WASHINGTON.- The Caravan for Peace arrived to Washington yesterday, the last stop of a tour across the US in which the families of violence victims from both sides of the border have signaled a "beginning and an end" to their accusation against current policies used by the war on drugs.
After traveling for over 10,000 kilometers and visiting 26 cities, the 110 members of the caravan led by Mexican poet Javier Sicilia arrived at the US capital from Baltimore (Maryland), to close a long journey that started on August 11 in Tijuana (Mexico).
"This is a beginning and an end," said Sicilia in a ceremony organized by the AFL-CIO Union welcoming the caravan to Washington.
"We come from far away to face the center of this country with the horror of this useless, lost war. We have put the human being at the center of life," stated Sicilia who in March of 2011 lost his son Juan Francisco at the hands of organized crime members.
Regarding the "absurd" policies used by the war on drugs specified in the Mérida Plan, the Caravan for Peace suggests an approach based in drug legalization, gun control and money laundering investigation.
"Drugs are not a national security issue but a public health one," added Sicilia, adding that the violence created by illegal drug trafficking "has killed more innocent people than drugs could've killed in decades and centuries."
One of the caravan's activists is Teresa Vera Alvarado, whose sister Minerva disappeared in 2006 from the state of Oaxaca and that, after three years of unsuccessful search, joined the caravan "to help others suffering through a disappearance."
"We come to sensitize authorities from both countries so they do their job, because a lot of times they mock us, they tell us they are investigating and they aren't," said Vera, who laments that there's so much "corruption and impunity" in Mexico.
This activism manifested today through a march from the White House to Freedom Plaza in Washington, and will continue this Tuesday through meetings in 27 offices of Congress and with the Mexican ambassador, Arturo Sarukhan.
They are also expecting to meet with the Sub secretary of State for Democracy, Maria Otero, and the Deputy Director of Hispanic Affairs in the White House, Julie Chávez, but neither the presidential residence nor the Department of State has confirmed.
In their long journey through the United States, the message of Caravan for Peace has mixed with another one of migratory nature since the war on drugs is causing "immigrants to start getting blamed," explained Sicilia.
Aware that the immigration problem "is behind this war on drugs," the Caravan members met in Tucson, Arizona, with the Maricopa County Sheriff, Joe Arpaio, charged with illegally detaining Latin people based on stereotypes.
"It was a rough meeting because he is a man full of fear, a man that understands migration as a pest and sees immigrants like inferior beings," added the poet.
The Caravan received the support of AFL-CIO, the biggest union in the US, whose Treasurer, Liz Schuler, regretted that the United States and Mexico governments "keep believing that the best way of getting security back to our countries is pouring money in a war against drugs that has killed so many people."
"With over 60,000 people dead because of the violence against drugs in Mexico for the last years 10,000 people missing and over 160,000 displaced ones, it is time for us to say "Stop!" stated Schuler in her welcoming ceremony speech.
editorial@sandiegored.com
Original Text : EFE Agency
Translation: Karen.balderas@sandiegored.com
