¡Ya Basta de Sangre!: An Indigenous Village Plagued by Assassinations Welcomes Peace March

After climbing the mountain that lies between the tropical lowlands of Cuernavaca and the Valley of Mexico at over 7,000 feet, hundreds of marchers filed through the narrow streets of the indigenous village of Coajomulco.

"In Morelos, defending the forests and wildlife can cost you your life," reads the sign held by the daughters of a local leader who was murdered a year ago after standing up to illegal loggers. The town's efforts to protect its natural resources have led to the murder of two members of the community--Ruben Flores and Miguel Angel Perez--in recent years.

Townspeople greet the march with applause along the way. They have prepared dinner for the hundreds who will sleep overnight there.

Children of Coajomulco greet the peace marchers.

Most of yesterday, the first day of the march, we walked and talked to participants about why they were there. We’ve got a great collection of interviews that include exclusives with Bishop Raul Vera, Mexico’s voice of the progressive church; Ciudad Juarez youth organizer Julian Contreras; Pablo Romo, human rights defender; Luis Rodriguez, father of a young woman shot in the Salvarcar massacre; cultural and media workers; and many more, including Javier Sicilia, the poet whose personal loss catalyzed this march and new phase of the national movement.

Many marchers interviewed talked about a national movement. The mobilization is not just a visceral reaction to pain and the gruesome violence that has gripped Mexico under the drug war. This group of hot and tired marchers represents the core of this new movement. How to characterize it?

As I look around I see all kinds of people, resting before taking to the highway again. Young, old, middle class, poor. They're talking in small groups and munching on the tortillas that always appear in abundance for peoples’ marches--a sign that in Mexico Profundo solidarity still has meaning (and corn rules).

So far, a few banners mark more organized contingents, like family members from Hermosillo whose children were burned to death due to the callousness of privatized, for-profit services and corrupt governments; SME electrical workers whose union was liquidated after a military takeover of installations; new peace and justice groups that have sprung up in different parts of the country; activists against femicides and forced disappearances; anti-militarization organizations. But most people are marching as ordinary citizens.

The No + Sangre movement launched by cartoonists was designed to be an image to unite general discontent and hasn't had a clear leadership structure. The same is true so far of this latest phase, spurred by the grieving indignation of Sicilia. Since it’s not a top-down movement, a wide range of demands appear, from a call for the resignation of the Morelos state governor (where Juan Francisco Sicilia and his friends were murdered) to the immediate withdrawal of the army from the drug war.

There is a strong commitment to maintain the independent, grassroots nature of the movement and democratize its forms of organization as it moves toward more definition and strategic decisions.

The video and audio interviews and slideshow is available on the web page www.cipamericas.org. All photos by Murphy Woodhouse, CIP Americas Program. Check them out--the images add a another to dimension to what I can describe briefly in words here.