William Brownfield, US assistant secretary of state for international narcotics, admitted the architects of the hemispheric drug war were wrong in assuming the problem “could be resolved quickly with an aggressive campaign.”
Thousands marched across Mexico to call for an end to drug-related violence after the slaying of the son of poet Javier Sicilia. The elder Sicilia issued a statement blasting both “politicians” and “criminals” for the atrocities.
Activists occupied the Mexican consulate in New York City to demand freedom for five indigenous Zapatista supporters in Chiapas they say were framed for defending their lands from “eco-tourism” developers.
Thousands of workers marched on the congress building in Mexico City to protest a proposed reform of the labor code they say “intends to finish off collective contracts and make the workers modern slaves.”
Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission finds that 5,397 are reported missing across the country since President Felipe Calderón launched his war on the narco cartels in 2006.
Some 115,000 Mexicans fled their homes last year because of drug-related crime, and the total number of people displaced by drug violence in Mexico since 2007 has reached about 230,000.
In violence-torn Ciudad Juárez, the mayor has appointed a new security czar—Lt. Col. Julian Leyzaola Perez, a veteran of counterinsurgency operations in Mexico’s south, who is viewed ominously by human rights groups.
The US ambassador to Mexico, Carlos Pascual, has resigned following embarrassing revelations about US-Mexican relations, starting with WikiLeaks’ publication of diplomatic cables from the US embassy.
Mexican social organizations and human rights groups carried out actions in at least eight states, to demand that the authorities end the murders of women and categorize femicide as a special crime.
On International Women’s Day, many human rights defenders were absent from Ciudad Juárez, following a wave of violence in which leaders have been assassinated and forced into exile.
Barack Obama expressed “nothing but admiration for President Calderón” and his “war on drugs” at a joint press conference in Washington, DC during the Mexican president’s visit.
Mexico has requested “detailed information” from the US on an operation which reportedly allowed some 2,000 firearms to enter Mexico illegally in an effort to trace the activities of gun smugglers.
