Proceso: Editors
Translated by Mexico Voices Blog
Mexico City - Former Ambassador Héctor Vasconcelos returned his degree in Political Science to Harvard University after the institution did not withdraw its invitation to Felipe Calderón.
In a brief letter sent to Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust, the former Consul in Boston and Ambassador to Norway, Denmark and Iceland, stated that Harvard had taught him that its graduates must keep their word.
"Now I must send my diploma back to Harvard. I do this with great sadness, because it is easily the most worthy document that I have had in my life," says the letter from the son of José Vasconcelos, former president of the UNAM [National Autonomous University of Mexico].
On January 15, Vasconcelos wrote a letter to David T. Ellwood, Dean of the John F. Kennedy School of Government, which states that if Calderón remains welcome to begin a scholarship for study at that institution, [Vasconcelos] will find himself in the "painful situation" of returning his academic degree.
The MexicoBlog of the Americas Program, a fiscally sponsored program of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), is written by Laura Carlsen. I monitor and analyze international press on Mexico, with a focus on security, immigration, human rights and social movements for peace and justice, from a feminist perspective. And sometimes I simply muse.
Showing posts with label Movement for Peace with Justice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Movement for Peace with Justice. Show all posts
Feb 17, 2013
Sep 5, 2012
Caravan for Peace with Justice and Dignity marches to end failed war on drugs
New York Daily News
Their task is titanic, but so is their
determination to end the war on drugs.
The Caravan for Peace with Justice and
Dignity, a group originally composed of 110 Mexican fathers and mothers, wives
and husbands, sons and daughters — 49 of whom lost loved ones to the violence
of the drug war — arrives in our city tomorrow.
One of those mothers is Margarita López,
whose daughter, Yahaira Guadalupe Baena López, 19, was taken from her home in
Oaxaca by an armed group on April 13, 2011. She joined the caravan at its
inception.
“My daughter was innocent but the
authorities never took an interest in her disappearance, so I joined the
caravan,” said López. “I don’t want any more mothers to suffer the way I am
suffering.”
The group’s journey began August 12 in
San Diego and when it ends on Sept. 12, it will have traveled over 5,000 miles
and 25 cities including Los Angeles, Santa Fe, El Paso, Houston, Montgomery,
New Orleans, Chicago, New York and, finally, Washington, D.C.
“Our goal is to become citizen-diplomats
— to reach out to the people of the U.S.,” said Javier Sicilia, a distinguished
Mexican poet, and the man who conceived the caravan idea. Read more.
Aug 31, 2012
Mexico's "Caravan for Peace" Heads to Washington
Stopthedrugwar.org: Phillip Smith. The Mexico-based Caravan for Peace and Justice and its American allies are now more than halfway through their 6,000-mile, 27-city journey to focus attention on the drug war's terrible toll in both countries. After beginning two weeks ago in San Diego, the caravan has now traversed California, Arizona, New Mexico, and miles and miles of Texas, and on Wednesday, was set to join with African-American and other activists to march over the historic Edmund Pettus Bridge into Selma, Alabama.
The Edmund Pettus Bridge is an enduring symbol of the civil right struggles of the 1960s and was the scene of the Bloody Sunday of March 7, 1965, when armed police officers attacked peaceful civil rights demonstrators attempting to march to the state capitol in Montgomery. Read more.
The Edmund Pettus Bridge is an enduring symbol of the civil right struggles of the 1960s and was the scene of the Bloody Sunday of March 7, 1965, when armed police officers attacked peaceful civil rights demonstrators attempting to march to the state capitol in Montgomery. Read more.
Aug 13, 2012
Mexican poet prepares U.S. peace march
An update to this story published on Friday is that the Caravan of Peace has already embarked on its cross-country journey through the United States, which began in San Diego, is currently in Los Angeles, and will continue on until completing in the nation's capital, Washington D.C.
In a month-long Caravan of Peace across the United States, organizers say they will denounce what they believe are the devastating consequences of the fight against drug trafficking.
San Diego, California, will be the first stop on Sunday for poet Javier Sicilia and 70 other members of Mexico's Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity on their trek through more than 20 cities in the United States. Read more.
Aug 9, 2012
Can the Caravan of Peace End the War on Drugs?
The Nation: Tom Hayden. A new peace movement to end the US-sponsored drug war begins with buses rolling and feet marching from the Tijuana–San Diego border on August 12 through twenty-five US cities to Washington, DC, in September.
Named the Caravan for Peace, the trek is intended to put human faces and names on the estimated 60,000 dead, 10,000 disappeared and 160,000 displaced people in Mexico since 2006, when the US Drug Enforcement Agency, Pentagon and the CIA supported the escalation of the Mexican armed forces.
The caravan, which has staged mass marches across Mexico since 2011, is led by well-known Catholic poet Javier Sicilia, 56, whose son Juan Francisco, then 24, was killed in crossfire in Cuernavaca in March 2011. Read more.
Named the Caravan for Peace, the trek is intended to put human faces and names on the estimated 60,000 dead, 10,000 disappeared and 160,000 displaced people in Mexico since 2006, when the US Drug Enforcement Agency, Pentagon and the CIA supported the escalation of the Mexican armed forces.
The caravan, which has staged mass marches across Mexico since 2011, is led by well-known Catholic poet Javier Sicilia, 56, whose son Juan Francisco, then 24, was killed in crossfire in Cuernavaca in March 2011. Read more.
Aug 3, 2012
“My grief is Mexico’s grief”
A timely interview with Javier Sicilia from the Movement for Peace and Justice with Dignity with the upcoming US Peace Caravan which will begin on August 12th in San Diego and continue across the United States reaching Washington D.C. in September. The dialogue will be about stopping gun trafficking, alternatives to drug prohibition, tools to combat money laundering and bilateral cooperation in human rights and human security.
Radio Netherlands Worldwide: Wim Jansen.
“My grief is Mexico’s grief” says Javier Sicilia. In a country where critical journalists risk their lives, this poet gives voice to a widespread discontent. He has motivated hundreds of thousands of his country men and women to protest against the violence, the drugs mafia and the government.
Javier Sicilia has not written another poem since the murder of his son and six friends in March last year. He holds the government responsible for the violence in the country and thus the death of his son. ”An absurd crime, born of corruption and impunity” is how he describes the bloodbath which has cost almost 60,000 Mexicans their lives over the past six years. Read more.
Radio Netherlands Worldwide: Wim Jansen.
“My grief is Mexico’s grief” says Javier Sicilia. In a country where critical journalists risk their lives, this poet gives voice to a widespread discontent. He has motivated hundreds of thousands of his country men and women to protest against the violence, the drugs mafia and the government.
Javier Sicilia has not written another poem since the murder of his son and six friends in March last year. He holds the government responsible for the violence in the country and thus the death of his son. ”An absurd crime, born of corruption and impunity” is how he describes the bloodbath which has cost almost 60,000 Mexicans their lives over the past six years. Read more.
Jul 6, 2012
Mexico's Calderon accused of blocking victims's rights law
President Felipe Calderon rejected a bill known as Victims' Law, which would require the government to guarantee assistance to victims of violence. Both houses of Congress had approved of the initiative. This legislation is, at best, delayed until Congress convenes in September.
"A man who doesn't keep his word is worthless," the leader of the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity, or MPJD, said at a press conference.
Sicilia made his remarks after Calderon decided to return the so-called Victims' Law to Congress with objections. That bill requires the state to protect, assist and repair the harm caused to victims of crime and human rights abuses. Read more.
May 10, 2012
Mexican Poet Javier Sicilia Leads U.S. Peace Caravan to Expose Drug War’s Human Toll
Democracy Now!: One of Mexico’s best-known poets, Javier Sicilia, laid down his pen last year after his 24-year-old son was murdered by drug traffickers in Cuernavaca, Mexico. In his son’s memory, Sicilia created the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity to urge an end to the drug violence — violence that has left an estimated 60,000 dead, 10,000 disappeared, and more than 160,000 Mexicans displaced from their homes over the past six years.
Sicilia is now in the United States to launch a month-long peace caravan to "bring to the American people’s conscience their shared responsibility for the thousands of dead, missing and displaced in the drug war." Watch interview here
Sicilia is now in the United States to launch a month-long peace caravan to "bring to the American people’s conscience their shared responsibility for the thousands of dead, missing and displaced in the drug war." Watch interview here
Apr 26, 2012
The Mexican government now shares responsibility for the safety of drug war victims
La Jornada: (Americas Program Original Translation)Towards the end of the legislature, the Senate unanimously approved the Victims Law, a legal framework that represents the beginning of a new road with more justice, attention, and care for those who have suffered due to human rights violations or the onslaught of organized crime, according to the PRI’s Jesús Murillo Karam in a forum discussion.
“It’s a very important step that vindicates human rights in this struggle between a police state and a state of total freedom in which we are currently immersed,” said PRD Senator Pablo Gómez, welcoming the new generation of law, which names the Mexican state partly responsible for attacks against life, property, and security of people and ordered compensation for the damage.
In the end, after participation of legislators from all parties, and some last minute changes to their views, the new law was passed with 94 votes in favor and none against, amid applause from relatives of victims, members of the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity, who remained excited in the debate guest area.
“The compromise between the Senate and the movement made in July 2011 was honored,” exclaimed Senate President José González Morfín (PAN) from the podium.
Before, there had been attempts to stop this new bill. Murillo Kara, president of the Commission of Government and one of the architects of the reform, said, forming his opinion, that it is a law “that will make us feel satisfied about having participated in this legislative session.”
The legal system, he said, was born “of brutal feelings” experienced by those who have had a relative kidnapped, disappeared, or killed, who receive no answers or solutions from the state. The Victims Law, he stressed, requires the state to respond to the aggrieved.
On behalf of the PAN, Senator Fernando Elizondo said that with this law, Mexico has put itself at the height of the provisions of international treaties on human rights. He noted that it establishes the National System for Victims, which will be responsible for ensuring that their rights are respected at all levels of government.
Former member of the PRD Thomas Torres, another one of those who worked on the law, noted that he felt it laid the basis for rebuilding the social fabric, which has been so badly affected by violence.
In turn, the PRI Fernando Baeza of Chihuahua emphasized that the main objective of this legislation, driven in conjuction with the Moviment for Peace with Justice and Dignity in the past nine months, is to legally repair the damage done to victims due to violence associated with organized crime through restitution, satisfaction, and eventually financial compensation, fixed at about 950 million pesos.
It is a law to save the memory, identity, and dignity of victims and their relatives; to know for sure what happened and who is responsible; see that they are stopped, tried, and punished; and thus combat impunity.
Carlos Sotelo, member of the PRD, mentioned other cases of victims of Felipe Cadlerón’s war and called for a moment of silence in their memory. Made in recognition of the advisory Eliana García, for her efforts with UNAM and other academic institutions in helping build the law.
Yesterday, several modifications to the draft were made, including the integration of the relief fund, assistance, and compensation for damage into budgetary resources and private donations.
The law mandates the creation of a national registry for victims, requires the state to seek out all possible options for disappeared persons, and gives the aggrieved the imprescriptible right to know the truth.
Sotelo, the PRD’s Rubén Velázquez, and the Citizen’s Movement’s Julián Huitrón Fuente Villa, called on deputies to approve the minutes that yesterday, with all speed, they referred the Senate President González Morfin. The Movement for Peace demanded the same thing. If not approved at San Lazaro, it will be pending until September. Yesterdaym the Senate passed the amendment for article 73 of the Constitution, which empowers the state to legislate in matters of victims. read more
By Andrea Becerril y Víctor Ballinas
“It’s a very important step that vindicates human rights in this struggle between a police state and a state of total freedom in which we are currently immersed,” said PRD Senator Pablo Gómez, welcoming the new generation of law, which names the Mexican state partly responsible for attacks against life, property, and security of people and ordered compensation for the damage.
In the end, after participation of legislators from all parties, and some last minute changes to their views, the new law was passed with 94 votes in favor and none against, amid applause from relatives of victims, members of the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity, who remained excited in the debate guest area.
“The compromise between the Senate and the movement made in July 2011 was honored,” exclaimed Senate President José González Morfín (PAN) from the podium.
Before, there had been attempts to stop this new bill. Murillo Kara, president of the Commission of Government and one of the architects of the reform, said, forming his opinion, that it is a law “that will make us feel satisfied about having participated in this legislative session.”
The legal system, he said, was born “of brutal feelings” experienced by those who have had a relative kidnapped, disappeared, or killed, who receive no answers or solutions from the state. The Victims Law, he stressed, requires the state to respond to the aggrieved.
On behalf of the PAN, Senator Fernando Elizondo said that with this law, Mexico has put itself at the height of the provisions of international treaties on human rights. He noted that it establishes the National System for Victims, which will be responsible for ensuring that their rights are respected at all levels of government.
Former member of the PRD Thomas Torres, another one of those who worked on the law, noted that he felt it laid the basis for rebuilding the social fabric, which has been so badly affected by violence.
In turn, the PRI Fernando Baeza of Chihuahua emphasized that the main objective of this legislation, driven in conjuction with the Moviment for Peace with Justice and Dignity in the past nine months, is to legally repair the damage done to victims due to violence associated with organized crime through restitution, satisfaction, and eventually financial compensation, fixed at about 950 million pesos.
It is a law to save the memory, identity, and dignity of victims and their relatives; to know for sure what happened and who is responsible; see that they are stopped, tried, and punished; and thus combat impunity.
Carlos Sotelo, member of the PRD, mentioned other cases of victims of Felipe Cadlerón’s war and called for a moment of silence in their memory. Made in recognition of the advisory Eliana García, for her efforts with UNAM and other academic institutions in helping build the law.
Yesterday, several modifications to the draft were made, including the integration of the relief fund, assistance, and compensation for damage into budgetary resources and private donations.
The law mandates the creation of a national registry for victims, requires the state to seek out all possible options for disappeared persons, and gives the aggrieved the imprescriptible right to know the truth.
Sotelo, the PRD’s Rubén Velázquez, and the Citizen’s Movement’s Julián Huitrón Fuente Villa, called on deputies to approve the minutes that yesterday, with all speed, they referred the Senate President González Morfin. The Movement for Peace demanded the same thing. If not approved at San Lazaro, it will be pending until September. Yesterdaym the Senate passed the amendment for article 73 of the Constitution, which empowers the state to legislate in matters of victims. read more
By Andrea Becerril y Víctor Ballinas
Translation by Michael Kane, Americas Program
Mar 26, 2012
Sicilia's Impact on Mexico, One Year On
InSight Crime: "Juan Francisco Sicilia, 24, was murdered along with six friends on March 28, 2011, after an altercation in a bar. Members of the South Pacific Cartel were accused of the crime. Within weeks, a host of suspects had been arrested, including the gang’s local leadership and an alleged protector in the police. Following the crack down from the authorities, the South Pacific Cartel faded from prominence not only in Cuernavaca, but throughout the territory they had previously dominated.
However, it was not the fate of the perpetrators but the reaction of Sicilia’s father Javier that turned the episode into a landmark in Mexico’s battle with organized crime. In the months after the killing, the grieving elder Sicilia became the face of victimhood in Mexico." read more
However, it was not the fate of the perpetrators but the reaction of Sicilia’s father Javier that turned the episode into a landmark in Mexico’s battle with organized crime. In the months after the killing, the grieving elder Sicilia became the face of victimhood in Mexico." read more
Mar 18, 2012
Movement for Peace: Javier Sicilia travels to Rome to ask Pope to "embrace the body of Christ"
La Jornada: "The leader of the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity (MPJD), Javier Sicilia, traveled to Rome last night to deliver to the Vatican a letter to Pope Benedict XVI, prompting him that, instead of allowing himself to be covered up by the "media show" that will assemble around him during his visit to the country, that he embrace "the suffering and murdered body of Christ" that now exists in Mexico and Central America.
At a press conference, the poet announced that he was making the trip in a personal capacity, accompanied by four others, and he read the letter that Joseph Ratzinger will receive through the Vatican Secretary of Justice and Peace, Mario Toso.
"I come to Rome to say that Mexico has lived in suffering for five years. [...] Beloved Benedict, Mexico and Central America are now the abandoned body of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane and crucified between two criminals," Sicilia says in his letter.
"When you arrive in Mexico, we want to remind you that, behind the media and political scenery, which they put up around you to erase the body of Christ, those who claim to represent the word of God and those who claim to represent the word of the people keep it kidnapped in the dock of the accused," he added.
For this reason, he requests that the head of the Vatican "embrace, before anyone else, the one, suffering body of Christ and and console it," because otherwise, if he cannot charge the Mexican Church to assume her role as mother, "hope in the deep communion of the resurrection will be destroyed."
Asked about his reasons for going to Ratzinger, when this public figure has not shown his commitment to the victims of pedophilia, the writer stressed that he is going in search of meeting him on a spiritual plane, regardless of their political positions.
"Sometimes political games prevent the Pope from speaking from his heart, and we forget that he is a head of state. We do not want to see the head of the Vatican State, but the Vicar of Christ on earth," insisted Sicilia...." Spanish original
At a press conference, the poet announced that he was making the trip in a personal capacity, accompanied by four others, and he read the letter that Joseph Ratzinger will receive through the Vatican Secretary of Justice and Peace, Mario Toso.
"I come to Rome to say that Mexico has lived in suffering for five years. [...] Beloved Benedict, Mexico and Central America are now the abandoned body of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane and crucified between two criminals," Sicilia says in his letter.
"When you arrive in Mexico, we want to remind you that, behind the media and political scenery, which they put up around you to erase the body of Christ, those who claim to represent the word of God and those who claim to represent the word of the people keep it kidnapped in the dock of the accused," he added.
For this reason, he requests that the head of the Vatican "embrace, before anyone else, the one, suffering body of Christ and and console it," because otherwise, if he cannot charge the Mexican Church to assume her role as mother, "hope in the deep communion of the resurrection will be destroyed."
Asked about his reasons for going to Ratzinger, when this public figure has not shown his commitment to the victims of pedophilia, the writer stressed that he is going in search of meeting him on a spiritual plane, regardless of their political positions.
"Sometimes political games prevent the Pope from speaking from his heart, and we forget that he is a head of state. We do not want to see the head of the Vatican State, but the Vicar of Christ on earth," insisted Sicilia...." Spanish original
Mar 17, 2012
Movement for Peace with Justice: Javier Sicilia to be received at Vatican
Milenio: "The poet and writer Javier Sicilia announced that he will travel today to the Vatican, where he will be received by representatives of the Catholic Church. He will present to them the situation that exists in Mexico on the eve of Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the country. The leader of the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity will be received by the Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace of the Vatican, Mario Toso." Spanish original
Feb 22, 2012
Movement for Peace: Javier Sicilia criticizes official security plans as inefficient
La Jornada: "The leader of the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity, Javier Sicilia, rejected a recent statement by the Interior Minister, Alejandro Poiré, who said that the government's security strategy is beginning to bear fruit. Sicilia noted that the plans remain ineffective to stem the tide of violence that the country is suffering.
"The dead continue to increase; so then what is Poire saying to us? The balance is negative and if it has to do with making up numbers, of building it completely with media lies, then, for them, reality lies," the poet said after an event where the artists' collective, "The Strongest Cry," announced the donation of 73,000 pesos ($5,600 U.S.) for the Peace Movement.
Question: Secretary Poire asked you to evaluate the progress ...
"We do not see progress!"replied the writer. "Where is justice and where is peace? There continue to be dead and missing, then where are the gains? We don't need to assess further the failure of the State in Mexico, or the identity of the victims or the injustice and war that we are living with every day. Don't come to us with these idiocies!"
Earlier in the ceremony, where he received the gift from the artists--obtained through a campaign of videos, "In the Other's Shoes," which seeks to raise public awareness about the crisis of violence in the country--Sicilia stated that such initiatives serve to "visualize the pain that we are living in Mexico, and the need to recover the meaning of words like solidarity and love, perverted by the political class." Spanish original
"The dead continue to increase; so then what is Poire saying to us? The balance is negative and if it has to do with making up numbers, of building it completely with media lies, then, for them, reality lies," the poet said after an event where the artists' collective, "The Strongest Cry," announced the donation of 73,000 pesos ($5,600 U.S.) for the Peace Movement.
Question: Secretary Poire asked you to evaluate the progress ...
"We do not see progress!"replied the writer. "Where is justice and where is peace? There continue to be dead and missing, then where are the gains? We don't need to assess further the failure of the State in Mexico, or the identity of the victims or the injustice and war that we are living with every day. Don't come to us with these idiocies!"
Earlier in the ceremony, where he received the gift from the artists--obtained through a campaign of videos, "In the Other's Shoes," which seeks to raise public awareness about the crisis of violence in the country--Sicilia stated that such initiatives serve to "visualize the pain that we are living in Mexico, and the need to recover the meaning of words like solidarity and love, perverted by the political class." Spanish original
Feb 21, 2012
Movement for Peace Caravan to the North: Javier Sicilia Talks about Mexican Violence and U.S. Responsibility
North American Congress on Latin America: "This is the third (and final) set of excerpts from a long conversation I had with Sicilia about three weeks ago. In the first installment I excerpted some of Sicilia’s comments on the questions of nonviolence and the process of dialogue. In a second installment, I excerpted comments on the question of the unraveling of Mexico’s social fabric.
In this installment, I present more excerpts from that same conversation, this time focused on the rationale for the MPJD’s upcoming caravan through the United States. This Fall, Sicilia will bring a caravan to the United States, where it will travel from California to New England attempting to raise awareness of the wave of violence Mexico is living through and, in particular, the relationship between that violence and U.S. policies and institutions." read more
In this installment, I present more excerpts from that same conversation, this time focused on the rationale for the MPJD’s upcoming caravan through the United States. This Fall, Sicilia will bring a caravan to the United States, where it will travel from California to New England attempting to raise awareness of the wave of violence Mexico is living through and, in particular, the relationship between that violence and U.S. policies and institutions." read more
Movement for Peace: Interview With Javier Sicilia Part II: Reweaving Mexico’s Social Fabric
North American Congress on Latin America: "In my last blog, published two weeks ago ... I reported on a long conversation I had just had with Javier Sicilia, the founder of the nonviolent, anti-violence group called Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity (MPJD). In that report I excerpted some of Sicilia’s comments on the questions of nonviolence and the process of dialogue.
In this blog, I present more excerpts from that same conversation, this time focused on Sicilia’s belief that Mexico needs to reconstruct its social fabric—the broad complex of obligations and expectations that groups and individuals owe to and expect from one another—in order to effectively take on the dark forces of violence and organized crime that have beset the country over the past few years." read more
Feb 10, 2012
Human Rights Violations: Movement for Peace responds to announcement of possible creation of federal police auditor
Movement for Peace with Justice: "With great pleasure and hope, the Institute for Security and Democracy (INSYDE) reports this morning that Sen. Fernando Baeza Melendez (PRI) presented the full the reform initiative to create the Special Auditor of Federal Police . The proposal was signed by the congressional coordinators of PRI,... the PRD,..., the PVEM, ..., PT, ... and MV. Senators Ricardo García Cervantes (PAN) and Raul Gonzalez Mejia (PRI) also signed.
With this very wide representation, the action enforces the commitment expressed by Senators to the Movement for Peace, Justice and Dignity in the meeting held in the Castle of Chapultepec, on July 28, 2011. Insyde expresses its thanks and appreciation to the Senate and in particular the signatories of the initiative. It does the same with respect to MPJD.
The Institute welcomes this important new step towards the better police that Mexico demands and deserves. We are creating, within the Auditor General of the Federation (ASF), the first specialized agency for control, monitoring and proposing improvements to the police in the history of this country. It will be an institution focused on fulfilling the mandate of evaluation ...which already rests with the ASF itself.
Now it's time to join all of our forces together with the Senate itself, the MPJD, various organizations of civil society, academia, the National Autonomous University of Mexico..., the media and public security authorities themselves, who are interested in accelerating and ensuring their professionalization and public support, a process begun by the federal police themselves.
To Insyde, this date is a great day for democratic police reform in Mexico.
Thank you,
Guadalupe Pescador Canton
Assistant Executive Director
Institute for Security and Democracy, AC (Insyde)
Spanish original
With this very wide representation, the action enforces the commitment expressed by Senators to the Movement for Peace, Justice and Dignity in the meeting held in the Castle of Chapultepec, on July 28, 2011. Insyde expresses its thanks and appreciation to the Senate and in particular the signatories of the initiative. It does the same with respect to MPJD.
The Institute welcomes this important new step towards the better police that Mexico demands and deserves. We are creating, within the Auditor General of the Federation (ASF), the first specialized agency for control, monitoring and proposing improvements to the police in the history of this country. It will be an institution focused on fulfilling the mandate of evaluation ...which already rests with the ASF itself.
Now it's time to join all of our forces together with the Senate itself, the MPJD, various organizations of civil society, academia, the National Autonomous University of Mexico..., the media and public security authorities themselves, who are interested in accelerating and ensuring their professionalization and public support, a process begun by the federal police themselves.
To Insyde, this date is a great day for democratic police reform in Mexico.
Thank you,
Guadalupe Pescador Canton
Assistant Executive Director
Institute for Security and Democracy, AC (Insyde)
Spanish original
Feb 1, 2012
Mexican Movement for Peace Starts Campaign "In another's shoes"
Milenio: ""In another's shoes" is a campaign that is being initiated to raise the awareness of Mexican society regarding disappearances in the war against organized crime.
The group "The Strongest Cry," a group of actresses, actors, filmmakers and journalists took on the task of developing a campaign through the mass media, which proposes "a very simple action: to put one's self "In the Shoes of the Other" and plans the distribution of a video and spots in the media that tell the experiences of families of the disappeared.
...With the support of the arts community, voice is being given to the families of the victims of the war. Because they deserve to be heard and we seek to join forces. "If we start in our home, then in our neighborhood, in our town, our city, if one sees what others see and feels what others feel, in this way we can contribute to the reconstruction of this country. It has to do with recognizing ourselves in the other."" Spanish original
The group "The Strongest Cry," a group of actresses, actors, filmmakers and journalists took on the task of developing a campaign through the mass media, which proposes "a very simple action: to put one's self "In the Shoes of the Other" and plans the distribution of a video and spots in the media that tell the experiences of families of the disappeared.
...With the support of the arts community, voice is being given to the families of the victims of the war. Because they deserve to be heard and we seek to join forces. "If we start in our home, then in our neighborhood, in our town, our city, if one sees what others see and feels what others feel, in this way we can contribute to the reconstruction of this country. It has to do with recognizing ourselves in the other."" Spanish original
Jan 31, 2012
Movement for Peace with Justice: A Conversation With Javier Sicilia
The first of a series of blogs presenting an extended interview with Javier Sicilia, leader of the Mexican Movement for Peace with Justice
North American Congress on Latin America: "A few days ago, I had a wide-ranging talk with Javier Sicilia, the founder of the nonviolent, anti-violence group called Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity (MPJD).
North American Congress on Latin America: "A few days ago, I had a wide-ranging talk with Javier Sicilia, the founder of the nonviolent, anti-violence group called Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity (MPJD).
Since its inception last March, following the murder of Sicilia’s son in Cuernavaca, the group has campaigned against the spreading criminal and state violence in Mexico, and more specifically against the militarization of Mexico’s Drug War and what Sicilia sees as the concurrent militarization of Mexican society.
... here are some excerpts on the questions of nonviolence and the process of dialogue:" read more
Jan 21, 2012
Drug War: Artists React To Mexico's Drug War With Music And Poetry
NPR: "Javier Sicilia renounced poetry and became the leader of a national protest against the drug war. Yet he says poetry has been an integral part of the "Peace with Justice and Dignity" movement.
"Poetry has been present, the poets have been part of it," Sicilia says. "The problem is that the mass media don't like to cover it and don't understand that this movement was born out of poetry, and the reason why it's important is because it's filled with a poetic content that has transformed the language. And behind all of this is a profound ethics, as with all poetry." Sicilia says the poet has a moral responsibility to tell these stories.
Other artists are also reacting to the violent realities in Mexico today. " read more
"Poetry has been present, the poets have been part of it," Sicilia says. "The problem is that the mass media don't like to cover it and don't understand that this movement was born out of poetry, and the reason why it's important is because it's filled with a poetic content that has transformed the language. And behind all of this is a profound ethics, as with all poetry." Sicilia says the poet has a moral responsibility to tell these stories.
Other artists are also reacting to the violent realities in Mexico today. " read more
Jan 17, 2012
Movement for Peace with Justice plans caravan to the U.S. capital
Translated by CIP Intern Michael Kane
CNN Mexico: In August, Mexican poet Javier Sicilia will lead a new caravan, this time to the United States, to call for the U.S. Government to put an end to the illegal arms to Mexico, which “has only left pain and many dead.”
Sicilia announced that the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity (MPJD), which he leads, will prepare a protest in the U.S. capital, in which he hopes various Mexican and U.S. civil organizations will participate.
At the event, protestors will ask the U.S. to stop aid to Mexico earmarked through the Merida Initiative, a plan devised in 2007 by the George W. Bush Administration to contribute to the fight against organized crime, since “it’s not working,” said Sicilia.
The Caravan seeks “to raise awareness within the American, Mexican, and Central American populations of the pain and suffering that this violence has caused us,” that has caused more than 47,000 deaths since December 2006, added Sicilia, who did not specify the route.
“The U.S. should take responsibility for the violence that endures in Mexico, because in a certain way it has contributed to the thousands of deaths caused by weapons which came to our territory illegally,” he said.
The United States, “the number one consumer of drugs” in the world, “has a legal industry, that of arms, which is arming the Mexican criminal,” contended the poet at the end of a press conference presenting Marcel Sisniega’s latest film based on his novel “A través del silencio” (Behind the Silence)
According to Sicilia, the wave of violence unleashed in the country as a result of the dispute between drug cartels for territorial control and their confrontation with security forces has left around “50,000 dead, 10,000 disappeared, and 120,000 displaced.” Spanish original
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