A leading Mexican feminist, Marcela Lagarde, says President Felipe Calderón’s militarization of the fight against drug trafficking has increased the level of violence against women.
As nearly 300 bodies were unearthed from clandestine graves in the northern Mexican states of Durango and Tamaulipas, human rights activists were accosted by naval troops in the military-occupied border city of Matamoros.
A report released by the government’s National Council to Prevent Discrimination (Conapred) showed a widespread perception of violence and discrimination in Mexican society, especially against women.
The Mexican state of Tamaulipas has dismissed its security chief while federal police arrested 16 municipal officers in the town of San Fernando following the discovery of more than 145 bodies in mass graves over the past weeks.
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.
