Mexico/U.S. Caravan Highlights Failed Drug War

By Steve Elliott
Tuesday, August 7, 2012



Caravan for Peace


"Caravan for Peace with Justice and Dignity" to Embark from San Diego August 12 Calling for End to Drug War that Has Killed 60,000 in Mexico

Javier Sicilia and other Victims from Mexico and United States to Make 6,000-mile Journey Through 20 Cities to Honor Lives Lost to Drug War, Culminating in International Day of Action in Washington D.C.

Caravan Proposes Comprehensive Solutions to Violence: Explore Drug Regulation, End Weapons Trafficking, Prevent Money Laundering, Eliminate U.S. Military Aid, and Ensure the Safety of Migrants

On Sunday, August 12, a broad bi-national coalition of more than 100 U.S. civil society organizations, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities (NALACC), Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), Global Exchange and the Drug Policy Alliance will join the Mexican Movement for Peace with Justice & Dignity (MPJD) to embark on the "Caravan for Peace with Justice and Dignity" across the United States.

The Caravan will be led by renowned Mexican poet Javier Sicilia, who emerged as a leader of the MPJD after his son Juan Francisco was killed in senseless prohibition-related violence last year, together with family members of Mexican victims of the drug war. They will unite with victims and supporters from the United States for a month-long voyage across the continental United States.

The Caravan for Peace seeks to end the failed Drug War that has left more than 60,000 dead in Mexico in the last five years, and resulted in more than 500,000 Americans behind bars for drug offenses.


Caravan for Peace

Javier Sicilia, Caravan for Peace: "We will travel across the United States to raise awareness of the unberable pain and loss caused by the drug war"

"Our purpose is to honor our victims, to make their names and faces visible," Sicilia said. "We will travel across the United States to raise awareness of the unbearable pain and loss caused by the drug war - and of the enormous shared responsibility for protecting families and communities in both our countries."

Bringing together victims from both countries, the Caravan aims to expose the root causes of violence in Mexico, to raise awareness about the effects of the Drug War on communities in the U.S., and to inspire U.S. civil society to demand new policies that will foster peace, justice and human dignity on both sides of the border.

"The NAACP has joined this coalition to call for an end to ineffective criminal justice policies like the war on drugs and racial profiling that fail to address the real problems of our communities," said NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous. "We must abandon the unsuccessful 'tough on crime' approach to justice and adopt a 'smart on crime' strategy that places individuals, their welfare and dignity, and community safety at the center of drug policy."

"Our decision to join the Caravan for Peace comes from an understanding that many U.S. policy failures are interconnected: from the drug war, to the highly punitive approach to human migration, to hateful anti-immigrant policies, to the systematic incarceration of increasing numbers of people, particularly racial minorities," said Oscar Chacón, executive director of NALACC. "The Caravan offers us the opportunity to begin to explore solutions based on a shared commitment to the wellbeing of people across borders."

Background of the Caravan for Peace

Beginning at the U.S.-Mexico border in San Diego, the Caravan for Peace will travel more than 6,000 miles through more than 20 cities and communities in 10 states -- including Los Angeles, Santa Fe, El Paso, Houston, Montgomery, New Orleans, Chicago and New York -- before arriving in Washington, D.C., on September 10. The Caravan will officially conclude on September 12 by calling for an International Day of Action for Peace in Mexico.



NAACP

Benjamin Todd Jealous, president and CEO, NAACP: "We must abandon the unsuccessful 'tough on crime' approach to justice and adopt a 'smart on crime' strategy..."

The goal of the Caravan for Peace is to engage in citizen diplomacy to stop the U.S.-led War On Drugs and to start a healing process from the national emergency that has devastated Mexico. Throughout the journey, family members will tell stories of the drug war's human toll while building ties with communities throughout the U.S. also deeply impacted by the drug war.

Since 2006, more than 60,000 people have been killed and more than 10,000 have disappeared in Mexico due to violence caused by drug prohibition. Rather than curbing drug use or supply, prohibition has enriched violent traffickers, armed with illegal weapons and sustained by laundered money, both of which flow into Mexico from the U.S. unabated.

The militarization of drug policy has only escalated the violence, corruption and impunity, leading to more deaths and disappearances that have torn the fabric of Mexican society.

The Drug War has produced painful consequences in the United States as well. The U.S. ranks first in the world in incarcerating its own citizens, with less than 5 percent of the world's population but nearly 25 percent of the world's prison population.

Roughly 500,000 people are behind bars for a drug law violation today. Blacks and Latinos are vastly overrepresented among those arrested and incarcerated for drug offenses, even though drug use rates are similar across racial and ethnic lines.

Thousands of people in the U.S. have died because of prohibition-related violence. And thousands more have died because the criminalization of people who use drugs makes them too afraid to seek treatment or to call 911 in the event of an overdose. Instead of keeping communities safe, the War On Drugs has become the longest, deadliest and most costly war in U.S. history.

The Caravan calls for a comprehensive new security strategy, including at minimum:

• The exploration of alternatives to drug prohibition, including diverse forms of drug regulation and decriminalization; and an open discussion of drug policy reform that replaces the current criminal justice approach with a public health focus;

• A halt to the illegal smuggling of weapons across the border to Mexico, which can be achieved by giving authorities effective regulatory tools and adequate resources without infringing on U.S. constitutional rights;

• Concrete steps to combat money laundering, including closing loopholes and holding financial institutions accountable;

• The immediate suspension of U.S. assistance to Mexico's armed forces, and a reorientation of U.S. aid to Mexico in a manner that prioritizes human security, development and the healing of Mexico's torn social fabric; and

• An end to the militarization of the border and the criminalization of immigrants, and the adoption of policies that protect the dignity of every human being, including immigrant populations that have been displaced by violence.


In each city along the way, the Caravan will be welcomed by local communities, who have planned rallies, marches, candlelight vigils, forums, performance art and more. For details about the events planned in each city, visit: www.caravanforpeace.org.

More than 100 U.S. organizations* are part of the Caravan effort. In addition to NAACP and NALACC, these include Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA), National Latino Congreso, Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), Latin America Working Group (LAWG), Border Angels / Angeles de la Frontera, CIP-Americas Program, Presente.org, Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), Students for a Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), Veterans for Peace, Witness for Peace, L.A. Community Legal Center, Hermandad Mexicana Transnacional, School of the Americas Watch, Fellowship for Reconciliation and Global Exchange.

Also participating are: Alianza Cívica, Sin Fronteras, INEDIM, Fuerzas Unidas por los Desaparecidos en México, Asociación Popular de Familiares de Migrantes (APOFAM), FUNDEM, Red por los Derechos de la Infancia, CuPIDH, Espolea, Reverdecer, Iniciativa Ciudadana para la Promoción de la Cultura de Diálogo, Pastoral de Movilidad Humana, Alarbo, Servicios para la Paz, Serapaz, Centro Nacional de Comunicación Social (Cencos), and many more.

About the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity


Facebook: facebook.com/caravan4Peace

Twitter: @CaravanaUSA

Email: caravanapresspass@movimientoporlapaz.mx


* Supporting organizations do not necessarily endorse all of the Caravan's policy positions.


tokeofthetown

Mexican Poet's US Caravan for Peace Tours to End the Drug War

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.

By Tom Hayden
August 9, 2012



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 pEnforcement Against Prohibition, National Latino Congreso, Presente.org, Veterans for Peaceut 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. After his son’s death, Sicilia, vowing not to write poetry any longer, formed a Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity (MPJD) and penned an anguished grito, or cry, titled “Estamos Hasta La Madre!” The English equivalent might be “Fed Up!,” but the Spanish slang also means that the authorities “insulted our mother protector, they’ve committed a sacrilege,” Sicilia says.

About seventy Mexican activists, many of whom are are relatives of victims, and about thirty Americans will accompany Sicilia on the caravan along the US-Mexico border, north from New Orleans through Mississippi and Alabama, to Chicago, Cleveland, New York City, Baltimore and Washington, DC. The US-based Global Exchange is charged with coordination and logistics. More than 100 US immigrant rights and peace groups are actively involved, including the Drug Policy Alliance, the NAACP, the Washington Office on Latin America, the Center for International Policy’s Americas Program, the Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, the National Latino Congreso, Presente.org and Veterans for Peace. Fifty grassroots groups are involved from California alone.

The caravan may force a response from President Obama, who at the Summit of the Americans this past April stated “it is entirely legitimate to have a conversation about whether the laws in place are ones that are doing more harm than good in certain places.” At this point, the caravan has not reached a decision on whether to seek a meeting with the White House, according to caravan spokesman Daniel Robelo of the Drug Policy Alliance. But it will hold briefings on Capitol Hill and intends to reach out to administration officials, Robelo says.

After the caravan massed 100,000 in Mexico City’s Zócalo (main plaza) last spring, Sicilia took part in direct dialogue with Mexican president Felipe Calderón last June in historic Chapúltepec Castle. On a large table before the president lay photos of Mexicans slain in the conflict, often depicting them as smiling, hopeful human beings before the horror that claimed their lives. Sicilia said “The powers that be were trying to tell us that all those who were dying were just criminals, just cockroaches. We had to change the mindset, and put names to the victims for a change.”

The response to Sicilia’s call was spontaneous and widespread. Overnight he became a revered figure in Mexico. Soon he was one of the protesters featured in Time magazine’s 2011 “Person of the Year” issue.

Assuming favorable local and national coverage as the caravan crosses the United States, Sicilia’s voice will soon be heard by millions of Americans.

And an unusual voice it is. Authentic: the voice of a grieving father. Nonpolitical: “I had never thought of starting a movement or being a spokesman for anything.” Religious: he is a theologian trained in liberation theology, and believes “the life of the soul can be powerful too.”

Sicilia’s movement has not pleased everyone on the Mexican left. Though a man of the left, Sicilia did not support Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the presidential candidate of the Partido de la Revolución Democrática (PRD). In the view of some, his strategy of dialogue only made Calderón and conservative political parties seem more reasonable. In a Time interview, Sicilia denounced left-wing groups in Juárez for trying to “highjack the movement” by insisting that Calderón withdraw all Mexican troops from the streets. Sicilia’s intuition was that immediate and total withdrawal of the army was an unrealistic demand that would weaken public support. “It threatened to drain the force of the movement,” he said. “It showed me that a protest can’t be overly ideological if it’s going to be successful.”

An eyewitness journalist I spoke to, however, said the Juárez dispute also concerned the centralizing of too much decision-making power in Sicilia alone. The journalist acknowledged that many differences exist about the role, if any, of troops on the streets.

Perhaps the main achievement of Sicilia’s campaign so far is a change in narrative about the drug war taking place across Mexico. For years the central narrative has been about escalating prohibition and repression through a “mano dura” (“strong hand”) policy by the state and security forces. Victims’ voices have been enlisted to promote revenge. Questioners were marginalized as soft on crime and drugs.

While many are still enraged about traffickers and assassins, the rising narrative is about the failure of the drug war itself—including Mexican institutions like corrupt courts, law enforcement and elected bodies—and a thoroughgoing “cluelessness” that Sicilia sees among Mexico’s governing elites.

Elites in the US also will be threatened by parts of the platform the MPJD is carrying north. The document was cobbled together over a mid-June weekend with input from the Center for International Policy’s Americas Program, the Drug Policy Alliance, Washington Office Online America and Witness for Peace, among others. The platform attempts to re-balance the drug policy debate from the two poles of Prohibition and Legalization towards a dialogue about alternative policies to militarization. It calls for:

• “suspension of US assistance to Mexico’s armed forces,” and a shift from the war focus to human security and development;

• effective policies to halt arms smuggling in border regions, especially Texas and Arizona;

• an increased federal crackdown on money-laundering;

• protections of immigrants who have been “displaced by violence who are fleeing to the US seeking save haven and a better life.”

The DPA’s Daniel Robelo says the main purpose of the caravan is to “make Mexico’s national emergency tangible in the US” and create a binational platform to affect public opinion. Laura Carlsen, of the Americas Program in Mexico City, who worked on the platform’s security issues, says that the caravan “has this very sort of moral purpose more than political right now. It’s outrageous that our governments continue with a strategy that is demonstrably ineffective and costly in terms of death and destruction of families. By hearing the stories of Mexican victims alongside families of US youth incarcerated for simple possession and lives lost to the violence and corruption of the illegal drug trade, citizens can get a real picture of how deeply wrong prohibition and the drug war are and begin to look at realistic and humane alternatives.”

If the caravan’s call to “end the violence” diminishes public support for the militarized approach, it could force an open dialogue about alternatives like drug legalization, until very recently considered a fatal third rail.

Sicilia and the caravan have been careful not to call explicitly for legalization, because their starting point is the suffering caused by the failed drug war. In addition, they acknowledge that the alternatives are complex. They have an informal consensus, though not a demand, on somehow regulating marijuana more safely, and promoting research and analysis on approaches other drugs like cocaine and methamphetamine - humanizing, so to speak, instead of militarizing, the problem.

The caravan arrives at a turning point in the hemispheric drug policy debate. Obama’s endorsement of a new “conversation” was forced by unprecedented criticism of US drug war policies by the presidents of Guatemala, Colombia, Costa Rica, Argentina, Brazil and Ecuador at a regional summit in February. Belize has followed suit, and Uruguay’s president José Mujica on June 20 proposed that his country become the first to legalize marijuana under state management.

A recent front-page New York Times account titled “South America Sees Drug Path to Legalization” mocked Mr. Mujica as “famously rebellious,” a “former guerrilla who drives a 1981 Volkswagen beetle.” Mujica, the Times seemed to chuckle, would turn Uruguay into the world’s first “marijuana republic.”

But the regional upheaval against the drug war paradigm is real, and Obama knows it. The US government’s increasing isolation from Latin America will require more than “a conversation,” but it could usefully begin with one. The drug war status quo is collapsing. More than ever, voices of protest are backed by the power of hemispheric leaders too numerous to ignore.


AlterNet

Peace dwr thread

Can the Caravan of Peace End the War on Drugs? at The Nation

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. continued

Mexican Poet Javier Sicilia Leads U.S. Peace Caravan
to Expose Drug War’s Human Toll democracynow

Losing the Mexican Drug War may be better than winning..
The Free Mexican Air Force
Ganjawar Puppets Cave... again

Caravan For Peace Arrives In L.A.; Calls For End To Drug War

By Steve Elliott
Monday, August 13, 2012



Caravan For Peace

The Caravan for Peace with Justice Arrives in Los Angeles today, calling for an end to the Drug War which has killed 60,000 in Mexico and incarcerated millions of Americans

Caravan for Peace with Justice Arrives in Los Angeles Monday Calling for End to Drug War that Has Killed 60,000 in Mexico and Incarcerated Millions of Americans

Hollywood Film Directors and Actors including Kate Del Castilo, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Diego Luna, Alfonso Cuarón, among Celebrities Who Will join the Caravan at Various events in Los Angeles Monday and Tuesday

Javier Sicilia and other Victims from Mexico and United States to Make 6,000-mile Journey Through 20 Cities to Honor Lives Lost to Drug War, Culminating in International Day of Action in Washington D.C.

A broad bi-national coalition of more than 100 U.S. civil society organizations, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities (NALACC), Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), Global Exchange and the Drug Policy Alliance, on Sunday joined the Mexican Movement for Peace with Justice & Dignity (MPJD) to embark on the "Caravan for Peace with Justice and Dignity" across the United States.

The Caravan will be led by renowned Mexican poet Javier Sicilia, who emerged as a leader of the MPJD after his son Juan Francisco was killed in senseless prohibition-related violence last year, together with family members of Mexican victims of the Drug War. They will unite with victims and supporters from the United States for a month-long voyage across the continental United States.



Caravan For Peace


The Caravan for Peace seeks to end the failed drug war that has left more than 60,000 dead in Mexico in the last five years, and resulted in more than 500,000 Americans behind bars for drug offenses.

Beginning at the U.S.-Mexico border in San Diego, the Caravan for Peace will travel more than 6,000 miles through more than 20 cities and communities in 10 states--including Los Angeles, Santa Fe, El Paso, Houston, Montgomery, New Orleans, Chicago and New York--before arriving in Washington, D.C., on September 10.

The Caravan will officially conclude on September 12 by calling for an International Day of Action for Peace in Mexico.

"Our purpose is to honor our victims, to make their names and faces visible," Sicilia said. "We will travel across the United States to raise awareness of the unbearable pain and loss caused by the drug war - and of the enormous shared responsibility for protecting families and communities in both our countries."

On Monday, August 13, the Caravan will arrive at Our Lady Queens of Angels, La Placita Olvera to help educate members of the interfaith community, community leaders, elected officials and many more.

For details about the events planned in each city, visit: http://www.caravanforpeace.org.


tokeofthetown

NORML and Women’s Alliance Join ‘Caravan for Peace’ Campaign

•by Sabrina Fendrick, NORML Women's Alliance
August 13, 2012




NORML and the NORML Women’s Alliance are pleased to announce their support and official endorsement of The Movement for Peace and Justice with Dignity, along with the American-based organization Global Exchange’s “Caravan for Peace.”



“This campaign will draw public attention to the damage marijuana prohibition is causing not only in our country, but in Mexico as well. This multi-national coalition of drug reform, human rights, religious and progressive organizations have come together with one objective; raising awareness about, and ending, our 75 year violent and failed drug prohibition,” said Sabrina Fendrick of the NORML Women’s Alliance.


[From the website:] The Caravan represents one element of a broad strategy responding to Mexico’s violent national emergency resulting from Drug War policies (in Mexico and the U.S.) gone tragically wrong. The idea of the Caravan is to make Mexico’s national emergency tangible in the United States and to create a platform where those affected by the Drug War from Mexico, the U.S. and elsewhere can join their voices to inform public opinion on both sides of the border.

The Caravan takes place at a politically charged moment. It begins in San Diego, six weeks after Mexico’s July 1 presidential election and arrives in Washington, D.C. in September, six weeks prior to the U.S. elections. This summer we will bring communities together around events large and small, turning awareness into action and building a movement that will continue pushing for changes at the local, state, national and international level long after the Caravan has passed through.



The U.S. Caravan’s mission is, among other things:
•To make the connections between the impacts of the Drug War in Mexico (violence, deaths and rise of organized crime) and in the U.S. (criminalization, incarceration, and life-long marginalization- disproportionately affecting African-American and Latino communities);
•To promote a civil society discourse with the American public and opinion leaders about the policies (easy access to assault weapons, militarization of drug enforcement and U.S. prohibition policies) at the root of the crisis;
•To foster collaboration and effective solidarity among a broad range of progressive, grassroots, religious, humanitarian and other organizations; and
•To leave, in the Caravan’s wake, informed, organized, and mobilized communities of activists who will pursue reform strategies in the near and long-term on both sides of the border.

NORML chapters across the country, as well as NORML Women’s Alliance community groups will be taking part in the campaign as the caravan arrives in their respective locations. If there are other groups who are interested in getting involved with the Caravan, please click here to find your local contact.

NORML

Mexican Poet Retired His Pen When His Son Was Murdered --Now He's Turned Tragedy Into a Movement to the End Drug War




Mexican poet Javier Sicilia and victims of the drug war are drawing attention to violence south of the border by traveling across the U.S. in a peace caravan.

By Jamie Haase
August 14, 2012


Most people probably wouldn’t consider poetry and bravery synonymous, but poet Javier Sicilia defies such primitive thought. In war-plagued Mexico, protesting against the prohibition-fueled violence carries the gravest risks imaginable. Many voices similar to Sicilia's have been permanently silenced for making the same cries for peace. The luckier of these are now six feet deep as a result of their courageous deeds. The not-so-lucky were slain and disposed of in ways known to no one except God and the killers themselves. Still, Javier Sicilia remains undeterred by the risk of death, and he warriors on with nothing to lose at this point.

Thankfully for Americans, the former poet has again decided to bring this determination for peace north of Mexico’s border, in the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity’s “Peace Caravan” this summer. The American sea-to-shining-sea voyage will span roughly 6,000 miles in total. After departing San Diego on August 12, the caravan weaves across the States and eventually arrives in Washington, D.C. on September 10. The Greyhound motorcade is made up of buses, campers and trailers (of all sorts), and the convoy will be making demonstrations and overnight pit stops in numerous cities along the way.

As a former federal agent who’s worked on the border and inspected passenger buses similar to the ones about to embark on this trip, I can’t help but think how honored I will be to welcome these visitors after they cross the border into the United States.

Sicilia’s quest began the moment the lifeless bodies of his son, 24-year-old Juan Sicilia, and six college friends were discovered on March 28, 2011. After the students had their lives beaten and suffocated out of them, their corpses were stuffed in the back of a sedan and left abandoned along a highway in Morelos. The discovery was made on a Monday morning; apparently sometime earlier in the weekend a couple of the students had unknowingly gotten into an altercation with members of the fragmented Beltran Leyva Cartel, which is an organization that’s become lethally unpredictable since the death of “Don” Arturo Beltran Leyva. Evidently, the dispute took place at a nightclub in Cuernavaca, and as the seven friends were on their way home that evening, they were intercepted and abducted by masked reinforcements from the cartel.

Neither Juan nor his college buddies had anything to do with drug trafficking. Yet killing has become so thoughtless in Mexico these days that alternative methods for settling disputes seem rarely employed. Organized crime rules the day south of the border. What’s to stop cartel gunmen from murdering a few college kids over a scuffle when they already kill for sport every day anyways?

Yet Juan’s murder turned out to be different from your average killing. It woke a sleeping giant and gave momentum to countless numbers of victims who’d been waiting for someone to rally behind. Family members who’ve lost similar loved ones would now have a recognizable face for their grief in Javier Sicilia.

So viva Mexico and the United States alike, now uniting in an alliance to reform drug laws and end this pointless mayhem. The most pressing thing at the moment is getting marijuana legalized once and for all. This plant accounts for roughly 60 percent of cartel profits in Mexico, and its prohibition alone is responsible for much of the devastation wrought by the drug war. All the while its legality and legitimacy is welcomed by more than 50 percent of Americans (a figure increasing more and more every day).

There are varying reasons for supporting legalization, but one that can’t be neglected is the death toll accumulating south of the border. To me personally, this is the most immediate reason for ending prohibition. Third-party innocents from low-income, drug-producing countries die every day from our uncompromising drug policies. Yet the United States government remains committed to continuing down this unjust road-to-nowhere, which is something that should be intolerable to all of us.

Another critical reason for ending prohibition (and one that’s often overlooked in my opinion), is American national security. After 10 years of service with the government’s two main border enforcement agencies, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), I know that an indefinite drug war in Mexico equates to an indefinite drug war here in the United States. Southwest border states (especially Texas and Arizona) are increasingly witnessing spillover violence, and this trend will only increase as Mexico’s plight becomes more dire in years ahead. The only way to end this is to eliminate the black market for illicit narcotics, or at least to minimize the deadly industry, and legalizing marijuana alone at this point would do much to accomplish that feat.

The purpose of this article is to urge folks to come out and show love for Javier Sicilia and his accompanying brothers and sisters. Anyone with passion who wants to simultaneously witness a more peaceful Mexico and a more stable United States should be present for at least one of the caravan’s historic stops. Tens of millions of Americans are fed up with the nation’s prohibition policies, but many of us don’t go out of our way to help bring change. Numbers speak volumes, and being present is all it really takes to help increase the voltage and pressure on the government, and it’s only a fraction of the commitment (let alone blood) that our soon-to-be-arriving neighbors have had to ante up.

With countries like Mexico and Guatemala being under siege more than ever as a result of American drug policy, it’s likely the caravan will be dominated by the Latino community. Yet diverse participants from several drug reform organizations will be present as well. For example, there will be representatives from Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) escorting the visitors at every stop of the way. An organization made up of former judges, prosecutors, cops and federal agents who oppose the country’s drug laws, LEAP members will be traveling in a mock police SUV and will be available for questions, comments, suggestions, etc. about the failures of prohibition (and ways to help bring it to an end).

Other heavy-hitting drug reform organization like the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) will be taking part as well. And, having so many nationwide chapters, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) is likely to have several volunteer boots on the ground during the voyage.

One of the caravan’s final Southern stops will be Atlanta, Georgia before heading up to the Midwest. Living in the Southeast, I contacted the Atlanta-based Peachtree NORML chapter when I heard that Javier Sicilia and company were coming to town. I’ve known the organization’s executive director, Sharon Ravert, for some time now (ever since I resigned from the government to get involved in marijuana reform). Knowing her and the other Peachtree members like I do, I wasn’t surprised to learn that plans were already in motion to roll out the red carpet for the expected company. Activities include a candlelight vigil, a march to city hall and street theater with stories from the caravan.

Global Exchange is the organization responsible for making this event possible, and on its site is a map with the caravan’s anticipated dates, cities and stops (along with the events happening in each). With the United States being as large as it is, many citizens (mainly in the Northwest) won’t have close and viable options for attending any stops—even with the participants touring like rock-stars and hitting 24 cities in just 30 days. But the grand finale will be in Washington, D.C. over the 9/11 anniversary, so what better time to travel to the nation’s capital?

More than 60,000 people have been killed in Mexico in the past six years as a result of U.S. drug policy. We can’t bring back the victims of September 11th or the victims of Mexico’s drug war for that matter. We can, however, do something to ensure fewer victims in the future: We can support the Peace Caravan and we can demand an end to this destructive, failed drug war once and for all.


AlterNet


Jamie Haase, a speaker for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, is a former Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent.

Caravan under way

Nice to see the Caravan for Peace with Justice and Dignity getting some early press. Hopefully that will grow even more (as will the crowds).

At first, when looking at their itinerary, I was about to take bets on how often they’d get pulled over and searched, but they may have enough of an entourage and public presence to get the police to stay off them.

Mexico's "Caravan for Peace" Heads to Washington [FEATURE]

by Phillip Smith,
August 29, 2012


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.




rally in El Paso

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.

While on Wednesday, the theme of the day's events was to be "the new Jim Crow" and the mass criminalization and incarceration of large numbers of African-Americans through the war on drugs, that is only one of the themes the caravan is emphasizing in its bid to put the harms of the drug war on full view for the American public and its politicians.

Led by Mexican poet Javier Sicilia, the caravan said it wants put faces on Mexico's drug war dead -- who are too often assumed to have been "bad" by virtue of having been killed.

"Our purpose is to honor our victims, to make their names and faces visible," Sicilia said. "We will travel across the United States to raise awareness of the unbearable pain and loss caused by the drug war -- and of the enormous shared responsibility for protecting families and communities in both our countries."



vigil in Brownsville

But it's not just about honoring the victims of the drug war; the Caravan also explicitly seeks policy changes on both sides of the border, not only to drug policy. These policy areas and the Caravan's recommendations include:

"Drug War policies: We propose the need to find a solution, with a multidisciplinary and intergenerational approach that places individuals, and their welfare and dignity, at the center of drug policy. We call on both the Mexican and the U.S. community to open and maintain a dialogue about alternatives to Prohibition based on evidence, and which is inclusive in its considerations of the diverse options for drug regulation.

"Arms trafficking: We propose that the President of the United States immediately prohibit the importation of assault weapons to the United States. Assault weapons are often smuggled into Mexico, and have also been used too many times against innocent civilians in the US. We propose giving authorities effective regulatory tools and adequate resources to halt arms smuggling in the border regions, especially in border states like Arizona and Texas.

"Money laundering: We call for governments on both sides of the border to take concrete steps to combat money laundering. We propose that financial institutions be held accountable for preventing money laundering through increased government surveillance, investigations, fines and criminal charges. We also call for the Treasury Department to immediately implement Congress’ 2009 call to close the "prepaid/stored value cards" loophole.


visit to the Sacred Heart Convent, Houston

"US foreign aid policy: We call for a change from the United States' "war" focus to one of human security and development that contemplates promoting the healing of Mexico's torn social fabric. We propose the immediate suspension of US assistance to Mexico's armed forces. The "shared responsibility" for peace that both governments share must begin with each country complying with its own respective national laws.

"Immigration: We call for a change in the policies that have militarized the border and criminalized immigrants. These policies have generated a humanitarian crisis driven by unprecedented levels of deportations and incarceration of migrants. In addition, these policies have also inflicted immeasurable environmental damage. We call for protecting the dignity of every human being, including immigrant populations that have been displaced by violence who are fleeing to the US seeking safe haven and a better life."

The Caravan is a natural outgrowth of Sicilia's Mexican Movement for Peace and Justice with Dignity (MMPJD), which he formed after his son and several comrades were kidnapped and murdered by drug cartel gunmen in Cuernavaca in March 2011. It is designed to put names and faces on the estimated 60,000 dead, 10,000 disappeared, and 150,000 displaced by the prohibition-related violence pitting the so-called cartels against each other and the Mexican state.


memorial representing victims of the Monterrey Casino Royale attack

In Mexico, the MMPJD struck a deep chord with a population increasingly angered and frightened by the often horrific violence raging across the country. Caravans organized by the MMJPD crisscrossed the country last year before bringing 100,000 people to mass in Mexico City's huge national plaza, the Zocalo in June. The mass outpouring of grief and anger convinced President Felipe Calderon to meet with Sicilia, who brought along photos of some of the dead depicting them as happy, smiling human beings.

"The powers that be were trying to tell us that all those who were dying were just criminals, just cockroaches," Sicilia explained. "We had to change the mindset, and put names to the victims for a change."

In Texas last week, the caravan traveled the breadth of the state, stopping in El Paso, Laredo, McAllen, San Antonio, Austin, and Houston before heading into the final half of the tour. In Austin, groups such as Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) and local NORML affiliates joined the travelers.



El Paso

"I think what is important is the binational nature of this caravan," said Roberto Lovato, the founder of Presente.org, an online Latino advocacy organization. "The drug war has been a fantastic failure here in the United States, if you look at more than 2 million people being incarcerated, families destroyed by that incarceration, a trillion of our tax dollars utterly wasted. So we have law enforcement officers who lost their brothers and their sisters in the law enforcement world, and people who have lost family members in Mexico."

"The drug problem isn’t just an American problem, and the harm that prohibition of drugs causes in the world is phenomenal," said LEAP member and Texas resident Terry Nelson, who spent more than three decades in federal law enforcement. "Hundreds of thousands are dying in the Western Hemisphere alone, it’s got to stop," he said. "The drug war is a war on people, it's not a war on drugs."

In Houston, state Rep. Sylvester Turner (D-Houston) presented Sicilia with a non-binding resolution praising his efforts and criticizing the drug war.


Javier Sicilia with the LEAP van

"Although our nation spends in excess of $40 billion a year combating the drug trade, the United States remains the principal destination for drugs produced in and transported through Mexico," the resolution said. "Moreover, many of the firearms found at crime scenes in Mexico have been traced to sources in the United States; interdiction initiatives have not resulted in the decline of drug abuse."

Along the way, the caravan has touched on a number of intersecting issues. Javier Sicilia himself told Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to treat his prisoners better, and the caravan has visited immigrant detention centers to criticize US policies toward undocumented immigrants. Similarly, in Houston, group members purchased a pistol and an AK-47 at gunshow, then dismantled the rifle, transforming into a peace symbol in line with its calls on the US government to crack down on the flow of firearms south of the border. And above all, the call for the respect for human rights has been a constant on the caravan.

The caravan is set to arrive in Washington, DC, on September 10 for events scheduled the following day. So far, it is succeeding in its aim of bringing attention to the harms of the drug war on both sides of the border -- a Google news search for "caravan for peace" now shows 2,660 results. That number was at 145 when last we wrote about the caravan two weeks ago.

Many more photos are available on the Caravan's Flickr page.


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