Lake Catemaco, the San Martín volcano, the Venta archeological park, the center of Olmec culture, and several cities including Palenque, Uxmal, Kabah and Chichén Itzá, all authentic reflections of the scientific, cultural and artistic legacy left behind by the Mayan civilization. Lastly, the young travelers will visit Campeche, Mérida and Valladolid as well as towns such as Izamal and Maní, not to mention the Río Lagartos Biosphere Reserve, the home to a rich and varied fauna.

Later, in Spain, the BBVA Quetzal expedition will be received by the King and Queen of Spain and will then visit Madrid, Cadiz, Lisbon, several locations in Galicia such as Padrón and Santiago de Compostela, which hosts the Xacobeo 2010 Pilgrimage next year, and a few spots in Castile-Leon, before returning to Madrid, where the expedition will end with a diploma graduation ceremony to mark the end of the academic year, directed by the Complutense University (UCM).  They will also visit the Chamber of Deputies, or lower house, in a year in which parliamentary systems in Spain and Latin America will feature significantly in the route’s academic programming.

Participating institutions

At the presentation, thanks were extended to the King and Queen of Spain, who in 1979 tasked Miguel de la Quadra with launching a program to forge bonds among Ibero-American nations, for their support of the expedition and to Spain’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation and the Ibero-American General Secretariat for their patronage, and to Madrid’s Complutense University, which selects the expeditionists and designs the academic program.

The ongoing assistance from Canal de Isabel II, Hispasat and Panama Jack was also highlighted, as was the support of the Spanish Chamber of Deputies in the 2009 and 2010 expeditions.

In Search of the Mystery of the Mayan Ruins

The 2010 expedition will travel to Mexico, a country which has been visited many times in previous editions, a reflection of the nation’s rich historical cultural tapestry. This time the young travelers will explore the roads built by the ancient Mayans. By visiting the Mayan cities they will discover one of the greatest of the ancient civilizations. The expedition will get underway in Veracruz, the last territory to gain independence in Mexico, where they will have the opportunity to witness the tall ships regatta, featuring the finest sail boats in the world to mark the bicentennial celebration of Ibero-American independence. From there they will travel to Tlacotlalpan, noted for its colonial buildings and some traces of Totonaca culture.

Next they will cross the territories of the former Olmec culture which left as inheritance, among other legacies, designs for major urban centers and a tremendous sculpting tradition. After that, the visitors will stop off at Lake Catemaco, they will then climb the San Martín volcano and get to know the Olmec culture in more depth by visiting the Venta archeological park.

The Mayan’s famed white roads, 10 meters wide and up to 100km long, were built along the muddy ground of the tropical forests to connect the Mayan cities, mainly during the second half of the Classical Period (600-1000 AD). These roadways served a dual purpose: as distribution routes and avenues within cities and to interconnect the various cities, capable of representing in so doing the various dynastic and family relations and political-geographic alliances. The 2010 Ruta Quetzal BBVA expedition will take in cities such as Palenque, Uxmal, Kabah and Chichén Itzá, all great examples of the scientific, cultural and artistic legacy left behind by the Mayan civilization.

Lastly, the expedition will visit colonial cities such as Campeche, a location of tremendous geostrategic importance, hounded by the English buccaneers between 1558 and 1665, Mérida and Valladolid, all founded by Francisco de Montejo. The travelers will also see Izamal and Maní, two towns with a shared Mayan-Hispanic history. In the Yucatán Peninsula, the youngsters will witness how to use important traditional products and plants, such as honey, salt, dyewood, mahogany, cedar, sisal, and bridalveil, and most particularly the sapote (chico zapote) tree, whose sap yields chewing gum. Before returning to Spain, the  Ruta Quetzal BBVA will explore the Río Lagartos Biosphere Reserve, an area of wetlands and sub-tropical forest, in which marine turtles nest, alongside pink flamingos, crocodiles and numerous migratory birds, among other species.

The route in Spain

The XXV edition will cross the Atlantic during the first ten days of July to be met by the King and Queen of Spain. The journey will conclude at the end of July with a diploma graduation ceremony for the travelers which will take place at Madrid’s Complutense University. The youngsters will also get to visit Spain’s lower house, or Chamber of Deputies, an institution under close observation by the youth of the generation of the 2010 Ibero-American bicentennial celebrations.

In Spain they will first visit the Prado and the Royal Palace, both in Madrid, before moving to Cadiz where they will learn more about the important role played by the Spanish constitution, proclaimed by the Spanish legislature in the Andalusian capital on March 19, 1812, with tremendous ramifications not only in Spain, but also throughout Latin America. From there the young travelers will head first to Lisbon and after to the coast of Galicia, ending their journey in Vilagarcía de Arousa. From there they will stop at Padrón, where they will remember writer Rosalía de Castro, moving next to Santiago de Compostela, which will celebrate a new Holy Year, Xacobeo 2010, that same year.

From Galicia, having taken the Santiago pilgrimage route backwards, the expedition will arrive at Leon to relive the XI centenary of the creation of the Kingdom of Leon in 910 and to remember the constitution of the first courts of Leon, or Cortes de León, called to order by King Alfonso IX of Leon in 1188, although their origins date back to the beginning of the XII century.  Representatives of the cities and towns, together with the traditional clergy and noble classes, the natural advisors to the King, gathered at the San Isidoro Cloisters in Leon. The Cortes de León, are considered among the European continent’s oldest parliamentary bodies.

For more information, please contact the BBVA Department of Communication (91.374.67.97) or the Ruta Quetzal BBVA Department of Communication (91.351.26.21) or visit the official website at http://www.rutaquetzalbbva.com