The Guardian: Claims that 90% of Mexican drug war victims are criminals is a statistic far removed from Cristina Roman's experience in a country where police and military have fallen into corruption.
Daniel Hernandez. Cristina Roman didn't know where to begin. When asked how the epic violence and criminal impunity in her native Ciudad Juarez invaded her own life, she paused, then asked: "How far should I go back?"
She decided to begin from May 2010. It was then at the height of the bloodletting there in Mexico's deadliest city when, one night at 4am, she, her husband and three sons awoke to a terrible pounding at their front door. "My husband went to see who they were. Then he said: 'Go hide with the kids. They have guns,'" she recalled.
"By the time I had my baby in my arms, the gunmen were already in the house." Read more.
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 Mexico drug war refugees. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mexico drug war refugees. Show all posts
Mar 6, 2012
Drug War and Human Rights: Violence expels thousands, says Mexico's Human Rights Commission
La Jornada: "The president of the National Commission on Human Rights (CNDH), Raul Plascencia, said the increase in internal displacement caused by the violence generated by the fighting between criminal orgainizations and public safety forces "is a phenomenon that must be eradicated; since 2006 it adds up to tens of thousands of people in states such as Tamaulipas, Michoacan and Sinaloa , and in places like Ciudad Juárez there are almost 150,000.
He stressed, there are 20 thousand displaced by violence in Chiapas since 1994. This phenomenon, the national ombudsman said, has to be documented and the violence that causes people to have to change residence within the country--or even to leave our borders--has to be prevented. Other displaced by violence, Plascencia Villanueva said, are people who flee from their nations, as is the case with Guatemala." Spanish original
He stressed, there are 20 thousand displaced by violence in Chiapas since 1994. This phenomenon, the national ombudsman said, has to be documented and the violence that causes people to have to change residence within the country--or even to leave our borders--has to be prevented. Other displaced by violence, Plascencia Villanueva said, are people who flee from their nations, as is the case with Guatemala." Spanish original
Feb 1, 2012
Drug War: Breaking the chains of violence in Mexico, with Saúl Reyes Salazar
This is part of a speaking tour in the Bay Area of California and Portland and Corvallis, Oregon, from Feb. 1 to 6. For the schedule see FOR's Mexico Campaign
Fellowship of Reconciliation: "Veteran activist Saúl Reyes Salazar has lost six members of his family in the last two and a half years to gun violence in Mexico. In January, he was granted political asylum by the United States. The United States has played an important part in the escalating war for drug prohibition. Mexican activists like Saúl are reaching out to people in the U.S. to support efforts for justice and help forge a different path." read more
Fellowship of Reconciliation: "Veteran activist Saúl Reyes Salazar has lost six members of his family in the last two and a half years to gun violence in Mexico. In January, he was granted political asylum by the United States. The United States has played an important part in the escalating war for drug prohibition. Mexican activists like Saúl are reaching out to people in the U.S. to support efforts for justice and help forge a different path." read more
Dec 4, 2011
Collateral Damage: Mexico drug war refugees escape to more bloodshed
Another story of the damage done by the drug war to normal life in Veracruz. See also: Mexico Drug War Casualty
The Associated Press:"... thousands of Mexicans make up the internal diaspora trying to escape drug violence that seems to migrate rather than cease, with more than 45,000 troops fighting cartels and more than 40,000 dead by many counts.
Recent survey results by Parametria found that 1.6 million Mexicans have moved because of drug violence since 2006. One study by the Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre put the number at 230,000 in 2010, estimating that half fled to the United States." read more
The Associated Press:"... thousands of Mexicans make up the internal diaspora trying to escape drug violence that seems to migrate rather than cease, with more than 45,000 troops fighting cartels and more than 40,000 dead by many counts.
Recent survey results by Parametria found that 1.6 million Mexicans have moved because of drug violence since 2006. One study by the Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre put the number at 230,000 in 2010, estimating that half fled to the United States." read more
Oct 25, 2011
Drug War: Troops garrison Mexican border town battered by drug war
Fox News Latino: "The Mexican army has stationed an entire battalion in a northern border town abandoned by most of its residents late last year amid a brutal turf war between the Gulf and Los Zetas drug cartels. Soldiers began patrolling the area months ago, but it only Monday that the troops formally moved into the newly constructed base in Ciudad Mier. Ciudad Mier and many other towns in the northeastern state have been found themselves caught in the crossfire after the March 2010 rupture of the alliance between the Gulf cartel and its former armed wing, Los Zetas." read more
Oct 17, 2011
Mexico Drug War: Violence Forces Narco-Refugees into US
A summary of the U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute report, with additional information on the refugee flight from Mexico.
InSight Crime: "Violence driven by organized crime in Mexico and Central America has forced thousands from their homes, with some fleeing over international borders, though the situation has not reached anything like the level of displacement seen in Colombia.
The increase in Mexican "narco-refugees" is the subject of a new report from the Strategic Studies Institute, an academic offshoot of the U.S. Army. As author Paul Rexton Kan argues, the rising number of Mexicans seeking asylum reflects a rapidly changing environment in Mexico, and has the potential to create a serious set of headaches for U.S. policy-makers." read more
InSight Crime: "Violence driven by organized crime in Mexico and Central America has forced thousands from their homes, with some fleeing over international borders, though the situation has not reached anything like the level of displacement seen in Colombia.
The increase in Mexican "narco-refugees" is the subject of a new report from the Strategic Studies Institute, an academic offshoot of the U.S. Army. As author Paul Rexton Kan argues, the rising number of Mexicans seeking asylum reflects a rapidly changing environment in Mexico, and has the potential to create a serious set of headaches for U.S. policy-makers." read more
Dec 31, 2010
Collateral Damage - From the front lines in Texas: Escalating drug violence tops local stories
From the front lines of the drug war - or just across the Rio Grande in Brownsville, Texas - a review of how the war is affecting this Texas city. The city is named after the fort established there in 1846 to provoke Mexico into the U.S.'s first war on Mexican soil.
The drug war was already hurting a local economy still trying to recover from the Great Recession. Bridge traffic was down as tourists became more reluctant to cross the border. It was not long before local residents began crossing only when necessary — nor was it long before more Mexican nationals started to take refuge in the Rio Grande Valley to escape the out-of-control violence on their side of the border." Dec. 30, 2010
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