Pubdate: Tue, 21 Aug 2012
Source: El Paso Times (TX)
Copyright: 2012 El Paso Times
Contact: http://www.elpasotimes.com/townhall/ci_14227323
Website: http://www.elpasotimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/829
Author: Alejandro Martinez-Cabrera
Cited: Caravan for Peace: http://www.caravanforpeace.org/caravan/

EL PASO CITY COUNCIL VOTES ON GUN SALE CODE OF CONDUCT DURING PEACE 
CARAVAN VISIT

Prompted by victims of violence in Mexico, the City Council on Tuesday
approved - not without debate - a resolution calling for the
endorsement of a voluntary code of conduct for firearm sales.

The resolution, which also called for a discussion on the country's
drug policies and prioritizing human rights in U.S.-Mexico
collaborations, was a gesture of solidarity with the Caravan for Peace
with Justice and Dignity. The group of about 110 people is traveling
through the U.S. to create awareness about the U.S.'s link to drug
violence in Mexico among policy makers and the general public.

The leader of the caravan is Mexican poet Javier Sicilia, whose son
Juan Francisco, 24, was killed by gunmen last year. On Wednesday,
Sicilia and the group addressed city council before demonstrating at
the El Paso offices of federal agencies and visiting the University of
Texas at El Paso.

Sicilia told council members about the pain and suffering caused by
Mexican president Felipe Calderon's term-long push against criminal
organizations in the country, which has led to the death and
disappearance of tens of thousands.

Sicilia underscored the role of weapons flowing from the U.S. in
spurring violence in Mexico. U.S. aid policies had contributed to
militarize the country, he said, and U.S. authorities have been unable
to keep criminal organizations from purchasing high-caliber weapons
here.

"It only benefits the lords of death, the lords of pain, the lords of
war and the lords of violence," he said. "We believe that the United
States has a responsibility that hasn't been assumed by the government
and the people of this country."

Victims also spoke to reporters of the losses they've
endured.

Juan Carlos Trujillo, from the southwestern state of Michoacan, said
two of his brothers went missing while traveling through a town where
a drug lord was sweeping for unfamiliar people. Two other brothers
disappeared two years later on an incident the family can't tell if it
was related.

To disappear is a worse fate than dying, Trujillo said, because the
uncertainty is devastating.

"I'm talking to you and I don't know if my brother is eating or not,
if he's alive or not," Trujillo said. "As brothers, we made a pact
that when we feel we're in danger we either throw ourselves off a
cliff or crash against (our attackers) so our mother will know where
we ended."

Sicilia's address to the city council was followed by the vote on the
resolution, which was approved by the majority of council members,
with the exception of city Rep. Cortney Niland who abstained from voting.

The document was only approved after some modifications to the
language of the resolution.

Council member Michiel Noe said he sympathized with the caravan but
criticized one point in the proposed code of conduct for fire arm
sales, which called retailers to refuse sales when background checks
don't return within three days.

Noe said people cannot be denied the purchase of a weapon "without a
reason or without someone accusing them."

Noe also said the original resolution's call to "spur discussion about
current drug policy and alternatives to it" indirectly referred to a
discussion on the legalization of drugs, which he refused to engage
in.

Noe asked that the resolution's language emphasize the code of conduct
is voluntary and omit the part alluding to the discussion of drug
policy alternatives.

Two El Paso residents who spoke before the city council said they were
against the resolution. One of the critics, Salvador Gomez, said he
supported the caravan but thought its efforts should be focused in
Mexico.

"I'm tired of hearing people come and criticize my country," he said.
"The place to make an impact is on Juarez, not on this side of the
border." Caravan members responded by standing up and giving their
back to the speakers.

After their appearance in city council, the caravan held a
demonstration outside the offices of federal agencies in the city and
later visited UTEP, where Sicilia spoke about the impact of violence
in fueling immigration into the U.S. In the evening, the caravan led a
march from San Jacinto Plaza toward the immigrant support center
Annunciation House, where they held a vigil for the victims of violence.

Sicilia called for people in the U.S. to be compassionate toward
Mexican victims displaced by violence, the legalization of drugs and
demand U.S. aid money for Mexico be used to restore the country's
social fabric, cleanse corrupt institutions and limit the southbound
traffic of weapons.

Sicilia's caravan will leave El Paso on Wednesday and will stop in
Laredo, Austin, San Antonio, Atlanta, Chicago and New York before
reaching Washington D.C.

The group's month-long trip will take them through 28 cities. It began
San Diego on Aug, 12 and passed through Los Angeles, Phoenix and Las
Cruces, among other cities, before making it to El Paso.
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MAP posted-by: Matt