IMMOKALEE, FL -- February 22 -- Actor Martin Sheen, Human Rights Activist Kerry Kennedy to Join Thousands of Farmworkers, Youth, and Religious Allies in Historic Protest Outside Louisville, KY, Headquarters of World's Largest Fast-Food Company on March 12 --

Scores of Florida farmworkers will not be hauling buckets of tomatoes this Feb. 28th. Instead, tomato pickers from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) will be loading tour buses with protest art, including giant puppets, protest signs, and a color photo collage of their hands -- over 100 photos of the calloused, scarred, dirt-stained hands of the CIW farmworkers who pick tomatoes like machines in the fields.

The workers, together with allies from across the country, will then board the buses and head out on the 2005 "Taco Bell Truth Tour," demanding an end to human rights abuses in the fields where Yum Brands -- the parent company of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC, Long John Silvers and A&W Restaurants -- buys its tomatoes. The Tour will pass through 15 major cities (including Atlanta, Chicago and Nashville) on the way to Louisville, taking the truth about the exploitation behind Taco Bell's products to consumers across the Southeastern United States.

The CIW is spearheading a national boycott of Taco Bell due to the company's refusal to demand more humane labor standards of its Florida-based tomato suppliers.

The Tour will culminate in a mass rally on Saturday, March 12th, outside of Yum Brands' headquarters, where several thousand boycott supporters of all ages -- including actor Martin Sheen and human rights activist Kerry Kennedy, daughter of the late Robert F. Kennedy -- will gather for a day of music, speeches, and colorful theater in a carnival atmosphere. During the entire week of March 6th -12th, farmworkers from Immokalee and their allies will hold an intensive week of educational events and actions in and around the city of Louisville designed to highlight the inhumane working conditions behind the tomatoes in Taco Bell's products.

On the way to Louisville, the Taco Bell Truth Tour will hold events in:

• Feb. 28 -- Atlanta, Ga.; Montgomery, Ala.
  
• March 1 -- Nashville, Tenn.; Memphis, Tenn.
  
• March 2 -- Cincinnati, Ohio; St. Louis, Mo.
  
• March 3 -- Cleveland, Ohio; Indianapolis, Ind.
  
• March 4 -- Columbus, Ohio; Chicago, Ill.
  
• March 5 -- Lexington, Ky.; Chicago, Ill.
  
• March 6-13 -- Week of action in Louisville, Ky.
  
• March 11th -- Conference, "Our World, Our Rights," at University of Louisville organized by student farmworker supporters, religious leaders, and labor rights allies
  
• March 12th -- Day-long rally at Yum Brands with Martin Sheen and Kerry Kennedy
  

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