Pubdate: Tue, 10 May 2011
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright: 2011 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.wsj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
Author: Nicholas Casey

MEXICO POET SAYS NO TO DRUG WAR

MEXICO CITY-In March, tragedy struck the household of Mexican poet
Javier Sicilia. His 24-year-old son and six friends were found dead
near the resort town of Cuernavaca, a massacre that mirrored scores of
others in Mexico's brutal drug wars

But the slaying has already resulted in a different outcome than most
in Mexico. Mr. Sicilia used his son's death to rally tens of thousands
of protesters in Mexico City's central plaza Sunday to hear him speak
during his "March for Peace and Justice."

On Monday, President Felipe Calderon offered a dialogue with
protesters, saying the march "represents a just and legitimate drive
by citizens to address the problem of insecurity that we suffer from
in this country."

Mr. Sicilia hopes to turn Sunday's demonstration into a mass movement
to fight not only the drug cartels but also the government's
heavy-handed tactics in pursuing them. The leftist academic is a vocal
critic of Mr. Calderon's conservative government, which he says is too
corrupt to resolve the problem. Mr. Sicilia hasn't offered
alternatives.

Mexicans have tried before to create a popular movement against
criminal violence. In 2004, just before Mr. Calderon began his
crackdown against drug gangs, several hundred thousand people gathered
in the capital for a "March Against Insecurity." But momentum stalled.

Nearly 40,000 people have died in drug-related violence since then,
with authorities saying Monday that another 13 were killed in a
shootout between military and drug gangs at a lake on the border with
Texas. Mr. Sicilia and his followers hope the mounting toll is enough
to create a popular groundswell. This year has been especially
terrifying. A mass grave site in Tamaulipas was discovered with at
least 183 bodies last month, while a second, in the state of Durango,
had more than 160.

"There are killers in the street, the government's strategy is failed,
and we are hasta la madre," said Mr. Sicilia in an interview, using
popular Mexican phrase meaning "fed up."

Some experts point to Colombia as a successful precedent. As the
country's main drug trafficking group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces
of Colombia, or FARC, boasted popular support as it fought the state,
demonstrators turned out en masse to counter the claims in 2008.
Hundreds of thousands of protesters took to streets of Bogota carrying
banners that denounced kidnappings by the rebel group.

"They sent a clear message to the FARC that a broad portion of
Colombia was against them," said Alexander Wilde, an expert on Latin
American social movements at the Woodrow Wilson International Center
for Scholars.

Replicating that type of broad support may prove challenging for Mr.
Sicilia. Some analysts say he muddles his message by attacking Mr.
Calderon in stronger terms than the drug gangs themselves. Mr.
Sicilia said recently of Mr. Calderon: "He is responsible for the
40,000 dead."

Last month the president invited Mr. Sicilia to discuss the death of
his son, but the poet says the meeting didn't go well. "This is a man
who hears but doesn't listen," he said. Mr. Calderon's office didn't
immediately comment on the meeting.

On Monday, Mexican columnist Jorge Fernandez Menendez summed up in his
column what he saw as Mr. Sicilia's message: "The enemies aren't the
criminals, rather the government." The writer added: "Mr. Sicilia has
all the right in the world to ask authorities to stop the killings.
But it also happens that his son was killed by criminals, not security
forces."

A poll published on Monday showed the president retained a 50%
approval rating in its combat of the drug war, up from 46% late last
year.

Mr. Sicilia said he realized the government wasn't behind the vast
majority of deaths, but focuses his criticism on Mexico's political
leaders because they, unlike drug gangs, "can be held accountable by
the people."

Those around Mr. Sicilia acknowledge the risk that a popular movement
against drug traffickers could be overtaken by politics. "Javier is a
poet, a journalist, his loss is something that appeals to many
Mexicans," said Emilio Alvarez Icaza, an organizer and former
ombudsman for the Mexico City government. "But we need to keep that
appeal as broad as possible, not just among those on the left whose
support we already have." 
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