Development: On 5 October Javier Sicilia, a prominent Mexican peace activist, announced that he would lobby the US Congress to end the Merida Initiative.
Significance: Sicilia, a prominent poet and Roman Catholic activist who set up the Movimiento por la Paz con Justicia y Dignidad (MPJD) after his son was killed along with six other youngsters by gangsters in Morelos last March, said that he is working with Global Exchange on the trip which will take place either later this month or in early November. Sicilia will argue that the militarisation of Mexico is only increasing the death toll in the country. The Merida Initiative, which was launched in 2006, is criticised by the Republican Right in the US for failing to help Mexico. The initiative is designed to support Mexico’s police and armed forces in their battle against drug gangs.
Key points:
• Sicilia made the announcement at the launch of his latest book, triggered by the gang violence and entitled ‘Estamos hasta la madre’. (The title is a pun on being fed up and in a mess).
• Sicilia wants the US to halt the sale of high-powered weapons, which are acquired by gangsters in Mexico. The problem with this is the political clout of the US gun lobby and its (convincing) argument that although high-powered weapons are legal in the US, only two people per every 100,000 are murdered in El Paso, Texas, but 100 metres across the Rio Bravo in Ciudad Juárez, the murder rate is close on 200 per 100,000.
• Sicilia also wants to lead a national movement to change Mexican security policy and thus the country. Sicilia accused Mexican politicians of “ignoring the national emergency” facing the country. He claims that at least 50,000 people have been killed since President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa declared war on organised crime when he took office on 1 December 2006.
