Servicio, Desarrollo, y Paz (SEDEPAC), Coahuila, Mexico.

Representative: Elizabeth (Betty) Robles Ortega

The organization of The Service, Development and Peace (El Servicio, Desarrollo y Paz, A.C.—SEDEPAC) was founded in 1983.  SEDEPAC emerged with the coming together of organizations during the economic and social crisis in Mexico.  When SEDEPAC formed, its purpose was rural and community development achieved through uniting with social and popular movements.  Due to those beginnings, nowadays SEDEPAC is dedicated to assisting groups and organizations in the city or in rural communities in strengthening their organizational capability through popular education.

Elizabeth (Betty) Robles Ortega has recruited, trained and placed fifty organizers in ten municipalities in the state of Coahuila.  Under her leadership, these organizers have formed three independent and autonomous unions, two workers’ centers and several community organizations. Betty is renowned for her inspiring singing and once organized a strike by singing to her co-workers when talking was not allowed on the factory floor.  She is currently the leader of SEDEPAC’s campaign against Sara Lee Corporation.