Pubdate: Thu, 23 Aug 2012
Source: Monitor, The (McAllen, TX)
Copyright: 2012 The Monitor
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/qsOVHygd
Website: http://www.themonitor.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1250
Author: Delcia Lopez

GROUP TARGETS DRUG PROHIBITION, WANTS 'DIFFERENT SOLUTION'

ALAMO - Tears came down the face of Alma Estrada as she recalled the 
call she received two years ago telling her that gunmen had kidnapped 
her brother.

His fate remains a mystery.

Estrada, a lifelong Alamo resident, shared the story of her brother, 
Roberto Banda, 40, who worked as a road builder in Soto La Marina, 
Tamps., before his disappearance.

Tales of desperation like Estrada's were shared by the various 
members of the Caravan for Peace movement, which made a stop Thursday 
afternoon in the Rio Grande Valley along its way to Washington, D.C.

San Juana Martinez, another Alamo resident, recalled the fearful 
journey to Ciudad Mante, Tamps., to bury her 70-year-old aunt, Ninfa 
Hernandez, who had been raped and mutilated along with several other 
women by members of organized crime.

"The Mexican authorities never did anything; they said to just drop 
it," Martinez said in Spanish, saying the victim's loved ones were 
told to stop asking about the case.

The Peace Caravan was started by Mexican author Javier Sicilia after 
his son, Juan Francisco, and six other men were killed by cartel 
gunmen in Mexico state.

"This is a crusade for the victims, for the justice and the peace 
that criminals and the bad political moves of our governments have 
stolen from us," Sicilia said in Spanish as he addressed more than 50 
supporters gathered at the ARISE women's advocacy center in the area 
south of Alamo known as Little Mexico.

"This war is the gate to hell," the author said. "There's pain 
everywhere. I've heard the pain on both sides of the border, and the 
governments refuse to take responsibility.

"No one is going to bring back my son or the other victims of this war."

The Caravan for Peace is looking to highlight the failure of drug 
prohibition and promote a dialogue toward drug legalization, strict 
gun control in the U.S., harsh criminal laws to fight money 
laundering, and humane treatment of immigrants, Sicilia said.

"We as citizens must put pressure on the governments to promote a 
peace agenda," Sicilia said. "Without peace there is no justice."

Caravan for Peace is not calling for drastic or immediate measures 
such as the withdrawal of the Mexican military or the automatic 
legalization of drugs, group spokesman Daniel Gershenson said. But 
the group is asking for an open dialogue to other options to prohibition.

"We want to bring all the voices to the table to come up with a 
different solution because to continue down this road is suicide," 
Gershenson said.

The group is asking for an end to the drug war but not an immediate 
pullout of military forces in Mexico, he said adding that to do so 
would be irresponsible.

Military forces were used because after 71 years of political 
corruption, local and state police had become infiltrated and in some 
cases controlled by drug cartels, Gershenson said.

"We are asking for a dialogue because the answer covers not only the 
law enforcement side, but it involves education and economic 
opportunities and many other areas, which are the reason why some 
turn to criminal organizations," he said.

As the caravan travels across the nation, they are escorted by a 
police vehicle belonging to Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, an 
organization of retired police officers who are in favor of legalizing drugs.

"I was a U.S. customs agent for 22 years," LEAP spokesman Richard 
Newton said. "We caught a lot of drugs. Did we make an impact on the 
drug trade or drug prices? No."

According to Newton, much as it did after the Prohibition era of the 
1920s, legalizing intoxicating substances - in this case, drugs 
rather than alcohol - would remove the criminal element and allow for 
government regulation.

The objective of peace is noble, but how you reach that objective is 
where the debate begins, said Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Trevino, a 
fervent opponent of the legalizing drugs.

"That would mean that everything that we have done since 1972, the 
thousands of lives and the billions spent fighting drugs would have 
been for nothing," Trevino said. "You can't just say, 'This is the 
end of it,' and have the criminal element have their way."

If drugs were legalized, the sheriff said, members of the underworld 
would find another way to make money - like circumventing any new 
drug regulations - using their same methods.

While alcohol can be a destructive substance, the sheriff said, it is 
not comparable to drugs. On a daily basis, Trevino said, police have 
to deal with drug addicts invading homes looking for loot to finance 
their habits.

"How many times have you heard of an alcoholic breaking into a home 
to steal jewelry in order to buy beer?" Trevino asked.

"The most important reason I oppose legalizing drugs is: What are we 
telling our children?" Trevino said. "That the use of drugs and all 
of the consequences that come with it are OK. That's why it can't be done."
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