I met Javier Sicilia at the Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City last February while at a conference on drug policy organized by Mexico Unido Contra la Delincuencia, a civil society group working on crime prevention strategies. Gillian Maxwell, a member of our Executive Committee, and I made the trip to share our experiences working on drug policy issues in Vancouver, to improve our understanding of the situation in Mexico and to make connections with Mexican NGOs and business groups. We were also keen to meet with Javier Sicilia who was working with colleagues in Mexico and the US on an ambitious new project.
Sicilia is a well-known poet, writer and journalist who was thrust into the spotlight when his son was brutally murdered in Cuernavaca after being caught in the crossfire between drug gangs. Upon this tragedy, he became one of the tens of thousands of innocent victims of the war on drugs being waged across this magnificent country. I had heard how Sicilia had stopped writing poetry and taken to the streets, igniting large protests that saw a hundred thousand citizens marching from Cuernavaca to Mexico City, demanding an end to the drug-related violence that has shaken the foundations of Mexican society.
I spotted Sicilia in the foyer of the museum and approached him from behind, calling out his name as he walked towards the museum auditorium. As I had no Spanish and knew he did not speak any English, I wasn’t sure how our meeting would begin should I get his attention. Finally he heard my calling, spun around, reached out and embraced me tightly with both arms and welcomed me into his space. Such a fulsome greeting offered to a complete stranger surprised me but over the next few hours I saw that Sicilia was an intense, committed individual who embraced many.
Our conversation was limited but we had a good connection and agreed to meet again with his organizers. We wanted to speak with them about the meeting the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition was organizing with American and Mexican groups to work on the idea of a North American coalition. The coalition would work together to highlight the negative impacts our current drug policies are having on Canada, the US and Mexico, with a specific focus on how the criminalization of drug use has created such a pervasive and violent underground market in all three countries.
Sicilia was interested in the concept of a North American strategy to end the violence in Mexico as he was already working to organize a Mexican/US project; the Caravan for Peace with Dignity and Justice. Which was about to traverse the US with a hundred or so victims of Mexico’s drug war.
The main objective of the Caravan is to bring to the streets and communities of the US the reality that Mexicans are facing – the loss of life, the destruction of communities, the culture of fear that permeates so many localities, and the unrelenting violence that takes place each day.
In the coming months CDPC will be exploring the connections between Canada, the US and Mexico and how our so-called drug problems are interrelated. We will be supporting the Caravan for Peace with Dignity and Justice through our blog, social media channels, and by travelling to Baltimore, Maryland to participate in a drug policy town hall meeting when the Caravan visits on September 8th and 9th.
We hope you will begin to think about how Canadians can become involved in supporting efforts to stop the violence in Mexico and look forward to your thoughts and ideas over the coming months.