Pubdate: Tue, 01 May 2012
Source: Arizona Daily Wildcat (AZ Edu)
Copyright: 2012 Arizona Daily Wildcat
Contact:  http://wildcat.arizona.edu/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/725
Author: Stephanie Casanova

PEACE ACTIVIST VISITS UA, TALKS DRUG WAR

When Javier Sicilia's son was kidnapped and
murdered in Mexico in March 2011, he decided he'd
had it with Mexico's war on drugs. Sicilia, who
was once a poet, put his pen down and instead
ensured that his voice was heard through activism and peaceful protests.

The world-renowned peace activist and poet spoke
to the UA community on Monday in a talk titled
"Mexico's Future: Peace or Endless War?" Sicilia
addressed the issues of who is responsible for
Mexico's drug war and what can be done to end it.

Sicilia, a native of Mexico, said the statistics
are imprecise. The Mexican government has
reported 48,000 dead since the war started,
almost six years ago. The Pentagon has reported
150,000 dead, according to Sicilia.

"These figures increase day to day, and below
them is a terrorized population," Sicilia said.
"For every consumption of theirs (Americans' drug
consumption), we have someone dead."

Mexican President Felipe Calderon declared war on
drug traffickers shortly after he took office in
December 2006. He sent the army "to the streets
to pursue delinquents," Sicilia said.

"It's created a state of war =85 and this means
violations to human rights from the army," he added.

Both the Mexican and the U.S. government are
responsible for this war, Sicilia said. The U.S.
has taken a public health policy issue and turned
it into a national security issue. In order to
protect and keep Americans from using drugs, the
U.S. is providing weapons and advising Mexican
military to combat drug traffickers.

"Since drugs enter from Mexican territory,
they've (the U.S.) created a war for us," Sicilia
said. "They tell us we have to combat drug
traffickers and they invest in violence in Mexico, on legitimate violence."

Kidnappings and murders have made it unsafe for
people to live comfortably in Mexico. According
to Sicilia, in certain towns, people are afraid
to leave their home after 7 p.m. Sicilia said
crime in Mexico is currently addressed with 98 percent impunity.

"If we were in Mexico and we decided, right now,
to commit a crime, murder someone =85 there would
be a 2 percent chance that we'd get caught," Sicilia said.

Sicilia asked that the U.S. not only legalize,
control and market its own drugs but also
regulate and better control weapon policies.

"Just as they're arming and militarily advising
Mexican armed forces for the combat, they're also
allowing high-powered firearms to be smuggled
daily through the border and arming the drug traffickers," Sicilia said.

The U.S. has the right to maintain and protect
its people's right to bear arms, something
Sicilia said he doesn't quite understand but is
in no position to question the American belief or
culture. What Sicilia asked for is reform, so
that these weapons don't make it into the hands
of Mexican drug traffickers, he said.

"You can go to a gun fair here and buy them,"
said Margaret Wilder, an associate professor in
Latin American studies. "It's really easy to pass
all of the arms that are legal here to get illegally into Mexico."

Inspired by graduate students, Wilder organized
Sicilia's visit and was pleased with the number
of people who attended the event, she said,
adding that the war on drugs is a bi-national problem.

On an individual level, Sicilia was asked how
citizens living on the border can help stop the
drug war. Sicilia suggested that Americans urge
politicians, whether President Barack Obama or
local congressmen, to control arms and reform
drug laws by making them a public health policy issue.

Raul Graciano, a mechanical engineering
sophomore, was raised in Mexico and recently
began to read about the drug war and Sicilia's
movements. Graciano lost an uncle in Mexico when
he was 10 years old, and more recently lost two
friends because of the drug war.

"Most of the college community who consume drugs,
they should become aware of what are the
consequences of consuming drugs," Graciano said. "They are funding the carte
ls."
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart