Published: 01.24.2004
By Morgan Lee
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MEXICO CITY - Mexico City subway passengers snatched up free books Friday, the
first day of a program aimed at turning the capital's vast Metro into an underground
library.
The city started handing out 250,000 books during the morning rush hour, when
commuters relaxed and read a little on a ride that can require some jockeying
for space and a sharp eye for pickpockets.
The first sprinkling of paperbacks is part of a plan to distribute 7 million
books in the next two years, while trusting subway riders to return them.
"When we take them out, they just fly" out of our hands, said Alejandro
Camarena, one of several volunteer book distributors fighting to keep up with
demand.
Camarena's post handed out 150 books in just a few minutes early Friday morning.
Before rush hour was over, 45 books had been returned. Later, the program was
officially launched at a subway station named for Emiliano Zapata, a hero of
Mexico's 1910-17 Revolution.
Commuter Marta Gaona got as far as page 16 on her commute to work, then asked
if she could keep her book to read on her lunch hour. She planned to return
it on her way home.
"I don't know if everyone will return them," she said. "I think
some will."
Way to cut crime
The idea emerged from discussions with Leoluca Orlando, former mayor of Palermo,
Italy, and former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's consulting firm on
ways to cut crime in Mexico's capital, a city of an estimated 8.5 million people.
"We are convinced that when people read, people change," said Javier
Gonzalez Garza, the director of the Metro.
Some have doubts about the program's value as an anti-crime tool.
"Now we'll have an equal number of delinquents, but well-educated,"
said Omar Raul Martinez, the director of a book and magazine publishing firm.
Mexico City isn't the first major city to try cultivating a literary underground.
Tokyo has dozens of tiny paperback borrowing libraries at subway stations. Japanese
commuters say the libraries foster a sense of community.
Improving the commute
Mexico City's subway has adopted other measures to improve the commute, including
installing art exhibits in stations and requiring men and women to ride separate
cars during rush hour to prevent sexual harassment.
Robbery and pickpocketing remain common on the vast Metro system, which carries
4.7 million people a day across the capital for less than 20 cents a ride.
Authorities are considering other anti-crime measures, but Gonzalez said the
Metro decided to address the issue from "the cultural side."
The subway program comes amid a national push to increase literacy. President
Vicente Fox is planning an expansion of the national library system and increased
spending on textbooks.
Mexico officially has a literacy rate above 90 percent, but many people do not
read on a daily basis, in part because many are too poor to buy books.