Pubdate: Sat, 18 Aug 2012 Source: Albuquerque Journal (NM) Copyright: 2012 Albuquerque Journal Contact: http://www.abqjournal.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/10 Author: Rene Romo Cited: Caravan for Peace: http://www.caravanforpeace.org/caravan/ POET, TOUR SEEK PEACE IN MEXICO LAS CRUCES - Mexican poet Javier Sicilia called for a moment of silence for the victims of his homeland's drug violence, a potent reminder of the anguish that spawned a cross-country Caravan for Peace with Justice and Dignity that made a stop here Friday. Since the murder last year of his son, Juan Francisco, a seemingly random victim of bloody fighting between warring drug cartels, Sicilia has emerged as a powerful critic of the war on drugs, corruption in Mexico and that nation's law enforcement approach to drug consumption. Sicilia, joined by several dozen supporters and other victims of drug-trafficker violence, set off on a bus tour of 20 U.S. cities last week to call for the end to the 40-year-old war on drugs and for tighter enforcement of weapons sales. The tour, which makes stops today in Albuquerque and Sunday and Monday in Santa Fe, will culminate with a demonstration in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 12. The final stop in the nation's capital will coincide with events in 30 other cities worldwide on the International Day of Action for Peace in Mexico. "We must work together to convince the governments of the United States, of Mexico, to change their approach to drugs to treat it as a public heath issue," Sicilia told a gathering of about 200 people at Klein Park in downtown Las Cruces on Friday. "When drugs become an issue of public health, we'll be able to end the war on drugs and stop the flow of weapons across the border (into Mexico)." Sicilia was accompanied Friday by a group of Mexicans carrying posters and signs bearing the images of relatives who have fallen victim to violence fueled by competition for illicit drug profits: a 35-year-old man who disappeared in January 2011 near Guadalajara; a man killed in Veracruz in May 2011; four people killed in late 2010 in the state of Michoacan. One large banner showed the photos of four people, underlined by the plea "Return my family to me." Addressing the crowd, Cristina Roman, a 28-year-old mother of three from Ciudad Juarez who is seeking asylum in the United States, told how her husband was abducted and murdered, how she witnessed an attack on a Juarez bar that left an estimated two dozen dead in March 2011, and how her father was kidnapped, never to be seen again. Sicilia said stories such as Roman's represent a fraction of the suffering of hundreds of thousands of people in Mexico and the United States stemming from drug-related violence. After taking office in late 2006, Mexican President Felipe Calderon deployed federal troops in a war on that nation's powerful drug cartels, and since then murders attributed to drug-trafficking groups have spiraled past 60,000, with 10,000 disappearances. Information about the cross-country tour is at http://www.caravanforpeace.org. An event called "This is tearing our families apart" is scheduled for noon to 2 p.m. today at Holy Family Church, 562 Atrisco Drive in Albuquerque; events in Santa Fe include a Mass at 5 p.m. Sunday in the Sanctuario de Guadalupe and a rally at 11 a.m. Monday on the Santa Fe plaza. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom