In 2013, Mexican drug war victims joined US victims on the Caravan for Peace with Justice and Dignity in New York’s Riverside Church. The testimonies they presented, in the same place where in 1967 Martin Luther King called for an end to the Viet Nam war, revealed the similarities between the two unjust wars and why we should oppose them.
His name was José Antonio Elena Rodriguez. At 16, he was just finishing junior high and living with his grandmother on the Mexican side of the border city of Nogales. On October 13, 2012, José Antonio was hit by a hail of bullets coming from the U.S. side of the metal fence that lacerates Nogales. Some seven shots penetrated the boy’s body through the back and the head. He died instantly. The shots were fired by U.S. Border Patrol agents. The Border Patrol claims that the youth threw rocks at the unidentified agent or agents, who fired in return. The family reports that neither they nor their lawyer nor Mexican authorities have received information from the investigation on the U.S. side.
The U.S. locks up the highest percentage of its population in the world—nearly two and a half million people. Latinos now make up the majority of people sent to federal prison for felony crimes, with sentencing for newly defined immigration felonies like illegal border crossing or aiding in border crossing accounting for the increase. This makes the private prison industry very rich.
Juventina Villa sabía que sus días estaban contados. El líder de una organización ambientalista en las montañas de Guerrero, México, ella y otros activistas han estado en la mira de la delincuencia organizada y de fuerzas del gobierno durante años. La campaña 16 Días de Activismo Contra la Violencia de Género llega a su fin el 10 de diciembre, Día Internacional de los Derechos Humanos, mientras las organizaciones de mujeres en todo el mundo están pidiendo una mayor protección para las defensoras de los derechos humanos y justicia para quienes han sido asesinadas. En la mayoría de los casos, los crímenes contra ellas siguen impunes.
Juventina Villa knew her days were numbered. A leader of an environmental organization in the mountains of Guerrero, Mexico, she and other activists have been in the crosshairs of organized crime and government forces for years. With the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence come to an end on Dec. 10, International Human Rights Day, organizations of women throughout the world are calling for more protection for women human rights defenders and justice for those who have been assassinated. In most cases, the crimes against them have not been punished.
La transmisión oficial mostró legisladores sonrientes del Partido de la Revolución Institucional (PRI), uniformados en chales y corbatas rojas, dando la bienvenida a la llegada triunfante del presidente electo en medio de gritos de “¡Enrique, Enrique!” Fue una producción casi perfectamente coreografeado, a pesar de los gritos ocasionales de protesta de la oposición. El manto presidencial se pasó de un partido a otro, el nuevo presidente guapo pronunció un discurso bien pulido y diseñado para complacer a todos, y hubo el discurso obligatoria a las fuerzas armadas.. La versión oficial de la inauguración del 57o presidente de México parecía desarrollarse con sólo pequeños inconvenientes.
Sobre un fondo de violentos enfrentamientos en las calles que contrastaba fuertemente con la cuidada puesta en escena de los actos oficiales, Enrique Peña Nieto asumió la presidencia de México el pasado 2 de diciembre. Las líneas generales de su proyecto para los próximos seis años, a falta de los detalles, revelan que los cambios propuestos son, como el nuevo presidente, meramente cosméticos y afectan a aspectos superficiales.
The official broadcast showed smiling legislators from the Party of the Institutional Revolution (PRI) welcoming the triumphant arrival of the president-elect amid cries of “Enrique, Enrique!” The presidential mantle was passed from one party to the next, the handsome new president delivered a well-polished speech. The official version of the inauguration of Mexico’s 57th president seemed to go off with only minor glitches. But social media and the streets themselves told a different story, as battalions of police faced off with protesters in violent clashes…
Against the sharply contrasting backdrop of violent conflicts in the streets and carefully staged official events, Enrique Peña Nieto took office yesterday. The general outlines of the plan for his six-year term, although still not detailed, reveal proposed changes not unlike the new president–mostly cosmetic and devoted to appearances on the surface. After taking the oath of office in the Chamber of Deputies at San Lazaro and swearing in his cabinet, the newly inaugurated president appeared before guests at the National Palace in the central plaza to deliver his first speech as Chief Executive.
Con un margen más que confortable de 332 a 206 votos, el presidente de los Estados Unidos, Barak Obama, fue reelecto para un segundo periodo. Ahora, la gran pregunta es si, en materia de política exterior, el “legado” Obama será más audaz en la defensa de la paz que la decepcionante “campaña” Obama. El presidente tendrá que reformular una política exterior que ha sido débil o completamente contradictoria en la defensa de los principios que él mismo ha propugnado. Para ello, hay varios movimientos clave que deberían ser considerados.
