VOICES OF VICTIMS OF THE DRUG WAR IN MEXICO -
TOUR IN
USA AND CANADA
Last
year, Global Exchange joined with our allies from Mexico and the U.S. for an
unprecedented 27-city Caravan for Peace that
crossed the United States, calling for an end to the drug war and related
violence.
This
fall, we’re launching an 11-city Voices of Victims tour of North America, once again featuring
Javier Sicilia, along with drug war victims, Mexican opinion leaders, and
members of Mexico’s Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity (MPJD).
The
Voices of Victims tour will echo
the voices of the Caravan that called for ending drug war policies that have
served to empower vicious criminals. Once again, those who have suffered
atrocities in Mexico will make the case for better laws to impede the smuggling
of hundreds of thousands of guns (most of them legally purchased) from the
United States to Mexico every year. They will join their voices with others
seeking to reverse the accelerating militarization of our borders that that
both criminalizes and dehumanizes immigrants.
In
2013, we continue to face the same set of problems, but the context has changed.
Mexico’s new president, Enrique Peña Nieto, was initially successful in
discouraging media coverage of Mexico’s out-of-control violence, sending the
comforting message that Mexico’s dreadful violence is waning. The grim reality
is that murder and tragedy continue at the same emergency levels of recent
years.
Many
were encouraged that Peña Nieto revived an important victim’s compensation law* that had been promoted by the MPJD
and then scuttled by outgoing President Calderón. Nevertheless, there has there
has been no perceptible change in overall drug war strategy by Peña Nieto’s
team, nor any broad progress toward staunching Mexico’s terrible wounds. [*The pros and cons of the federal
victims law and several pieces of state legislation that mirrors it will be a major topic of discussion on this tour.]
Meanwhile,
in the United States there have been undeniable shifts in attitude on drug
policy, gun safety, and even immigration policy. Nevertheless, with the
stunning exception of successful popular initiatives to regulate marijuana like
wine in Colorado and Washington, law and
policy have not shifted much – yet.
On
all these three issues there is gathering momentum for sensible change. We face
formidable obstacles and much work ahead, but prospects for substantial change
in both our countries is very real.
For
example, on the question of drug policy, the momentum is coming not just from
rapidly shifting public opinion and voters like those in Colorado and
Washington. In South America, Uruguay will legally regulate marijuana
at a national level. And at the urging of Colombian President, Jorge Santos the
Organization of American States (OAS) organized a broad international study
group earlier this year to issue a scenario report on drug policy reform
options in the Western Hemisphere.
A
broad consensus on both the need to rethink drug war dogmas and to regulate
marijuana as a simple and logical first step is forming among health
professionals, police, local politicians, business leaders and the public.
This
consensus will be much in evidence as the Voices of Victims tour begins on
October 23 at the 2013 International Drug Policy Reform Conference in
Denver, Colorado where several “caravaneros” will speak to
and participate in this important gathering by thousands of deeply engaged drug
policy reform advocates from around the world.
The
challenge facing us now is how to turn changing public perceptions into
organized political will to do something different. That is the reason for this
tour. Hearing real people tell their terrifying stories of the drug war’s
deadly consequences has already changed many hearts and minds. We still need to
change a lot more.
The
same political challenges apply to the question of weapons smuggling and
immigration reform — two other U.S. issues with critical importance for Mexico.
In
a Los Angeles
Times op-ed published
last May, Javier Sicilia talked about his frustration over
the defeat of legislation proposed after last December’s slaughter of 20 small school children
and six in Newtown, CT:
“[President] Obama’s initiatives would have made this
massive and continuous arming of Mexico’s criminal organizations significantly
more difficult. In Mexico, we were deeply disappointed when the U.S. Senate
rejected popular, modest and eminently sensible measures to make it slightly
harder for criminals, smugglers, the mentally ill and the cartels to get their
hands on powerful weapons.”
In
Mexico, where the drug war driven murder rate has in risen by 36 fold since the
year 2000 limiting the flow of guns into the country is vitally important, but
so too is ending the money flow to violent criminals practically guaranteed by
the chronic failure of drug prohibition strategies.
Breaking
the political stalemates and information blockades that keep us locked into
irrational and dangerous policies is a big and never ending task. The stalemate
over immigration is yet another example of this political dysfunction that must
be overcome. Right now, the radical Republican leadership in the House won’t
even allow consideration of the highly restrictive immigration reform bill
passed recently by the Senate.
Last
year’s Caravan mobilized with nearly 200 diverse organizations at the forefront
of many interconnected struggles for justice. We are again reaching out to our
friends and allies even as we look to expand the network.
Together,
we can transform the growing grassroots momentum into lasting policy reforms
that will improve the lives of millions of people impacted by the war on drugs.
