AFP, Jesus Alcazar – 5 hours ago
EL PASO, Texas — A week-long Mexican peace caravan crossed the border into El Paso, Texas on Saturday as protest leader and poet Javier Sicilia called on the US to do more in the fight against drug-related violence in Mexico.
"The United States must admit their responsibility in the violence in Mexico," said Sicilia as he spoke in front of hundreds of members of American organizations and immigrants.
He asked Washington to end the Merida Initiative, a plan that began in 2008 to support Mexico and certain Central American countries in their fight against drug traffickers by partnering with the governments and providing assistance such as training and equipment to law enforcement.
Friday, US Department of State spokesman Mark Toner said the US supports the caravan's message for peace, especially in Mexico where society as a whole has been touched by violence.
Sicilia, who has emerged as the face of the protest movement since his son and six others were tortured to death near the central resort of Cuernavaca, was cheered by hundreds of people waving American and Mexican flags as he walked through the streets of El Paso.
On Friday, Sicilia sponsored the signing of a citizens' pact in Ciudad Juarez, a Mexican town across the border from El Paso.
The pact calls for a radical change to President Felipe Calderon's strategy of fighting drug trafficking. The Mexican president began an offensive against drug traffickers immediately after taking office in December 2006 and since then, over 37,000 deaths have been attributed to confrontations with the traffickers or between drug cartels.
"This senseless war must stop, because of the damage it has caused in Mexico and in Colombia, Guatemala, El Salvador," Sicilia told the AFP.
The civil pact also asked that a new human-rights based security strategy be put in place as well as a fight against corruption and impunity. The pact emphasized the need for social policies that will offer the country's youth attractive solutions to combat the offers of the drug cartels.
The demonstration in El Paso marked an end to the caravan route that traveled almost 3,000 kilometers between Cuernavaca and the US border, passing through the Mexican areas most affected by the violence.
A noble effort, but Sicilia and his followers are out of touch with the reality of the cartels. They somehow think that if the war on drugs stops, somehow all will be ok....
ReplyDeleteThis crowd are delusional. The approach they advocate is what created the monster in the first place
For decades drugs passed through Mexico with violence no were near this level. Sorry Mexicanos i know its easier to blame evil gringos because they wont kidnap and kill you unlike your corrupt police force and army. Maybe if you all stopped perpetuating the idea that the people dying are part of the big bad drug cartels and not poor drug addicts you could actually get something done.
ReplyDeleteWhat a bullshit liar this guy is, just like his boss, The Obomber Man!
ReplyDelete'Friday, US Department of State spokesman Mark Toner said the US supports the caravan's message for peace, especially in Mexico where society as a whole has been touched by violence.'
The US government and much of US society refuse to speak the truth or accept its huge portion of responsibility here..... OBVIOUSLY.
"The United States must admit their responsibility in the violence in Mexico," said Sicilia as he spoke in front of hundreds of members of American organizations and immigrants.'
Javier is another political maverick who speaks the pure truth about the US government and its continual international wars of murder and mayhem. We need more like him, in both Mexico and the US. We need some patriots who are not just gated community/ gated Border jerks.
"'This senseless war must stop, because of the damage it has caused in Mexico and in Colombia, Guatemala, El Salvador," Sicilia told the AFP.'
YES. Everywhere. The US Right Wing talks all the time about how they supposedly oppose Big Government, yet look at them always pushing their drug of choice, US government militarism onto the rest of us who are suppose to pay for it all. Stupid hypocrites! These Right Wing Big Flag wavers are the purest of Pentagon socialists. My apologies to the word 'socialism'. The Nazis gave it a bad name, Stalin did too, and now along comes the Pentagon Socialist Party USA! Hypocrites! Fascists are people who want socialist benefits for themselves and death for everybody else.
what a bunch of morons..why don't they march on the fukn narcos ...more finger pointing evading responsibility bullshit
ReplyDeletethis sil silly ya is really a shill shill shilly ya for the narcos...
the fact that they are left totally unmolested by the narcos tells the story...even though they are unprotected and march through dangerous territory..ask yourself why they are not attacked?...
It's not just about Mexican 'narcos', Brito. Sicilia gets it, but you don't... He said it best right there in his speech.
ReplyDelete'This senseless war must stop, because of the damage it has caused in Mexico and in Colombia, Guatemala, El Salvador," Sicilia told the AFP.'
And who is behind these wars? 'Narcos' YES, but most especially also the US government that feeds the narcos, feeds off them, and uses them as an excuse for militarizing all the Americas for political reasons having absolutely nothing to do with narcotics.
i knew i would be hearing from you ardy..the merida initiative ..didn't create American drug prohibition that in turn created the lucrative drug market..neither did it create the ingrained criminal mentality in Mexico...nor did it create the culture of entrenched corruption in Mexico
ReplyDeleteMexico chose to allow their country to become a pipeline for drugs ..greed feeds the narcos...not US policy..
i do agree though that there is a connection between the drug trade and our involvement in C and S America..and also a connection to the increased police presence in the USA
whether the relationship is proactive or reactive i am unsure
i think Sicilia is ego tripping ..and is inadvertently serving the interests of the DTO'S....
how else do you explain the fact that they are not attacking him ..or his fellows
i think they are protesting the wrong thing in relation to the USA...if you want to protest the "monroe doctrine "do that ..but don't point the finger at the US for the violence resulting from criminal gangs vieing for control of the Mexican drug trade..that finger should be pointed towards Mexico
if you want to remain civil and not name call we can have a lot of fun debating this topic in an adult manner
So many plans to fight a war against Pharmaceuticals and the Pharmaceuticals are winning.
ReplyDeleteTHE BIG PICTURE Latin corruption has been a fact of life ever since organized politics arrived 250 yrs+- ago. Drugs are part of a history of doing VIRTUALLY ANYTHING for Money. This War on Drugs gimmic has had a positive effect on upgrading Latin political systems and creating a platform for these countrys to actually start meeting the needs of its citizens. QUIT BITCHING AND SUPPORT REFORM, Romance,Emotionalism,Poetry are for women and dreamers.
ReplyDeleteSicilia needs to shut the fuck up, he wasn't involved until his son was killed, where was he before that?
ReplyDeleteUntil Mexico arms its citizens, institutes the death penalty, cleans up its corruption, both politically and in its security forces, and the church becomes actively involved in assisting, there will be no change...only the Mexican people, who too often look the other way, can make change happen. Sicilia has my sympathy, but like all idealists, he is totally illogical.
ReplyDeleteAre these people the same kind of people that file a law suit when their children are throwing rocks at Border Patrol and our men fire back in defense?
ReplyDeleteThey need to stand up in their own country first!
'if you want to remain civil and not name call we can have a lot of fun debating this topic in an adult manner'
ReplyDeleteI haven't called you any names, Brito, so where is this nonsense of yours coming from? I said that you do not get it and that Javier does. That is hardly any name calling directed at you at all, now is it?
Now to your insinuating that Sicilia is doing the drug cartels work for them...
'how else do you explain the fact that they are not attacking him ..or his fellows' .. Brito asks.
Brito, many of your cohorts in this style of 'thinking' (not thinking) have actually accused him of getting paid by the cartels, without any shred of evidence or logic to their accusations. Same with this your jibe, too, Brito. It just is an illogical silly and YES stupid question. (Yes, some questions really are stupid. So much for that proverb that there are supposedly no stupid questions)
The answer is simply that Sicilia and the people who agree with him are in the public spotlight, grouped in large numbers together at their public rallies, and they probably have a billion and one Mexican cops surrounding them at all times.
Using your illogic, Brito, perhaps one might think that Calderon must be supporting the guy since he is so well protected by them at this point in time???? Duh.... Isn't that the type of illogic you are actually using, Brito? Looks pretty stupid when I do it as you do, doesn't it? Calderon must be protecting Sicilia or otherwise he would be dead! NOT.
ok ..anything that the DTO' feel is working against their interests they attack...anything
ReplyDeletethey are not attacking these people..not at all
why?
i really doubt that it is because they are in large numbers ..or that the narcos are afraid of the military guarding them
could it be that these misguided folks are inadvertently serving the DTO's vested interests by advocating the end of the war being made on them
does that make it less stupid for you
i think you are paid to shill for the DTO's...or maybe you do it for free..but it is certain that the path you advocate would benefit the narcos
just like your hero sicilia
and just because you got nasty with me ..this is for you
you get all wet at the thoughts of a peace march huh?..wouldn't you like to be there ..shoulder to shoulder with silly..shouting... waving signs.. ..all eyes upon you..chest swelled..ego swelled even bigger..so noble ..so brave ..so true... so dramatic...so full of shit
Dear Brito....
ReplyDelete'you (say that I) get all wet at the thoughts of a peace march huh?..wouldn't you like to be there ..shoulder to shoulder with silly..shouting... waving signs.. ..all eyes upon you..chest swelled..ego swelled even bigger..so noble ..so brave ..so true... so dramatic...so full of shit'
Really? That's, according to you, what I would get to have participating in an antiwar activity?
Then why did I get this last Friday at the local Antiwar Vigil just a Right Wing thug screaming in my face two inches away from me that he wants to kick my as and yada yada, all in order to impress his dumb blonde gf standing watching him on in 'shock and awe' at the opposite corner of the street?
You Right Wing twits act like poor Ardent never ever runs into you obnoxious a-holes in person, but that's just not true, Dear Brito. I do. That's why I know that Javier Sicilia has more worth in his little tiny pinky than all the BB tiny dicks that yap like a herd of mini poodles all opposed and against him.